From ABC News:

Helmets the weak link in bike hire chain
By Cassie White

Updated 3 hours 9 minutes ago


With Brisbane's new CityCycle bike hire scheme due to kick off later this year, the issue of how helmets will factor in remains a sticking point.

The new program will hire out 1,500 bicycles in the city and surrounding areas, from 113 hire stations.

Similar schemes have been operating successfully in European cities like Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels - even cities in Iran and India are on the bandwagon.

However none of these countries have strict helmet laws, which may prove to be a bone of contention for Brisbane.

In a brief statement to ABC News Online, Brisbane City Council said there was no chance of loosening the state's tough helmet laws.

"Users of the cycle hire scheme will be required to wear helmets from day one. They will have four options: bring their own, purchase one as part of their subscription package, hire one from outlets around the city, purchase one from outlets around the city," the statement said.

"[But] the details of these last two, such as price and locations are still being worked out. The scheme opens in late 2010."

Peter French, co-convenor of CBD BUG, an advocacy group which focuses on bike use issues within the CBD, says it's doubtful many people would be willing to hire a helmet that's been on a stranger's sweaty head.

"Unless they were going to start getting people to wear hair nets, I really don't see that working," he said.

ABC News Online asked the Twittersphere if they would pay twice - to hire a bike then a helmet - and these were their responses.

@Dubito: Only if prices seemed reasonable, but I support the idea of less cost for supply-own-helmet.

@dessessopsid: no, given the law requires you to wear a helmet, I think it should be included in the hire price of the bicycle.

@lozfea: I used something like this in Montreal, Canada - was great. But surely bike cost would include helmet as is the law??

@KeeptheBshonest: Yep, hire bike system in europe is fantastic, and led to laws protecting cyclists etc .......

Helmet vending machines

Mr French says the program is a fantastic idea and he's excited about it starting, but he isn't aware of a workable idea for helmets being put on the table yet.

"As far as we know there have been a number of proposals. Vending machines, folding helmets and a few other unusual angles," he said.

"But as we understand, none of those things have come to fruition. We're hoping that some entrepreneurs are going to come up with a business model to start selling helmets in the city. Otherwise we're probably going to start seeing people riding around town without helmets.

"The main issue I see with it is when visitors want to start using it; of course if they've arrived on a plane they probably wouldn't have brought their bike helmet with them because they've probably come from a country where they don't wear helmets."

Mr French says the jury's still out on the benefits of helmets anyway and it would have been much better for Government to have invested in proper infrastructure years ago to keep cyclists away from traffic, so tough helmets laws didn't need to be enforced today.

"If you look at the countries where there's really high levels of cycling, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, they have much smaller proportions of people being killed or injured over there, even though they don't wear helmets," he said.

"It is because their governments have focused on safety programs which target traffic speeds and separating cyclists from fast moving traffic."

Andrew Demack, development officer for Bicycle Queensland, says he supports a kind of helmet vending-machine, where people can purchase one cheaply before they jump on their bike.

He doesn't think that having to pay for the bike hire either annually or casually, then having to pay for helmet - then carry it around all day - will put people off the idea.

"Most people don't want to re-use a helmet that someone else has had, so I think having access to lost-cost helmets is probably going to be the best way through for this," he said.

"It does make it more difficult for tourists, but there are helmets that do meet Australian safety standards that are really inexpensive these days.

"But making sure these helmets are available to pick up close by to the hiring stations is going to be a bit of a challenge for operators.

"As someone who rides and carries their helmet around anyway, you find it's not actually that much of an issue."

'Waste of money'

Jens Uhsemann, a mechanic at the Bicycle Revolution shop in Brisbane's West End, says the whole scheme is ridiculous and will be a massive waste of money.

"I think it's just rubbish. It just won't work. People aren't keen to go and get a bike and a helmet and a lock - people are lazy," he said.

"I'm from Europe and I believe people don't even need parking spaces - you can leave your bike anywhere and chain it up. The problem is getting people on the bikes anyway. If they wanted to go on them they would have their own bikes.

"When people come from overseas and rent a bike ... I'm not sure they know about or are interested ... in helmet laws anyway. Some people just don't know. We have to tell them when they come [and hire bikes off us].

"Even when we sell cheap bikes to students we have to tell nearly every second person they need a helmet in this country.

"The statistics even in Europe ... Paris always tells you how well everything works, but they never tell you how many bikes they have to fix, or fish out of the river."


First posted 13/04/2010