Swanston St - Reopening to traffic

Level 3 76 posts

melbournefan says:

Posted 30/11/2008

Newly appointed Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has said he will put forward reopening Swanston St up to traffic after 15 years.

Initially Swanston St was closed to traffic, they were promoting it as being our "Champs-Elysees" but instead it become home to $2 shops, fast food joints and homeless people.

I think it's a great idea, time to clean up the street!

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 30/11/2008

It also became the city's busiest cycle route, so returning to normal traffic will result in more deaths. There should be cycle lanes separated from the cars by safety barriers. And if they return it to traffic the buses will still have to be moved as they were going to be anyway. Whether more cars will discourage junk food places is another matter!

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Level 2 151 posts

DArgy says:

Posted 02/12/2008

Lord Mayor Mr Robert Doyle is going to get a lot of opposition with his new ideas of re-opening Swanston St. A lot more oposition than when he was part of the Liberal Party. On paper it sounds good but in reality I doubt its such a great idea. And as BrianWard said the cars aren't going to discourage junk food places : )

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Level 4 559 posts

AJ says:

Posted 03/12/2008

What's his reasoning for wanting to reopen it to traffic? All I've heard that it was a failed experiment...but why did it fail?

On a purely selfish and personal note, I don't like the fact that I can't drive down Swanston Street, so I am all up for reopening it to traffic.

AJ

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Level 2 151 posts

DArgy says:

Posted 03/12/2008

Exactly AJ why is it a failed experiment ? It's been closed now for almost twenty years , I think we can call it a little more than an experiment now. It's typical politician talk, he's just pulling at straws and seeing what ridiculous ideas he can come up with next. Like banning buskers, some of them are great ! If he wants to ban something why doesn't he ban those annoying bludgers that intimidate us into letting them clean our car windows at traffic lights. Ban hoons and certainly ban councils whose only priority is to squeeze as much as they can out of the hard working rate payer. These days you can't even breathe without needing a permit !

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 03/12/2008

It's more that Swanston St is hardly the biggest issue in the CBD - rates, services, parking, homeless people, violence on King st, there's a lot of things the Mayor could do if he had any real ideas...

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Level 2 151 posts

DArgy says:

Posted 03/12/2008

Well said BrianWard !

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 04/12/2008

The only good thing Doyle has said is that he will cut down on councillor junkets - the last council spent hundreds of thousands of dollars flying councillors around the world for nothing. If they want to learn how things are done elsewhere they shuld start by making phone calls and getting reports not attending conferences that don't lead to any positive changes here in Melbourne.

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Level 1 1 post

Pently says:

Posted 04/12/2008

Brian do you have any involvement with local councils or are you just gobblng up the utter crap the media is feeding you? Do you actually know first hand what sorts of things local councils do, and how their time is spent?

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 10/12/2008

In answer to your question, yes I have a good understanding of local government and what councillors do. Perhaps you could try to address the issues rather than attack the messenger. Play the ball not the man.

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Level 2 151 posts

DArgy says:

Posted 10/12/2008

"Play the ball not the man." I haven't heard that one before, I like it : )

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 15/12/2008

have to try to get people in forums to actually talk about the subject not just flame people...

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Level 1 13 posts

chrisdpw says:

Posted 30/12/2008

I agree with the above comments regarding dedicated bicycle lanes there should be more of them and if you go canberra it has an excellent bike path system. Melbourne has a vast network of rail land and corridors this should be used for creating new cycleways.

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Level 4 559 posts

AJ says:

Posted 04/01/2009

So does anyone know what the fallout from this was? Was the proposal scrapped straight away?

Something has to "give" though, Swanston street is really dirty and disgusting.

Collins Street on the other hand is looking fantastic! All the new fashion stores have opened up (Gucci, Prada etc) and so has the new Grand Hyatt redev. I'm yet to walk through it, but looks great from the outside.

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 20/01/2009

Doyle seems to have gone very quiet... let's see if he is all talk and no action. He needs to release more detailed plans about the city.

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Level 3 76 posts

melbournefan says:

Posted 27/01/2009

Brian - you must love how Robert Doyle is going on a taxpayer funded trip to Russia!

Why is a Mayor going to St Petersburg? Surely this is more for the state or even federal trade minister to be doing?

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 28/01/2009

He promised no junkets and now has taken a HUGE one! They're all the same. None of these politicians seems to deal with real issues. It's all spin and PR and no action.

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Level 4 559 posts

AJ says:

Posted 18/02/2009

It's a viscious cycle though. When your opponent promises outlandish things, why wouldn't you? I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying it doesn't suprise me why it happens.

AJ

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 22/02/2009

Now Doyle is NOT going to Russia again... it's too late though, he's destroyed his credibility already.

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Level 2 91 posts

PureKrome says:

Posted 23/02/2009

Free trams while they are in the CBD, in my opinion. In the CBD == inside the 'city loop' tram line.

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 23/02/2009

Free public transport within the CBD grid (like they have in Perth) would be great and would reduce congestion in the city!

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 26/02/2009

Now it seems Swanston St will remain car free - see http://www.theage.com.au/national/swanston-set-to-stay-free-of-cars-20090226-8j80.html

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Level 4 559 posts

AJ says:

Posted 01/03/2009

I've given up on Swanston Street. I was there pretty late on Friday night, and it was disgusting as always. I don't see how they are ever going to change that.

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Level 4 444 posts

BrianWard says:

Posted 01/03/2009

Not unless Doyle's other plan to get rid of all the bogans works!

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Level 4 559 posts

AJ says:

Posted 30/06/2009

Hi guys,

Here's an update to this thread:

http://www.streetadvisor.com.au/victoria/forums/public-backs-car-ban-in-swanston-street

I don't think getting rid of the cars is the problem. Solve the homeless problem, and that might revive some positive energy into the street.

AJ

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