Bespoke City Nostalgia

As we move into holiday mode, my thoughts turn to long, lazy afternoons enjoying the rich, inviting, creativity of a thriving bike community. I was nostalgic for a local event something along the lines of Bespoke City. Bespoke City was a super special, one-night-only art and design event held in Sydney some years back. A wonderful reminder of what can be achieved when creative minds come together. For those who missed it, this post explains the event. Here’s to hoping for more bespoke events like this! Enjoy. NG.

The Bespoke City event was put on to celebrate a new generation of designers, makers, technologists and innovators who had teamed up with artists to re-imagine Sydney’s streets from the perspective of the cyclist.

Brilliant! There should be more city events like this!

The Bespoke City festival included a series of bike-inspired installations, projections, interactive artworks, unique sculptures, videos, kinetic artworks, demonstrations, and stalls. Curated by Laura Fisher and Sabrina Sokalik, Bespoke City invited audiences to reimagine Sydney’s urban environment.

It was held in a new community space in the heart of Oxford Street. This was the first time the event had ‘spilled out into the streets’ from the UNSW Art & Design Courtyard and Galleries.

Bicycles were central to all the artworks.

Bikes were used to generate light, colour, sound and energy, while other artworks used them as a metaphor for the city itself – reminding us that urban spaces can be deconstructed and remade and that we are all implicated in the politics of public space.

A key aim of the event was to spotlight the bicycle as a humble but brilliant piece of technology, and to share a vision of the city as open to being hacked, remapped and remade.

Bespoke City was part of UNSW Galleries’ First Fridays program, in which the Galleries stayed open late on the first Friday of each month to host lively events engaging in contemporary art and culture.

What a great idea! More, please!

Laura Fisher said Bespoke City appealed to everyone: “This is one for the makers, the pedalers and the whole family.”

Some of the more than 20 Bespoke City artworks, workshops and installations, included:

Pedal powered light mural – Climb on and peel back the layers of the city. See Sydney in flux as your pedalling efforts produce variations in light, colour and space. Artists: Jonathon Bolitho, Jeong Greaves, Jobe Williams, Mackenzie Nix.
Autonomous painting machine – A robot-painter that tracks human movements to create curious images, prompting viewers to think about how machine intelligence is influencing our lives. Artist: Jeffrey Wood
Bicycles that make music – Create a slow groove or some fast electronic beats as you collaborate with other riders to fill the campus with a unique and evolving sound piece. Artists: Milkcrate Events.
Microbiology in the urban wild – Examine the city at the molecular level using a bike-powered laboratory created by the first Citizen Scientist molecular biology lab. Artists: BioFoundry
A virtual ride from Paddington to Rozelle – ‘Veloscape’ is an immersive video work in which your pedalling takes you on a traverse of the city. Artists: Volker Kuchelmeister and Laura Fisher
Giant data visualisation – Watch the ebb and flow of rider movements around Sydney, with a specially commissioned work inspired by the City’s cycling data. Artist: Hanley Weng & Xavier Ho.

There were also lots of other things to do, like get a free bicycle tune-up, join the guerrilla knitters, make some custom reflective gear or get some food from one of the Cargo Bike businesses and pop up stalls.

Yes – a wonderful event that ticks so many boxes: artistic, fun, high community engagement, questioning urban design and mobility, bike-focused, collaborative, free, public event…(*sigh*).

I’d love to see more events like this during the holidays.

Ti wouldn’t be too much of a stretch given that most major cities already have some kind of public, night-time bike events like Ride the Night Brisbane or some kind of innovative bike infrastructure like the Starry Night Bike Path.

So let’s showcase more art and design collaborative artworks on two wheels!

This post uses content originally posted by Laura Fisher for UNSW Newsroom and UNSW Galleries.

02/09/202010/11/2020

Bikes take the lead in NSW Streets as Shared Spaces Program

It is encouraging to see more local councils and state governments backing active transportation and bike riding. As well as leveraging all the well-established health, social, economic and environmental benefits of bike riding, during COVID-19, it is now more important than ever to be improving public spaces that are equitable, accessible and practice social distancing. In June, NSW Government put out a call for activation grants and here are some of winning applicants. I hope there are more initiatives like this and other states follow suit – here’s to hoping! Great start NSW! Enjoy! NG.

What is the Shared Streets Spaces program?

The Streets as Shared Spaces program in NSW is part of a wider suite of initiatives in NSW looking to boost public access for the community during COVID-19.

Through the Streets as Shared Spaces program, the NSW Government has awarded grants to councils for temporary activation projects that support the community during COVID-19 and also test ideas for more permanent improvements to local streets, paths and public spaces.

This $15 million program launched in 2020, and was a pilot to enable improvements across NSW during COVID-19 and into the future which:

support essential workers to travel to work, and people working from home
contribute to NSW economic recovery in our local centres by creating vibrant streets and additional safe space to support local business
activate high streets to create better quality public space
support physical distancing requirements and encourage safe social connection
support the well-being of local communities and their ability to exercise
attract people back into public spaces in a safe way, when appropriate to do so.

Projects are intended to test and build the case for more permanent changes. Councils will lead the projects and consult with the community and stakeholders to evaluate success and make changes as needed.

The NSW Government has announced a list of urban and regional streets due for temporary transformations as part of their $15 million Streets as Shared Spaces program.

Launched in 2020, the program awards grants to councils for temporary activation projects that support the community during COVID-19 and test ideas for more permanent improvements to local streets, paths and public spaces.

Bikes take the lead in NSW Streets as Shared Spaces Program. Bicycles Create Change.com 2nd September 2020. — Image: NSW Dept. of Planning, Industry and Environment and Destination

Streets as Shared Spaces program aims to:

support essential workers to travel to work, and people working from home
contribute to NSW economic recovery in our local centres by creating vibrant streets and additional safe space to support local business
activate high streets to create better quality public space
support physical distancing requirements and encourage safe social connection
support the well-being of local communities and their ability to exercise
attract people back into public spaces in a safe way, when appropriate to do so

Amongst the 27 regional and 14 Greater Sydney councils who have been awarded grants, there were a number of bike-friendly improvements, including:

Ballina Shire Council

Project name: A Slow Path – Not A Fast Short Cut
Amount: $100,000
Description: A program of temporary works that seeks to test a number of traffic calming elements and streetscape features aimed at improving safety and convenience for pedestrian and cyclists in and around Park Lane over a trial period of 8-9 months.

Bayside Council

Project name: Place Making – Russell Avenue, San Souci
Amount: $100,000
Description: The proposal is for a ‘pilot’ trial opportunity to create community parklets alongside wide off-road cycleways where families feel safe to ride their bicycles – protected from traffic, whilst exploring local cafes before enjoying the paths and natural space of the Botany Bay’s foreshore.

Central Coast Council

Project name: Implementation of a Shared Zone and activation of The Esplanade, Umina Beach
Amount: $327,528
Description: This project is to provide a shared zone in The Esplanade, Umina Beach between Ocean Beach Road and Trafalgar Avenue, to provide a safer environment, great amenity and activate the road to provide a pedestrian and bike priority-based space.

Coffs Harbour City Council

Project name: The Green Spine Pilot Project
Amount: $800,000
Description: The Green Spine pilot project aims to trial a safe corridor for cycling and walking access along Coffs Harbour’s Harbour Drive during COVID-19.

Ku-ring-gai Council

Project name: Gilroy Road Separated Cycleway and Turramurra Shared Path
Amount: $398,000
Description: The project is to test the cycleway proposed in Turramurra Public Domain Plan. It will provide a safer cycling route for all ages and link open spaces, as well as providing a link from residential areas to local centre and station away from higher traffic roads.

You can see a full list of the successful projects here.

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said: “It’s fantastic to see so many councils eager to provide new and improved public spaces for their communities, encouraging active transport and beautifying their streetscapes.”

These projects will transform neighbourhoods across the state, making it easier for people to walk or ride to local shops and services by creating safe, attractive and accessible streets and public spaces.”

This sets a strong example for other state governments looking to bounce back from the pandemic, particularly in Victoria where the full impact of changing transport habits are yet to be realised due to the extended lockdown.

Content in this post first published by Bicycle Network.

04/01/201911/11/2019

Animals on Bikes – Tourist Trail

The new year break is a time when many families hit the road for an annual holiday.

Cars full of people travel up and down the Australian East Coast heading to their favourite travel destination.

If you find yourself travelling through Central NSW, why not check out the Animals on Bikes tourist trail?

Animals on Bikes is a 120km creative ‘paddock art’ installation of…. well…. animals on bikes… that you can see from your car as you drive along.

What is Animals on Bikes?

Originally, the inspiration for the project (started by Christine Western), was to capitalize on local tourist services and attractions, such as the Dubbo Zoo.

But as 8 years of drought continued to ravage local farms, it also become a way ‘to boost morale and improve the economic health of our rural-reliant central west communities’.

Animals on Bikes started in 2009 as a series of 45 creative 2-metre high sculptures and some smaller ones created by local farmers, farmers wives, Men’s sheds, bus drivers, preschool kids, playgroup mums and other locals.

Now, there are over 100 sculptures on display.

All installations are located off the main highway, between Molong and the Dubbo Zoo, via Cumnock and Yeoval. You can download a map and self-drive a route that suits you.

Animals on Bikes - Tourist Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com. 4th Jan, 2019. — Image: Animals on Bikes

This project is quite remarkable.

Its impressive that the local community galvanised to link into, and extend, the local region’s tourism industry in creative and unique ways – as well as showcasing the talent, humour and ingenuity of local residents.

Many rural areas are being negatively affected by new highway developments that bypass communities – a theme immortalized as per Radiator Springs in the Disney movie ‘Cars’ for instance. This project is a great example of one community’s proactive approach to redress this.

What a great idea – and what an awesome theme!

See Animals on Bikes for more information. Here’s a few Animals on Bikes.

A big thanks to Claire Tracey, who suggested this story after seeing Animals on Bikes on a trip from Brisbane to Canberra. Thank you! We love it!

04/03/201807/03/2018

Happy 2018 Sydney Mardi Gras on bicycles!

In homage to the incredible 2018 gay and lesbian Mardi Gras festivities held this week in Australia, this post is about the ways in which bicycles have featured in the Sydney Mardi Gras over the years. Happy strutting and mirror balls all! NG.

Happy 2018 Sydney Mardi Gras on bicycles!

This week was the 40th anniversary of the Sydney gay and lesbian Mardi Gras. I lived in Sydney for 3.5 years and had a wonderful time there. The annual Mardi Gras festival is always a major social and cultural event in my calendar. The colour, sparkles, energy, cheekiness and sheer volume of ..well.. everything ..is truly something to behold.

And this year is extra special because of the historic Yes vote for gay marriages – so there was a gay marriage included in the parade for the first time ever.

Oh… and Cher (at 71) was there killing it as the headline act for the official party – and for the 500,000-strong crowd. Amazing!

If you missed it (or want to see it again!) SBS has the full ‘glitter-filled’ Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras broadcast available online here.

Aside from the well-known The Dykes on Bikes (who are on motorcycles, not pushies of course!), on the surface, there does not seem to be much bicycle action at Mardi Gras.

But… dig a little deeper and you will find that Mardi Gras has a heart of two-wheels! Here are just a few examples…..

Sydney Spokes

The Sydney Spokes is a social cycling group for gay and lesbian riders. This cycling club has an amazing history and connection with the Mardi Gras.

In 1987, Sydney Spokes had it’s first official and public recognition when it was listed in the Mardi Gras Festival Guide. The listing described their first bicycle-theme Mardi Gras entry for that year.

In 1991, the club won 1st Prize Mardi Gras Parade for Best Community Float, which entailed Brett Heil (organiser) and three cyclists ‘towing’ a ute with floating ropes of helium balloons. Upmarket bikes were raised high on the back of the ute and Sydney Spokes riders flanked both sides, whilst other members circled the main float on bikes.

According to the club, the Channel 9 Sunday Evening News (then the highest-rating program on Sydney television) led its Mardi Gras coverage with footage of the Spokes float.

In 1995, the club once again took out a Mardi Gras Parade Prize, this time for Most Outstanding Foreplay, which was awarded for their performance which honoured loved ones who had died of AIDS through the clubs ‘Spirits of the Night’ entry.

There are a few rainbow cycling clubs around like Sydney Sokes – for example, the Velociped Salon Team below….

A gift idea for those rides who have a sock/kit fetish …. (joke intended!)

All across Australia, people celebrate Mardi Gras and rock the rainbow on two-wheels in many different ways.. like this lovely free spirit below photographed in Perth.

And these two brave Sydney Spokers below were snapped in the 2013 Mardi Gras….

And, finally, perhaps this guy below SHOULD have been at Mardi Gras??

However you ended up celebrating Mardi Gras this year – I hope you had a wonderfully sparkly time!

Remember, you don’t have to wait for Mardi Gras to rock the rainbow, get happy and get out on ya bike! Happy Mardi Gras all!

08/05/201708/05/2017

Yoga for cyclists

This last week I returned from an (informal) 3-day ‘yoga for cyclists’ retreat.

I say ‘informal retreat’ because we actually to visit an old school friend of husband’s and his gorgeous partner at a spectacular property in Dunoon, NSW. And I say ‘for cyclists’ because both husband and I have been riding bike recreationally and competitively for a number of years now.

Luckily for us, our delightful host couple have just recently returned from an extended stay in India, where they were living in a yoga ashram to undertake their yoga instructors course (hence ‘retreat’!).

It goes without saying that staying with them was blissful, gentle and wonderfully restorative.

Yoga for cyclists! Start the day right!

We were up at 5 am for an hour of meditation, then two hours of yoga followed by some more meditation – all before breakfast.

What a way to start each day!

Although I still did some reading for my PhD, I did not ride during this trip as I just wanted to invest in some quality rest and relaxing downtime. To this end, I was really just a love sponge for the amazing views, good company, scrumptious veggo food and stunning campfire-under-an-endless-night-sky vibes (*sigh*!).

Best of all, we did yoga every day – and I mean good yoga!

We did all the yoga poses you would get in classes, but also held some for considerably longer. Plus, we did a variety of yogic purification breathing techniques that I have not tried before – super interesting!

An additional bonus was that both our hosts team-taught each session, which was brilliant for the balance of yin/yang – male/female energies.

However!

Given years of competitive and recreational mountain bike riding, this daily yoga practice really drove home how tight my thighs and hips were – and how important regular stretching is.

A month of yoga (for cyclists) challenge

Since returning, I have committed to a month’s yoga challenge – with a focus on unlocking and releasing the years of stored up cycling tension (it might take a while!). After my initial month trial ends, our two yoga hosts suggested to check out their ashram’s online yoga practice.

Their ashram, Akhanda has a number of yoga classes free online as well as a private youtube channel, which for $10 a month, you are able to access to a series of yoga sessions (5 x 30 mins per week, or 5 x 60 mins per week, etc.).

Overall impacts thus far?

I am feeling so much better for doing daily yoga and will definitely continue. I have really enjoyed the progress I have made in the last eight days and can feel the difference in my legs, hips and torso. I feel a lot stronger, more centred and have noticed a considerable improvement in the range of movement in my hips.

This month’s yoga for cyclists challenge serves as a timely reminder to slow down and to explore alternative approaches to getting stronger.

Maybe some days, if it is raining outside and you are not up for a ride, you can work in, instead of work out! (Oh no, dad!).

So if you have not done yoga lately, here is one of the better of many popular yoga classes designed specifically for cyclists to get started.

I hope you have fun and get as much satisfaction out of it as I am! Enjoy!

27/01/201731/01/2017

Indigenous Mountain Bike Project

While travelling the Northern New South Wales coast this week, I had a chance to catch up with some indigenous mates. We got chatting about bike riding. Lots of the local kids on the missions use bikes to get around, meet up with friends, go fishing or hang out at the local skate parks. BMX is pretty popular and I also saw some mountain bikes getting around. After our chat, it got me thinking. I decided to find out if there were any programs specifically supporting local NSW indigenous cyclists. The most prominent program that popped up was the Indigenous Mountain Bike Project (IMTBP) and it also piqued my interest for other reasons, like program viability.

National Indigenous Centre for Excellence (NCIE)

This is a NSW specific biking program. This was one of the many LIFE (Lifestyle Innovations For Everyone) programs run by the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence (NCIE). The actual centre is based in Redfern, Sydney, but the actual MTB program had services and trips spread out all over the state. The central NCIE focus is to provide services, training and opportunity to increase health, life skills and talent for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. NCIE has an array of educational, arts and culture, a conference centre, sporting, recreation, social, health and wellness services that develop skills, enterprises, occupational and technical opportunities and the like – all aimed at improving the learning, development and positive lifestyles for its members.

The Indigenous Mountain Bike Project was one of the services the NCIE offered and it was created to get more indigenous people riding bikes. It was launched January 2012 and the main driving force, legs and faces of this project was Sean Appoo and Ben Bowen.

Indigenous Mountain Bike Project (IMTBP) – Background

The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet states the program as being:

“The Indigenous Mountain Bike Project is run by the Lifestyle Innovations For Everyone (LIFE) team at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in New South Wales. The aim of the project is to promote bike riding as a form of physical activity to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages and health levels. The IMTBP has a fleet of 19 bikes for use by staff and program participants. The program offers:

regular bike trips for groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people around Sydney
entry into local and regional mountain bike competitions
workshops on bike maintenance and safe cycling skills.”

Some key details about the Indigenous Mountain Bike Project.

This project ran From Jan 2012 until June 2015, whereupon it looks like the project was stopped. During those three years, the project held many social and skills rides, supported and attended events, had a good social media presence on Facebook and built up a community of active and enthusiastic cyclists.
Of the 19 bikes used, 3 are hybrid bikes and the other 16 are mountain bikes.
The fleet was not just used for training and maintained programs for new beginner riders, but were also used in local and regional MTB competitions, races and events.
The program was operational and participated in the Inaugural Koori MTB Cup in 2014.
The project had a team of representative riders who raced events such as the JETBLACK 24Hr, Koori MTB Cup and the Huski 100.
When the bikes are not being used for programs, events, trips or for local and regional MTB competitions, the NCIE staff use them to ride to and from meetings during work hours.
Other local inner city rides and meet ups were an adjunct feature of this program getting more people on bikes – local businesses, commuters and weekend rider forums popped up with riders sharing trip reports, ride details, invites for meet ups and technical knowledge.
The program received quite a bit of publicity and was feature in an SBS featurette in June 2015 (see below).

The IMTB Project Facebook site

Although no longer actively used since May 2015, the IMTBP Facebook site is still a testament to the range of biking services, popularity and community that this project built. There are numerous videos event posters and invites, people posting their trails via mapmyrides and sharing details for upcoming rides and active discussion forum for all levels of fitness, ages and cycling types.

There are a series of videos detailing the IMTBP team and adventures on MTB trials and during the JETBLACK 24 hr race at the LIFE TV YouTube chann el, which show skills sessions, training, the IMTBP team riding in various events and it also has a few IMTBP rider profiles which are good to see. It also demonstrates the time and effort that many different people put into this project.

So what happened?

On the face value, it seems like the Indigenous Mountain Bike Project was a ‘success’. But what does that mean and how do you measure it? What were the outcomes of this project? It seems to have got a good following, achieved its goals of getting more indigenous people riding and created a thriving community that had a good presence – so what happened to this program? Did funding run out? Did attendance wane? Was there no one to hand over to?

The only indication given was this post on Facebook group on June 2015.

IMTB PRoject — Source: IMTBP Facebook page

But this post gives few details about the status of the IMTBP (but certainly showcases the massive effort and impact Sean and Ben had during their time there). Even though Sean and Ben are ‘wrapping up’, it is unclear if that means the IMTB project finished as well. If it did, then why?

I called the National Indigenous Centre for Excellence LIFE Team’s 1300 866 176 phone number as provided online. I wanted to find out what happened to this project. But the number was disconnected. I tried the NCIE landline (02) 9046 7802 and had to leave a voice mail message. So I still don’t know what happened. Seems strange…

Why do some of the best projects fail to continue?

It can be incredibly frustrating and unfortunate that community programs such as this one can be planned, funded and implemented, yet are not sustainable to endure and provide such a valuable service. These kinds of scenarios occur all the time in the community/international development sphere. Whether it is a community group or multilateral international aid organisation, sustainability and how/why projects finish is a massive industry issue.

In my field of International development – one organisation decided to meet this issue head on. I will never forget seeing the 2008 Engineers without Borders Failure Report and watching David Damberger talk about what happens when an NGO admits failure – and hearing of project insights that were learnt, yet rarely acknowledged or shared.

I am by no means suggesting that the IMTBP was a mistake or ‘failure’, merely making the observation sad that such a positive biking program that obviously had community popularity and traction was not able to continue operating – which begs the questions – why not?

I thought back to my chat about bikes with my indigenous mates earlier this week. I wondered if the program was still operating would there be even more Koori riders? With such a strong community following and uptake, why was this initiative not picked up by local/national councils? Are we short changing the next Indigenous Anna Meares or Cadel Evans? What a great biking and community initiative – and what a pity it has not prevailed!

23/01/201723/01/2017

Preventing car dooring in NSW

This morning I am heading interstate to NSW for a week.

After registering for the upcoming Bike Future 2017 Conference in Melbourne, I find myself wanting checking up on the some of the latest urban bike programs and initiatives being undertaken south of Queensland’s border. So I started looking into some key current cycling issues, changes and policy directions happening in NSW and Victoria.

Think of the Impact – Car Dooring Awareness Program – New South Wales (NSW).

In investigating all sorts of programs, one Sydney program that caught my eye. It focuses on the issue of car dooring and the program is called Think of the Impact. It turns out that the major hot spots for car dooring in Sydney are Kings Cross, Newtown and Surry Hills. After recognising the obvious increase in people cycling, having seventy-four car-dooring incidents reported and under pressure from local cycling advocate groups, the Think of the Impact initiative was created.

This project was undertaken as a Sydney Cycles Ways project in collaboration with City of Sydney and NRMA Insurance. It was in response to the increasing levels and problems of cycling in Sydney. I’m not going to rehash the background of this program because if your keen to read more about this NSW project and its origins – you can find it here.

Car dooring of cyclists is an issue in major cities

I had not seen this particular program before. It rally struck an immediate cord with me as car dooring was an ongoing and critical issue when I was commuting every day to work by bike when I was in Melbourne. I had a few near misses myself and I saw many others car dooring situations as well, with various outcomes. It was a very challenging – and was a very real clear and present danger. It was something that many Melbourne cyclists talk about as well. It was interesting to hear that the issue of car dooring and urban cyclist safety is a similar and prevalent concern in Sydney (NSW) as it was in Melbourne (VIC).

In NSW, car drivers can be fined $319 and lose 2 demerit points if they pass too close to cyclists.

As of 2012, Victoria increased penalties so that car dooring fines now incur a maximum of ten demerit points, and fines have since increased from $423 to $1,408.

I’ve noticed that in Brisbane (and Queensland in general), there is a clear media reticence about reporting car dooring and cyclist safety in general. It is certainly not a key media or community issue or nowhere near mentioned as often in the media as it is down south. Car dooring is definitely a bike safety issue in Brisbane, but local media reports of cycling in Brisbane do not highlight car dooring as a major traffic or cycling issue. In fact, most Queensland media reports on road/urban cycling in Brisbane detail fatalities. Fatalities are the most reported cycling safety issue in Brisbane given the lack of bike lanes or shoulders, heavy reliance (and love) of large motor vehicles such as 4WDs, trucks and utes with boat trailers, minimal bike infrastructure and heavily congested road traffic.

Why this particular program?

Sydney Cycles Ways is responsible for this program and decide to run the program based on compelling data of local cyclists’ car dooring experiences. As a quick check in with the cycling community Sydney Cycles Ways, mid last year did a quick online survey via Twitter to get some feedback re car dooring occurrences, and this is what they found:

Free stickers to promote awareness of urban cyclists

Another reason why this NSW program is particularly interesting and proactive – is that it offers free stickers for cars to remind and promote other road users (car drivers specifically) about car dooring – hence the name of the program.

The idea is to get more car users actively checking for cyclists before opening doors.

Here are what the smaller stickers and larger (car) stickers look like:

I have not seen these stickers before, but then again, I don’t live in Sydney. I wasn’t aware that this program had been launched in NSW and so I missed out on knowing that the public could order sets of 4 small rear mirror stickers and/or larger car door sized stickers in two colour choices – for free. Apparently making merchandise available for free to the general public as part of an awareness-raising campaign is a pretty effective strategy to get more people participating and publicly sharing the message.

This was especially the case for this program, where the response to these free stickers was very encouraging. By halfway through 2016, there had been a great community response to the program and 20,000 stickers had been requested.

I went online yesterday and ordered 4 sets of the small stickers and one large car sticker. I’m keen to see what they look like.

I can immediately see the attraction of the smaller stickers, but I’m not sure about the car door stickers – realistically how many people would put the large sticker on their car door – would you?

If you would like to order a free set of stickers that will be posted to you – click here.

For more information about this program, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Adviser Bridget Ahern, phone 0423 505 854 or email bahern@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

14/01/201602/03/2017

Shame on NSW bike laws

I was shocked to hear the news that the NSW government is implementing surprising mandatory NSW IDs for any cyclists and increasing fines for cyclists by 500%. Now, my Blogs are about the positive changes that bicycles create. So this post is somewhat of an anomaly as this is the first time I have ever posted about an event/policy which is actually going to have a highly negative impact on the community if put into effect and will restrict and ostracise cyclists as being some sort of social pariah. It is not my style to reproduce content, but I am making an exception in this case as the Bicycle Network sent me the following communication that best outlines the outrageous bicycle laws proposed – check this out and see what you think….

In a move that smacks of totalitarianism—and demonstrates contempt for people who ride bikes—NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay will introduce next March compulsory photo ID for bike riders in the State.

This oppressive step is a new low for the treatment of bike riders in NSW, who have been under the heel since the ascent of Mr Gay as Roads Minister.

Everyday people who are riding bikes for health, employment, education or just plain enjoyment, are being characterised as a menace to society—people who require surveillance, supervision and control.

Bicycle Network condemns this initiative in the strongest terms and will work to prevent its introduction.

Compulsory photo ID for bike riders is something that few people would have expected to be introduced anywhere in the world in 2015, least of all a supposed modern democracy like NSW. Now NSW is planning to stand alone as the only place in the world with compulsory ID for riders.

What’s next? Compulsory ID for pedestrians?

Mr Gay has also announced, just days before Christmas when governments hope to bury unpopular news, a raft of massive increases in fines affecting bike riders.

These include:

Not a wearing helmet (from $71 to $319)
Running a red light (from $71 to $425)
Riding dangerously (from $71 to $425)
Holding onto a moving vehicle (from $71 to $319)
Not stopping at children’s/pedestrian crossing ($71 to $425).

Increases of this magnitude are unheard of. Imagine the outrage if fines for motorists jumped 500 percent.

In a move that appears designed to cloak Mr Gay’s harsh measures, the government is planning to simultaneously introduce a trial fixed distance passing law. What’s worrying is that under the new fixed distance passing law penalties for driving too close to a rider look set to fall to a lower penalty than under the current safe passing distance law. Surely a bike rider’s well being is worth more.

And to cap it off, NSW will also ask bike riders to give a metre to walkers on shared paths. No mention though of how much space riders have to give a dog!

Bicycle Network CEO, Craig Richards, said today that the announcements could set bike riding back decades in NSW.

“Bike riding has been growing rapidly around Australia because it appeals as a healthy activity that everybody can participate in regardless of age or status.

“But now you need the official stamp of government approval—you can’t leave the house without your officially mandated, government issued ID card.

“In a time where we need greater cooperation from all road users, these proposals will result in bike riders being seen as a fringe group that needs special rules to keep them in check.”

To support your fellow cyclists and your right to ride free in NSW – take simple action by clicking here.