From telstar at cfsmtb.net Thu Oct 23 13:16:49 2008 From: telstar at cfsmtb.net (telstar at cfsmtb.net) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:16:49 +1100 Subject: [publictransport] V/Line ban bikes affect local tourism Message-ID: Hi all, And greetings from the mostly dormant PT list, you probably joined this email list earlier this year due to the Connex & V/Line bike bans Needless to mention, all that 'goodwill' and promises from earlier this year from Kosky et al seem to have either evaporated or been ground down via bureaucratic attrition. cheers, Chris *** BIKE BAN "MAY HURT RAIL TRAIL" http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/bike-ban-may-hurt-rail-trail/1341356.aspx BRAD WORRALL 23/10/2008 1:00:00 AM BIKES will be banned from buses that replace V/Line trains to the North East and tourism experts fear that may put the brakes on one of its emerging markets. They say an advertising campaign targetting train travel out of Melbourne has attracted large numbers of riders to the Murray to Mountains bike trail. But from November 8, when work begins on the conversion of the rail line to standard gauge and the buses take over, bikes will be banned from the route. A V/Line spokesman said it was ?purely about space limitations? but admitted negotiations with private bus operators were continuing. Clayton Neil, cycle tourism officer for the rail trail on behalf of Indigo, Wangaratta and Alpine councils, said the ban hit the rail trail?s peak seasons. He said 45,000 people used the 83km trail last year, almost 8000 at Easter alone. ?We know the work has to happen but we are disappointed with the timing,? Mr Neil said. ?Spring and autumn are our peaks, the weather is a bit cooler and in spring everything is coming to life while in autumn there is the change of leaves as you travel up the valley. ?And the Christmas holidays are also very busy. ?But having said that we know that over the June long weekends three groups of more than 30 people travelled from Melbourne to Wangaratta by train to use the rail trail. ?The aim is to try to position the region as the premier cycling destination in the country and now this has happened just a year into the campaign.? Myrtleford Chamber of Commerce president and bike tour operator Geoff Scott said train travellers were a growing part of rail trail users. ?The rail trail itself has been enormously successful and it is probably our strongest growth area in tourism,? he said. ?If that is going to happen it will have a dramatic impact throughout the valley. ?One of the things the rail trail committee have been pushing is the train trips out of Melbourne.? Mr Neil said while no figures were available he believed rail travel to the Wangaratta start of the trail was on the rise. ?Over the past six to eight months the increase in train travellers has been quite noticeable and perhaps that has something to do with petrol prices, green travel or people looking for a different holiday experience,? he said. Bikes are permitted on the XPT service from Melbourne that also stops at Wangaratta. Commuters are charges $12.10 to travel with their bike. From anne_jovi at bigpond.com Thu Oct 23 13:38:18 2008 From: anne_jovi at bigpond.com (Anne Jovi) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:38:18 +1100 Subject: [publictransport] V/Line ban bikes affect local tourism In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <003301c934b8$68adb090$3a0911b0$@com> Hi Chris This actually affects me - a couple of mates and I join a long established regular ride, the second weekend of November each year from Wangaratta. The preferred mode of transport is by train from Melbourne to Wangaratta. We only found out the other day about the works and subsequent ban and have been scratching our heads about the future of the annual, "Tour de Fart". Pissed off! Anyway, to get the boys on their bikes, I'm taking a tandem trailer loaded with bikes to commence the ride at Wangaratta from Melbourne. -----Original Message----- From: publictransport-bounces at yarrabug.org [mailto:publictransport-bounces at yarrabug.org] On Behalf Of telstar at cfsmtb.net Sent: Thursday, 23 October 2008 1:17 PM To: publictransport at yarrabug.org Subject: [publictransport] V/Line ban bikes affect local tourism Hi all, And greetings from the mostly dormant PT list, you probably joined this email list earlier this year due to the Connex & V/Line bike bans Needless to mention, all that 'goodwill' and promises from earlier this year from Kosky et al seem to have either evaporated or been ground down via bureaucratic attrition. cheers, Chris *** BIKE BAN "MAY HURT RAIL TRAIL" http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/bike-ban-may-hurt-rail-trail/1341356.aspx BRAD WORRALL 23/10/2008 1:00:00 AM BIKES will be banned from buses that replace V/Line trains to the North East and tourism experts fear that may put the brakes on one of its emerging markets. They say an advertising campaign targetting train travel out of Melbourne has attracted large numbers of riders to the Murray to Mountains bike trail. But from November 8, when work begins on the conversion of the rail line to standard gauge and the buses take over, bikes will be banned from the route. A V/Line spokesman said it was ?purely about space limitations? but admitted negotiations with private bus operators were continuing. Clayton Neil, cycle tourism officer for the rail trail on behalf of Indigo, Wangaratta and Alpine councils, said the ban hit the rail trail?s peak seasons. He said 45,000 people used the 83km trail last year, almost 8000 at Easter alone. ?We know the work has to happen but we are disappointed with the timing,? Mr Neil said. ?Spring and autumn are our peaks, the weather is a bit cooler and in spring everything is coming to life while in autumn there is the change of leaves as you travel up the valley. ?And the Christmas holidays are also very busy. ?But having said that we know that over the June long weekends three groups of more than 30 people travelled from Melbourne to Wangaratta by train to use the rail trail. ?The aim is to try to position the region as the premier cycling destination in the country and now this has happened just a year into the campaign.? Myrtleford Chamber of Commerce president and bike tour operator Geoff Scott said train travellers were a growing part of rail trail users. ?The rail trail itself has been enormously successful and it is probably our strongest growth area in tourism,? he said. ?If that is going to happen it will have a dramatic impact throughout the valley. ?One of the things the rail trail committee have been pushing is the train trips out of Melbourne.? Mr Neil said while no figures were available he believed rail travel to the Wangaratta start of the trail was on the rise. ?Over the past six to eight months the increase in train travellers has been quite noticeable and perhaps that has something to do with petrol prices, green travel or people looking for a different holiday experience,? he said. Bikes are permitted on the XPT service from Melbourne that also stops at Wangaratta. Commuters are charges $12.10 to travel with their bike. _______________________________________________ publictransport mailing list publictransport at yarrabug.org http://yarrabug.org/mailman/listinfo/publictransport_yarrabug.org Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.3/1390 - Release Date: 21/04/2008 4:23 PM Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.3/1390 - Release Date: 21/04/2008 4:23 PM From ozzmosis at gmail.com Thu Oct 23 16:52:38 2008 From: ozzmosis at gmail.com (andrew clarke) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:52:38 +1100 Subject: [publictransport] V/Line ban bikes affect local tourism In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20081023055238.GA99685@ozzmosis.com> On Thu 2008-10-23 13:16:49 UTC+1100, telstar at cfsmtb.net (telstar at cfsmtb.net) wrote: > BIKE BAN "MAY HURT RAIL TRAIL" > http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/bike-ban-may-hurt-rail-trail/1341356.aspx > > BRAD WORRALL 23/10/2008 1:00:00 AM > > BIKES will be banned from buses that replace V/Line trains to the North > East and tourism experts fear that may put the brakes on one of its > emerging markets. >From what I understand the bike ban is valid for all train replacement bus services throughout Victoria. Currently any cyclist relying on a train to take them somewhere may wind up in a situation where they are completely stuck should that train service be prematurely terminated on route, or cancelled outright.