Month: May 2020

Categories
Advocacy Press releases

Bicycle Queensland push for bike shops as an essential service

When government officials started discussing isolation restrictions in the early stages of COVID-19, Bicycle Queensland pro-actively put forward requests to keep bike shops open as essential services.

Bicycle Queensland wrote to the QLD Premier, the Hon Anastacia Palaszczuk, Minister for Health, the Hon Steven Miles MP, the Minister for Small Business, the Hon Shannon Fentiman MP, and the Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeanette Young for assistance in this matter.

Our letter outlined that bike shops are essential services for cyclists and must remain open (with appropriate safeguards) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full letter here

We quoted Bronwyn Victor, owner of Planet Cycles in Woolloongabba, who said there was no question that bike shops should keep trading.

“Bicycle use is now more than ever essential, for both transport and mental and physical health. It is imperative that bicycle stores remain able to function for both servicing and supply of vital parts and accessories (e.g tyres, tubes, helmets, lights, brake pads) to keep these people moving safely,” Bronwyn said.

We highlighted that bicycle food delivery services and bike courier services provide valuable support to our small businesses, hospitality and logistic industries. For many restaurateurs and small businesses, bicycles are critical in providing home delivery services and is the only way they can continue to trade during the pandemic.

In efforts to validate the need for bike shops, the BQ team encouraged the bike-riding community to support their local bike shop on our social media channels. As an authority on advocacy and education, we also offered guidance on appropriate measures for social distancing to enable bike shops to continue to trade safely. The Facebook campaign encouraging people to tag their local bike shop was very successful, with more than 130 comments from our community showing appreciation for their local bike shop.

Categories
Advocacy

Brisbane Valley Rail Trail draft strategic plan

The Department for Transport and Main Roads (TMR) commissioned consultants to develop a draft strategic plan for the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (BVRT).

Read the Draft Strategic Plan here

The trail has an extensive history and covers the three local government areas of Somerset, Toowoomba and South Burnett. Bicycle Queensland’s Director of Advocacy participated in the strategy workshop held in Esk in late 2019, and we have now submitted a response to the draft strategy.

Read BQ’s response to the draft strategic plan here

While BQ wholeheartedly agrees with the main points of the strategy, there remains an open question as to whether TMR is the right department to develop, govern and market a tourism asset. As rail trails are not a transport asset, it is highly unlikely for TMR to prioritise the BVRT. Despite the fact, the tourism potential of rail trails across the state is substantial. As an example, the Central Otago rail trail in NZ generates more than 15,000 visits each year and injects upwards of $12 million annually into a regional economy. 

Rail trails provide a scenic, off-road experience for cyclists of all skill levels and ages. As a way of introducing rail trails to a broader audience, Bicycle Queensland has been holding events on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail for the past five years. Queensland has four major rail trails either planned, under construction, or now completed. All of them have potential to become economically successful tourism spots if there is enough support and investment behind the idea.

Bicycle Queensland believe there is a mountain of potential to hold events and boost tourism in the South Burnett and Far North Queensland area through the trails. We hope to explore the trail possibilities in Central Queensland as well as we move forward.

Categories
Advocacy Press releases

COVID-19 Guidelines regarding cycling from home

In the last few months, the BQ team have been contributing to some pivotal discussions around COVID-19 lockdown measures. Throughout the lockdown, BQ has been providing updates and guidance on how to cycle safely during COVID-19.

BQ’s CEO, Rebecca Randazzo had meetings with Queensland’s Chief Health Officer and Assistant Police Commissioner to talk about cycling restrictions. Their main concerns were around people travelling too far from home when cycling.

When Bicycle Queensland was first contacted about cycling restrictions, a radius of 5km was suggested. Rebecca successfully lobbied for no distance restrictions when cycling from home during COVID-19. The result of Rebecca’s lobbying enables thousands of Queenslander’s to continue cycling as a form of commuting or exercise.

Categories
Advocacy

BQ supports Australian experts call for space for safer walking and cycling

Whilst Australia has responded promptly to COVID-19, the result of lockdown measures has left us concerned with current cycling safety standards.

Dr Ben Beck, from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, led the important call from health and transport experts. He expressed his concerns for safety, as our paths and cycleways are inadequate to handle the physical activity requirement during COVID-19.

The Australian Government recognised the importance of remaining physically active during the pandemic, listing exercise as one of four essential activities. As a result, many Australians have been getting active across the country by walking and cycling.Whilst this is positive, many areas lack sufficient space required to maintain critical physical separation.  

Source: www.visitbrisbane.com.au

Bicycle Queensland CEO, Rebecca Randazzo and Dr Beck collaborated on this letter, calling on decision makers to take urgent steps to provide more space for walking and cycling during and after the pandemic. The letter was sent to all State and Territory Transport Ministers and co-signed by over 100 Australian experts and Bicycle Queensland.

Categories
Advocacy

Bicycle Queensland proposes pop-up bikeways in Brisbane’s CBD

In efforts to improve cycling accessibility throughout Brisbane’s CBD and adapt to the recent surge of cyclists, Bicycle Queensland has put forward concept plans to Brisbane City Council and the State Government for separated bikeways on George Street and Mary Street.

The journey of so many CBD cyclists is hazardous, putting not only existing riders at risk but also discouraging any potential cyclists from commuting to the city. As a solution to this problem, the ‘pop-up’ lanes proposed by Bicycle Queensland will provide a safe route for existing and future riders to cycle through the CBD.

Safety is a priority for all cyclists

“Improving safety and convenience in the CBD itself takes away one more major barrier for people who want to return to their workplaces, but don’t want to be stuck in traffic for hours”, highlights CEO of Bicycle Queensland, Rebecca Randazzo. “People who work in the CBD need incentives to leave the car at home, and get to work by bicycle and walking,”. The proposed pop-up bikeways aim to drastically improve the safety and cycling experience for thousands of city workers, students and delivery riders in the inner city.

The advocacy team have felt strongly about pushing for more CBD bike lanes for some time, however we believe now more than ever is an opportune time to fast track the long-term plans of an inner-city CBD grid. We know first-hand that new riders prioritise safe infrastructure as a deciding factor to whether or not they keep riding. Having pop-up bikeways implemented in busy CBD areas is our first proposed step to making riders feel more safe and comfortable riding through the city.

The proposed plan

Before developing these plans, we consulted with expert Government stakeholders and contacts to ensure our proposed ideas were viable. The plans show a 3-metre wide, bi-directional bikeway extending from the existing lanes on George Street along to Mary Street. The Mary Street bikeway flows from George Street through to Edward Street, ensuring a seamless experience travelling from an east to west direction in the CBD.  

Construction for the Queen’s Wharf precinct and the Cross-River Rail have affected both George Street and Mary Street, changing road conditions and limiting car usage. Repurposing these streets and implementing pop-up bikeways supports active commuting in the city with minimal change to current road setups.

“The last thing we need is for every person who usually takes public transport to the city getting into their cars”.

CEO of Bicycle Queensland, Rebecca Randazzo

It is important to note the plans do require the removal of some on-street parking on both George and Mary streets, however both on and off-street parking is available nearby. The infrastructure can be achieved in a matter of days by using barriers and line divides on existing roads. This projection is similar to the planned pop-up cycle ways recently announced for Sydney.

Rebecca Randazzo makes a valid point concerning social distancing implications on transport, stating that, “Public transport continues to be a difficult proposition for many people as we come out of the pandemic but still continue with social distancing.”

The plan moving forward

Bicycle Queensland’s advocacy team were proud to present these plans to Brisbane City Council’s chair of Public and Active Transport, Cr Ryan Murphy, and also separately to the State Transport and Main Roads Minister, the Hon Mark Bailey MP. We will endeavour to keep you all updated with progress on the proposal moving forward. Bicycle Queensland’s advocacy team would like to thank CBD BUG and Space4Cycling Brisbane for prior work done on this idea and previous BQ campaigns.

If you are interested in finding out more about this proposal, you can read more via the link below:

CBD Pop-up Cycle Space Proposal

Categories
Events Uncategorised

2020 Events – Update

On Friday 8 May, the State Government released QLD’s Roadmap to Easing COVID-19 restrictions. The roadmap outlined a staged approach to giving Queenslanders more freedom to travel, participate in more activities and hold more gatherings. While we welcome this plan and are focused on doing our part to get to Stage 3 as fast as possible, there is still a lot of uncertainty around mass participation events, gatherings of greater than 100 and any future easing of restrictions.

We have therefore made the decision to cancel our planned mass participation rides for the rest of 2020. This includes the Yarraman to Wulkuraka Rail Trail Adventure, Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge and the Big Beach Ride.   

It has not been an easy decision and we know there will be a lot of disappointed cyclists out there, none more than us, but the health and wellbeing of every Australian must come first.   

It is not all bad news though as we have been working hard to find ways to reach all Queensland cyclists over the past few months.  We have an exciting new online challenge launching soon called Pedal Queensland – Ride for Rewards! We’re partnering with some amazing like-minded organisations to bring you great discounts, awesome prizes and educational content that will make you wonder how you lived without it. 

We’ve also partnered with Orange Sky Laundry for the event, helping them continue the amazing work they do across Queensland supporting people experiencing homelessness.

Keep an eye out for Pedal Queensland – Ride for Rewards – coming to your local roads & trails in August. 

We’ve also been busy working with key partners to redesign some great BQ initiatives and help everyone out on their bike as soon as we can.  We’ll have our bike maintenance workshops up and running again soon for BQ members, we’ll be out in the parks and around shared paths with eBike test rides, you’ll see us in pop-ups across the South East with an education focus and helping break down some of the barriers to getting more women cycling. 

And regional Queensland, we are working on plans to get to you in 2021 with some great new initiatives, activations and events.

As for our mass rides – we are changing things up a little in 2021 also with new dates, new events and a promise that there will be something for everyone at every event Bicycle Queensland offers.

A few positives to take from all this is the new found love of cycling and physical activity outdoors by thousands of Queenslanders. We want to give them a reason to keep cycling for years to come and encourage more people to experience the natural highs from conquering a challenge on two wheels. We can’t wait to see you all back out at a BQ event in 2021 but hope to see many of you out and about every day on your bike.

Keep an eye out for Pedal Queensland soon if you love riding, great rewards, awesome prizes and the power of knowledge.

Watch our events update video below:

Categories
Advocacy Press releases

Riding a bike is 39 times better than going to the gym, Queenslanders say

78% of Queenslanders who have taken up bike riding for exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic prefer bike riding over going back to the gym.

This is one of the findings in a survey commissioned by Bicycle Queensland, which had more than 3000 responses from new and existing bike riders over the past two weeks.

Bike riding and sales of bicycles have boomed during the home confinement phase of COVID-19 restrictions, as Queenslanders seized the opportunity to get out of the house once a day for exercise. Families with children being home-schooled also were grateful for the chance to be outside, often riding together for the first time.

Bike retailers such as 99 Bikes, and online retailer Pushys, reported item as diverse as indoor trainers and child seats were sold out, and re-stocking is proving to be a challenge.

But overall, bike sales were reported by retailers to be up between 50% and 500%, depending on the category.

Automated counters on Brisbane City Council’s bikeway network have reported a massive increase in the number of bike riders. On Kedron Brook bikeway, numbers are up about 300%. 

Bicycle Queensland CEO Rebecca Randazzo said: “This is an opportunity for all levels of Government to be bold, and to work together.”

“The numbers are irrefutable – Queenslanders want to be active, whether it’s about getting to work or getting some exercise.”

“We need to provide safe spaces for people to ride, and the time to act is now.”

John Reghenzani, who lives at Paddington and works at Newstead, is one such commuter, who is returning to office work after home confinement.

“I’ve determined for myself that riding to work is the way to go. I’m killing two birds with one stone … getting exercise to combat my sedentary lifestyle while getting to work more quickly than if I took the bus.

“I’m not a morning person, so riding to work clears out the cobwebs in the morning, and on the way home it helps to get rid of the workplace angst,” John said.

Respondents to Bicycle Queensland’s survey said they started riding bikes during the pandemic because they couldn’t go to the gym (36%), or because cycling is exercise that is gentler on the body than running or walking (36%), or because cycling is exercise they can do with a partner or the whole family (32%). They didn’t ride before the pandemic because of lack of time (40%) or concerns about personal safety (32%).

Most of these new riders are riding on bike paths (76%) or in bike lanes on roads. They are buying road bikes or hybrid/commuter bikes. About 50% of them spent more than $1000 on their new bike, and also dropped another $150-200 on accessories.

They are finding their fitness is improving (68%), and they are discovering their neighbourhood (32%). Best of all, cycling brings joy into their life (65%)!

And a vast majority believe that bike riding will continue to be a regular activity in their life, even once the pandemic is over (81%). Only 2% would prefer to go back to the gym!

These new riders would like to see better cycling facilities, closer to their homes (57%), better end of trip facilities at work (44%), and education course such as bike maintenance, bike skills and route planning.