Inner: Canning St-Carlton Gardens
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This route provides a North-South link from the Capital City Trail in Princes Hill (Melway 29 K11) to the CBD.
Melbourne's parks and gardens
Melbourne is fortunate to have a number of beautiful parks and gardens in and around the CBD. Some are extensive and cover large areas.
Bicycle Victoria believes that in some instances cycling should be allowed on designated paths within the park or garden where there is adequate width and good sightlines for path users to share. Policy around use of gardens should take into consideration:
- A safe place for children to ride. Roads in inner Melbourne are busy and congested. The wide boulevards within parks and gardens made an ideal safe place for children to learn to ride or improve their skills.
- Direct and pleasant routes. In some cases parks and gardens can become barriers to cycling when allowances are not made for cyclists to pass through. Detouring around can add considerable time and distance to a bike journey and roads around gardens often don't cater for cyclists.
Currently the City of Melbourne has a policy that bans cycling in gardens. Gardens in Melbourne that we would like to see bicycle access on designated routes include:
- Carlton Gardens - Canning St bike route ends at the northern end of the gardens and the wide boulevards within the gardens are more attractive to cyclists than the narrow, cluttered and more heavily trafficked footpaths along Nicholson St. Also the Queensberry St bike lanes and the Gertrude St bike lanes both are accessed by cycling through the car park just south of the Exhibition Buildings.
Children allowed to ride in parks
Nov 05 You may notice some temporary signage being erected in Carlton, Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens relating to a Children's Cycling Trial. On 5 July 2005, City of Melbourne Council's Planning and Environment Committee recommended that Council approve a 6-month trial within the Carlton, Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens to permit cycling by children under the age of 12, where accompanied by an adult, providing that all such cyclists obey all other park regulations such as speed limits and relevant signage.
The trial will last for 6 months, beginning on 14 November and observations and questionnaires will be conducted by council staff, including Park Rangers, throughout the trail period. At the conclusion of the trial, Parks and Recreation will compile the results and present them back to the Planning and Environment Committee.
Carlton Gardens Masterplan
Mar 05 The City of Melbourne approved a new Master Plan for the Carlton Gardens that will guide future development and management of the Gardens. The ban on cycling in the gardens was not lifted but a recommendation was made to significantly improve bike route connections along Rathdowne Street and the shared pathway on Nicholson Street to improve the link from Canning Street through Carlton to the CBD.
In Bicycle Victoria's submission we equested that the ban on cycling be lifted in the Gardens, more attractive alternative routes developed for commuter cyclists that avoid the Gardens and a management regime introduced to ensure cyclists that use the gardens do so appropriately including at an appropriate speed and giving way to all pedestrians.
Council sought comments on the Draft Masterplan. Bicycle Victoria was on the reference committee for the masterplan with other community groups. Despite a ban on cycling in the gardens, the wide boulevards offer an attractive route for many cyclists and we believe that cycling can be managed in the gardens and safe use for all garden users, including cyclists, can be promoted.
We do not support inappropriate behaviour, including fast cycling or cyclists not giving way to pedestrians, on any shared path or area, including in the Gardens. We also ask that commuter routes around the gardens be upgraded; e.g. remove parking from west side of Nicholson St to allow exclusive bike path along east side of gardens and improve Rathdowne St lanes and connection from Canning St to both.
Also Exhibition Street needs to be improved for cyclists so they can access the CBD from the end of the Rathdowne St lanes or future bicycle path.