Bus Lane Only - Day 3! - Fremantle Shipping News

Madeleine Cox navigates/avoids The Bus Lane Only on Day 3 and has a adventure.

I love The Bus Lane Only. I don’t mind if it’s working or not. It’s already made a difference in our family. D1 and D2 have been catching the bus to school from Niergarup / East Fremantle. Time has opened up for me, and with that, space.

The bus lane and all the new traffic arrangements have opened up space on the roads too, according to reports from the JC kids. D1 informed me, in that most beautiful of assertive voices only a teen girl can have, ‘It’s not crowded’.

So, for some fun and an experiment, this morning I said ‘Let’s do a car run to school?’. This was not a straightforward choice. I over-thought it. There had been an intense family discussion before school went back that there were going to be no more car trips to school. Yes, I am a hypocrite – bit hard not to be these days. By the way. That em dash is not AI. I can’t bring myself to use AI. I could explain all the reasons why but i’d rather not bother with that. Yes, yes I know the genie is out of the bottle. But I’m going to ride out all the hype and wait until it’s a good, safe product. I’m still waiting for those tech oligarchs to get their acts together and make social media safe.

D2 likes to call me out when i’m a hypocrite. She has this amazing gift of honing in on it. I was relieved she didn’t call me out this morning. D2 didn’t want a car ride. She took the bus anyway. Good for her, I thought.

I wanted to see what it was like on the local roads for myself. I didn’t think the Ed, bless him for all he does for our beautiful Walyalup community, was really getting the full story. This is what I found.

Riverside Drive, which is where I headed first to avoid the Canning Highway / Stirling Highway intersection, was as clear as the blue sky on a late summer’s day. But then we got to our usual rat run, East Street, and the cars were a bit banked up. In the past this would happen sporadically. And our rat run option then, which is what we did this morning, is to turn left on Canning Highway, and then right up Glyde Street. Just a brief pause before turning left. Life was good.

Until on Glyde Street we were held up maybe 5 minutes behind a rubbish truck doing its vital work. Nothing we couldn’t wait out. Soon enough there was an opening.

We were on our way. Nearly there, the round-a-bout at East Street and George Street meant a smooth run before the home stretch to JC. Oh oh. Another rubbish truck. I did wonder if it might be possible for rubbish trucks to be asked to avoid peak movement hour just to help ease tension around the place. Even so, it wasn’t too much of a drag.

At the usual stopping place, I left the car and had a good walk around. It’s always magic to have a walk. Cars just don’t cut it, even with music and friends in the car with you. I’m happy cars exist. In a big state like Western Australia, they mean you can explore almost all of it. Wait. Are there any untouched places left? I must look into this.

Mostly, where I can, I travel on foot or by bike. You just feel so alive.

This is what I found which is completely different to how it used to be.

An amazing lollipop human frequently stopping traffic to guide children across, much more often than in years gone past. Thank goodness for them I thought – last year there wasn’t one for much of the time.

I looked south. On East Street beyond the crossing between Marmion Street and High Street, traffic heading in that direction was banked up all the way to the brand spanking new round- about.

Getting home to Niergarup / East Fremantle was a bit more of a challenge than usual. I forgot that I couldn’t go straight through along the Canning Highway passing Stirling Bridge on my left. Is this why everyone keeps clogging up the Bus Only Lane? I didn’t notice any signs telling me what to do. I find most of the signage around Whadjuk Noongar boodja like this. I always get lost going to the airport. They’ve been building the airport bigger and making more and more roads around it since before I had my first child. Maybe I wouldn’t get lost if I used those apps that read out directions. But where’s the fun in that? I’ve lived here most of my life now so you’d think I wouldn’t need the apps.

I digress. To get home, I finished up being obliged to turn north onto Stirling Highway and made my way along for a while before I could easily and safely back-track from Tydeman Road. The traffic heading south was banked up all along Stirling Bridge, but it was moving. I thought about all the years living in Walyalup where cars, trucks and motorbikes had been banked up. Actually, some more adventurous types thought it was a bending race. Oh, I miss the Prince Phillip Mounted games and riding a white horse. Especially bare back no bridle. Nothing but you and the majestic horse, being with each other, sharing the outdoors. Now that’s free-being.

Being stuck on Stirling Bridge often seemed like an eternity, especially on Friday afternoons. A while ago, our family stopped crossing the bridge if we could on Friday afternoons. With Mum living north of the Derbal Yerrigan, this could be inconvenient. Always, however, I felt for the truck drivers having to navigate that traffic. They didn’t get to choose when to travel. And there was always someone in a rush who would veer in front of them so they could turn left at Canning Highway. It’s a wonder there were not more pile-ups than those that happened.

Why didn’t they do anything about it sooner? No matter. The prospect of the beautiful new bridge might get me over the line I thought. Although I will miss those brilliant white giant meccano cranes, extraordinary marvels of human invention that they are.

And before I knew it I was home.

PS here are some screenshots of the traffic app the Ed took whilst I was doing all that driving.

PPS This story could also be called Arriving Home to Myself. I haven’t felt like this since I was 10. This was the last time I remember experiencing myself as a free-being. And yes, I have cried a lot writing this story. Tears of joy and sadness all at once.

PPPS These are the songs I listened to whilst writing away. ‘Common People’ by Pulp. They played at Glastonbury this year but I heard it the first time back in the 90’s. ‘I’m Alive’ by ELO. What good Australian girl growing up in the 80’s didn’t want to be Olivia Newton-John. I miss her. ‘Heart of Glass’ by Blondie. I wanted to be Blondie too. Maybe I still can. And ‘Ride a White Horse’ by Goldfrapp. I marvel at how music connects me to myself, to those talented artists, to all the people I have shared that music with and to all the people the artists have shared their music.

By Madeleine Cox

* Madeleine Cox was raised on a farm on Bindjareb Noongar country and now, together with her New Zealand/Aotearoa husband, lives with their children in Fremantle/Walyalup. She loves exploring places and ideas, and connecting with people and nature. This has compelled Madeleine to start writing independently, after many years work as a corporate and government lawyer, and service on not-for-profit boards in the health and education sectors.

~ For more articles by Madeleine Cox on FSN, look here.

~ Follow our Bus Lane Only stories here

~ For more FSN coverage of Bridge related things, look here

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –