By Cara Waters
A plan for a separate bike lane along a St Kilda street has divided the community and sparked opposing campaigns between those who don’t want to lose car parking space and others who want to improve safety for cyclists.
Community group Save Inkerman Street is campaigning against the installation of the protected bike lane, with the slogan: “We’re for everyone in the community.”
An artist’s render of the protected bike lane in Inkerman Street, St Kilda.
But another community group, Save our Lives, supports the plan for a protected bike lane, which would include an elevated concrete barrier between cyclists and vehicles. The group has put up posters along the street that say: “Protected bike lanes save lives. Don’t let council risk our lives for the sake of some parking.”
Port Phillip Council will vote on Wednesday night on two options – the separate protected bike lane, which will cost about $9.3 million and result in the loss of 114 parking spaces, and a painted on-road bike lane, which will cost $6.8 million and will mean 14 parking spaces are lost.
A council report on the proposed bike lane says reform is needed for Inkerman Street because it has a high number of recorded crashes compared to other council-managed roads. There were 31 serious crashes on the street – which also runs into St Kilda East – in the five years to June.
Jaz Bradley, who has lived on Inkerman Street for 33 years and runs a small business on the street, is one of the organisers of the Save Inkerman Street campaign, which submitted a petition of 1300 signatures opposing the protected bike lane to the council.
Bradley said a protected bike lane would leave only 64 parking spaces for 58 businesses and 152 nearby homes with no off-street parking.
“Literally hundreds of people, including all the businesses, needing parking for employees, staff and our residents,” she said. “It’s just a simple mathematic equation and the maths doesn’t work. There’s already a dearth of parking.”
She said workers from local businesses needed to drive to work and start early in the morning.
“They already spend all day moving their cars around the neighbourhood to try and avoid parking infringements because they’re only allowed to park two hours at a time,” Bradley said.
“It will devalue people’s properties for people on the north side with no off-street parking, and they’ve already been told that by various real estate agents.”
Bradley said she and other residents wanted safety for all road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
“We’ve been called ‘anti-bike’, labelled all these sorts of horrible names by urban cycling enthusiasts who obviously want to encourage mode shift and get people to take to bikes and then give up their cars, but it’s really not that simple,” she said.
Bicycle Network Victoria chief executive Alison McCormack said a protected bike lane on Inkerman Street would provide the missing link between the protected lanes on St Kilda Road and the off-road, shared-use Djerring Trail, which runs all the way to Oakleigh.
“It will be a highly used route, and at the moment it is terrible,” she said. “We have the opportunity to put in safe, protected infrastructure. Fortune favours the brave.”
Bicycle Network Victoria says more than 70 per cent of survey respondents who don’t cycle are interested in doing so, but are concerned about their safety. McCormack said a protected bike lane would encourage them to start riding.
“We are in support of separated bike lanes wherever they are able to be installed. We know they encourage new riders, increase local transport options and are safer for everybody,” she said.
“Internationally, this is what is happening all around the world, and we are lagging behind.”
The state government removed pop-up bike lanes in St Kilda and Port Melbourne during the pandemic after a backlash from residents. More recently, Port Phillip Council abandoned support for separated bike lanes on the Shrine to Sea project on Albert and Kerferd roads.
Port Phillip Mayor Heather Cunsolo said the council would consider all feedback before Wednesday night’s vote.
“We know there are diverse views in our community about the best option to increase safety for all road users in Inkerman Street,” she said. “This is why we undertook a community consultation on two options. The consultation included visiting businesses to make sure we understand all their concerns about potential parking losses.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.