Bike Boulevard Stage 1 - Leake Street and May Street

I live on Leake Street and love the look and feel of the bike boulevard. I have definitely noticed that it has slowed down traffic. More importantly, there are kids using the bike boulevard and enjoying the enhanced safety that it provides. The only negative is that on my section of the boulevard, there is no curbing around the trees planted on the street (there is curbing in other sections of the boulevard); it makes my section look unfinished.

I think the idea is fantastic, my wife rides on the Leake St portion regularly and I cycle on it with my kids when we go to the river. Looking forward to it extending to Morley which will add a lot of value to the project as it will pick up several destinations (Galleria, Chisholm, John Forrest). Love the trees!

I would prefer to see double lane slow points with an island in the middle. I realise this would take up valuable space on the road but I think the single lane slow point creates conflict (whether this be between people in cars or between people in cars and on those on bikes). The idea of the boulevard is to share the space after all. I think a huge advantage of this project is that it involves funding for pedestrian and bike crossing points over major roads. Crossing roads like Whatley Crescent and Beaufort St are significant obstacles to people walking or cycling. The Guildford Rd crossing that has been installed is very helpful.

I would also like to see the tiered intersections have a more significant incline. Currently the ones adjacent to Bayswater Primary School can be hit at 50km/hr without a problem. This contributed to the long adjustment time as many people drove straight through the new give way signs without even realising.

We might not see many bikes at the moment, but hopefully with this project, we will start to see more children in the streets riding their bikes, rather than being inside in their "theater room" playing games. Be this an inspiration for families to exercise more and to go back to the Australian roots. Outdoor activities = healthy kids. As for all those comments on safety. Yes, I agree, the project must include better signs so our kids can ride their bikes without being hurt. The project should go ahead with some improvements. Hopefully all our comments are read by the key people. Ah, please don't forget to plant lots of trees. Lots of Jacaranda trees for a bit of colour!

A great idea to link Morley with the river and parks, slowing traffic on these residential streets is a great idea also. The fear of speeding agressive cars on roads for average people is real, be great if familes and esp kids could go for a ride on these boulevards down to river and enjoy the experience would be great. There are plenty of other roads to get around quicker in cars. Change takes some time and I am positive the town planners have taken on experience in other citys and towns where this has worked well after initial resistance. Cant wait to ride the whole boulevard with the kids.

reading all the feed back on here its clear that no one wants this imposed on our roads.
we have not been contacted regarding proposed changes to Edward street, but some one saw it on face book and sent it to us.

how can this council force this on ratepayers without proper consultation?

I would urge everyone that lives on Edward street to sign the petition that will be coming around to stop the project or find an alternative street to impose this waste of money on !

Not interested in these changes to Edward street.... it’s fine the way it is

Having recently received a letter advising my street would soon change to a bike Boulevard, I took the opportunity to view the first stage of works to see what was proposed. Gee, what was the town planner thinking when they came up with this mess. I thought they were proposing a cycle only lane. WRONG. Having travelled the entire length from May street to Leake street I was struck by how confusing and non uniform the Boulevard is. Narrow single lane sharing between cyclists and cars, poor signage, who is supposed to give way through the chicanes, different widths of the single lanes, limited parking, mighty small trees providing shade to road going ants, black posts waiting to impale riders, some tree sections with curb surrounds some withot.
I got the impression that different contractors must have completed different sections of the boulevard as there was no consistency which added to the road users confusion. As for bikes, never saw one rider using the street. I even stopped to ask a local what he thought of the new bike friendly road....not repeatable, safe to say he was not impressed.
If this is the future....then heaven help all road users

I think the Boulevard has been a great success, I live right near it and it has firstly slowed the traffic down, and secondly encouraged more bike use, which is what its intended purpose was. The slow down zones and colourful pedestrian crossing at the front of Bayswater Primary School are working really well. I think the reversal of some street signs (ie stop and giveway) could have been approached better as it was extremely dangerous for a few months there where drivers would go through stop signs, thinking they were still give-way signs or right-of-way (eg Hill and Leake St and Murray and Leake St). So perhaps more pre-emptive signage that the signs will change, and some additional temporary signage/policing of the corners at the beginning would be useful for Stage 2. Another launch to show people how to use the Bike Boulevard would be good for both riders and drivers I think, especially with Stage 2 on its way. And perhaps permanent information signs along the boulevard (ie like a Tourist Information Bureau would have) might be a good idea too, so that tourists, people new to the area, or people just using it at that time, can work out how to navigate it. Hopefully in the future, it will be common knowledge to everyone how Bike Boulevards work, as everyone will be using them.
I am really glad there will be a safer path for my children to access their local public high school via bikes, rather than being driven.

I am shocked to see that this so called bike boulevard is going to be inflicted upon more residents with a stage 2. How anyone on Council can consider this to be a good project to continue after all the negative comments of the first stage astounds me.
The first stage still does not have adequate signage even though the feedback on this page has highlighted problems such as dark coloured bollards so you can't see them well especially at night, and no speed signs to show people turning on to the road [other than at the start and finish of the boulevard] that the speed limit is reduced to 30kmph. It's a month since I wrote a previous comment and nothing has improved.
I think asking for feedback is really just a means of being able to say to residents that we have asked for feedback when really it is all just a fait accompli.
I regularly go to one of the businesses on May Street [3 times a week] and have not heard a single complimentary comment about the boulevard. Non-regular visitors are generally confused by it and say that they weren't sure they were meant to be driving down it except that other cars were there already.
Comments from many visitors are that the bollards are hard to see because of the colour of them. I'm pleased to see that the one that was leaning over [did someone hit it with their card?] has been straightened, but the colour of it still merges in with the colours on the street, especially in the shade.
Please improve the bollard visibility.

It appears to be the worst designed road change that I have ever seen. The signage is insufficient and very confusing. How restricting access to lots of choke point is going to help cyclists I have no idea. To date I have never seen a cyclist on the road but I have found the choke points blocked by parked cars so the road has been impassable. The choke point near the crest of the hill must be one of the most dangerous bits of road in Perth. Appalling work by all concerned but particularly the Dept of Transport who appear to live in their own little world.

I have been to businesses in this street over the past 25 years, and have never, ever seen a bike on this road, either during the week, or on weekends. The businesses at 48 May St that attract clients from all other WA and some interstate and overseas visitors. I have no idea where I was supposed to drive, let alone the visitors who had no idea where they should be driving. On entry there is a picture of children, bikes and a house! No pictures of cars. The street is a total mess!

There are 4 businesses at 48 May St that attract clients from all other WA and some interstate and overseas visitors. Most have no idea where they should be driving. On entry there is a picture of children, bikes and a house! No pictures of cars. Visitors to the street often don't know if there are allowed to enter or not! I live outside the city of Bayswater but are there about 3 times a week and I have only seen a 3 bikes on the road! There needs to be a lot more signage.

I have driven the stage 1 project and don't think you came within cooee of a safe bicycle road. And to extend it up Edward Street appears to be a really bad decision, especially considering the high volume of vehicles dropping off and picking up children. How do I get onto the committee dealing with this project. My expertise is in road design

Given the significant amount of negative feedback regarding the Bike Boulevarde, how the City of Bayswater possibly thinking of continuing with Stage 2? What has been done to address the significant issues that have been identified? Nothing. It would seem someone in the City has an agenda, and this consultation process is just lip service. What a disgrace.

I will add my opinion to the NO case. I refer to the Leake St section between Guildford Rd and the river, however am not a user of the northern section so can not comment on teh sucess or otherwise of that project. As a cyclist and a driver who uses Riverside Gardens every day I see both sides of the usage pattern. I too have only ever seen 1 bike use the road. This is not a general route for cyclists as they travel parallel to the river not perpendicular to it. Riverside Gardens is not a cyclists destination park - it is for dog walkers (many people drive their dogs the park), families (who picnic there) and young families (to use the playgrounds etc). Cycling is not catered for except to transit through to and from the City.

I agree that Leake St is hazardous. I appreciate the intent is to slow drivers down but this strategy fails to do this. The result is increased danger to drivers (and that one cyclist I saw).

The damaged bollards are evidence of the result of drivers not managing this traffic hazard.

I would love to see the bike usage data that Council used to base their upgrade on that proved there was a need for this boulevard and that it would significantly improve safety for these cyclists.

One improvement we would like to see is the installation of a turning arrow travelling from the river side of King William St to enable a safer turning right onto Guildford Road.

I've been looking for an avenue to congratulate the powers that be on the unparalleled success that is the Bayswater Bike Boulevard on Leake St.

Since installation was completed in May, I have seen one bike on the road. Well done!

Other than the bike, other things I've seen is cars stopped at inappropriate places on the road, unsure where they can and can't stop, park, turn, etc. I've seen near accidents as a result of this - drivers in WA are bad enough but without any clear direction of how to behave on this stretch of road, they often do nothing except stop and block through traffic.

I've also seen vehicles travelling in opposite directions in near misses because the roadway is not wide enough for two cars, and nobody knows who is supposed to give way to who, or where to wait.

I've seen traffic banked up on the corner of Guildford Rd, turning into Leake St, trying to negotiate entering the street, parking, reversing out of and leaving the car park, and attempting to visit the deli on the corner, whose business may very well be suffering as a result of this installation.

I've seen near misses at the top of the hill at the Almondbury St intersection, unable to see what's coming up the hill with the right of way on Leake St, now that the give way sign has been moved to the Almondbury St part of the intersection.

And lastly, the fact that bike riders have to ride along the footpath along Guildford Rd to Roberts St, where the boulevard really should have been in the first place, to cross the road... magic.

So many good things have come from the new bike boulevard.

Great idea. Flawed planning. Flawed execution.

To me, this ill conceived plan was designed to link with the bike lanes proposed - and resoundly rejected by the local community - bike lanes on Guildford Road. And now that the people have spoken and that plan has been quashed, it makes very little sense at all.

Thanks very much.

As a regular pedestrian and passenger on May Street, I have many observations from being with different drivers and observing as I walk: none are complimentary. The main negatives are:
Drivers turning in to May Street from Arundel Street have no idea that they are on a shared road as there are no signs unless you are at the start and end of the shared road.
The bollards are difficult to see, especially at night – painting them black is a great form of camouflage.
The bollard in the vicinity of number 48 May Street is bent and the kerb has not been completed around the tree making it hard to see at night. The bollards need to be taller, brighter and have more than one tiny reflector each.
The education programme about the pathway is fine for local residents’ awareness, but does not help at the block of business units which attract people from all over the city and country.
I think the signs printed on the roads are confusing. It would have been simpler to put a ‘P’ parking symbol on the parts that cars can park on; and bike and car symbols where they can share the road.
I feel sorry for the residents of this street who now have to live with this confusion.

Hi Tracey,
As resident, mum and bike-rider, I love the idea of the bike boulevard which is outside our house in Leake Street, however If it is now complete is needs to provide a lot more "instruction" to drivers - at all entry points. In our part of Leake St it is possible to turn onto the bike boulevard without knowing what it is or looking our for bikes - it needs warning/instructional signs or (better) road markings and 30km speed limit signs at every entry ie. Murray, Hill, Almondbury, Nanhob, Georgina & Walton Sts, and clearer road markings (lane markings) at the entrance off Guildford Rd to avoid cyclists going downhill and turning right to follow the bike path colliding with motorists turning left into Leake St. The opportunity for more trees is great, however the black bollards are silly - if they are there to protect the trees and cars from each other they need to be taller, reflective and boldly coloured. I look forward to it extending to Chisholm (when they change their uniform policy and provide bike parking to encourage students to ride to school) and on to Morley!

Until WA gets presumed liability laws I can't understand why Murray St only has a Give Way sign and not a Stop sign at Leake St. Bike riders are vulnerable road users and there is no way a quick glance by a driver to see if the boulevard is clear to cross is sufficient. You need cars to come to a complete stop and the driver to properly look for bike riders before proceeding. Looking down Leake St it is easy to get distracted with the busy and dense boulevard streetscape (different colour bitumen, bollards, cars parked, trees).

As for maintaining Bayswater Primary School parking on Leake St, it is best not to give parents an option between being a responsible community member or doing what is simplest, quickest and easiest for them. They will always choose the latter. I can provide pictures of cars queuing across Murray St, waiting for their turn to get into the 'kiss and drive' area. Get rid of the school parking in Leake St.

I think the boulevard is a fantastic local acquisition. I cycle on it regularly and encourage my 4 and 6 yo children to do so. I hope soon they will be able to cycle by themselves to school daily.

A possible improvement would be better signage for cars turning onto Leake St from Guildford Rd at BJ's. A lot of them come around the corner at significant speed, rendering the first 50 metres or so of boulevard dangerous!