TTKD April Meeting: Making Brisbane a Cycling City

DIY Brisbane -

A low-cost high-impact action plan of how we can all work together to make Brisbane a Cycling City

Presented by Rachel Smith

Thursday April 19

7.15pm for a 7.30pm start

Kenmore Library Meeting Room

The talk will include:

·         Why cycling isn’t in Brisbane’s DNA

·         What Brisbane women (and men!) really want 

·         Targeting the right ‘target’ audience

·         How we can make cycling in Brisbane safer than sitting on the sofa

·         What we can learn from Jamie Oliver

·         Daring to share and sharing success

·         The peer produced city

·         Bottom–up self-organising

·         Emotions and engineering


We are lucky to have Rachel Smith present this months meeting. Rachel is a Principal Transport Planner within AECOM and one of Australia’s leading practitioners of sustainable transport. She has led the active transport team on most of the major transport infrastructure and policy development projects in Queensland. Rachel is part of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile laboratory travelling to nine cities over six years led by international, interdisciplinary teams of emerging talents in urbanism, architecture, technology and sustainability. The Lab addresses issues of contemporary urban life and its goal is the exploration of new ideas, experimentation, and ultimately the creation of forward-thinking solutions for city life. Rachel was nominated by Enrique Penalosa, the former Mayor of Bogota. Rachel is the Founder and Creative Director of ‘Cycling Super Highways’ a vision for 7 metre wide cycleways completely separated from parked and moving cars, Co-Creator of Lazy Sunday Cycle, a crowd-sourced social-media cycling initiative, a freelance writer for multimedia in the UK, USA, China and Australia, a blogger at This Big City and Cycling Rachel Smith, on the curatorial panel for Queensland Arts art + place and guest lecturer at the University of Queensland.

As usual the meeting will be followed by supper and conversation. Please feel free to bring along a plate to share. No need to RSVP.

Ride to work day - This Wednesday 12th Oct

It's not too late to be part of this years Ride to Work day on October the 12th (Wednesday).

Be part of Australia’s biggest active workplace event with tens of thousands riding into work.

It doesn’t matter if you ride to work, school or uni everyday, or haven’t been in on two wheels since high school, the important thing is to get involved and make your ride count.

Meet other cyclists; share routes, tips and stories;and if you are lucky enough to work at UQ, score a free breakfast.

You can register along with 10s of thousands of others at ride2work.com.au

September TTKD Meeting - Sustainable Transport for Kenmore

The TTKD September meeting will feature sustainable transport planner Linda Fullerton talking about sustainable transport for Kenmore.

When: Thursday 15 September from 7.30pm
Where: Kenmore Library (meeting room 3)

Linda is a transport planner who focuses on providing sustainable and integrated outcomes. For most of her career she has been employed by consultants but her recent professional experience includes strategic planning roles at TransLink and Brisbane City Council and guest lectures for UQ and QUT students.

Her presentation will cover:

• What is and isn't sustainable transport
• The impacts on urban living and society by continuing current practices
• The economic, environmental, community, health and social benefits of sustainable transport
• How to change travel behaviour
• What we need to do to encourage sustainable choices by decision makers

Hope to see you all there!

TTKD November meeting: Reskilling (+bring your bike)

An important part of the Transition philosophy is making sure useful skills are passed on within, and around, the community.

Hence our November meeting focuses on skills and reskilling. Come along and learn how to:

• make your own home cleaning products

• maintain your trusty bike

• how to use the old Vacola bottling and preserving kit

• and even spin your own wool!

PLUS....... we would love YOU to bring along or share some activity you do that could help others on their steps to sustainability. The presentations already organised are from members of Transition Kenmore, so if you have something you want to share you are most welcome (and qualified) to do so.

PS: Jeremy, who will be doing our bicycle maintenance session is encouraging everyone to bring their own bikes along, especially if you have questions. As it's much more useful to be shown how to do maintenance on your own bike, not someone elses.

Wed 17th 7;30pm
Uniting Church Hall
982 Moggill Rd Kenmore

QLD govt draft transport strategy - Connecting SEQ 2031 - Have your say

The Queensland Government recently released Connecting SEQ 2031, a draft plan of rail, bus and road development over the next 20 years for SEQ.

The plan is available to download from the website and the website also contain summary's from within the plan. Overall the plan has targets to increase the percentage of journeys made by public and active transport (although note that due to population growth the absolute number of trips made by car will still increase).

There are also some very brief summaries of their rail, bus and active transport plans as well as a breakdown by region (if you want more detail look at the report, it's pretty easy going). Perhaps of most interest to people out west is the plan (although as yet not formulated in detail) to provide bus priority (although not a busway) between Kenmore and the city.

If you want to have your say, you can here, although Transition Kenmore will look at providing some comment as well. Public submissions close on the 26th of November.


Fun fact off the website:
"Some parts of the SEQ busway network carry about 12 400 passengers per hour (in one direction). For comparison, a typical motorway lane carries about 2000 people per hour."

Sustainable Jamboree E-bike Bulk Buy Update

From Garry Willett

"I have some GREAT NEWS!. The electric bike bulk buy programme has been "zipping along".... So much so that the 50 bikes are being ordered as I type. this means the price of $1,600 is confirmed, which is great!

We did not quite get to the maximum number of 50, however ,Glow Worm have decided to order them anyway. This means that we have been able to extend the bulk buy programme until November 6, so you still have time, if you would like to purchase a bike.

Because the order needed to be placed the boys have had to take a guess at the number of Sprints and Torq's to order. Those that have already decided on their bike of choice and pre paid are assured of receiving their preference model. As we move closer to the end date and people take up the remaining bikes, it will be a case of what ever is left. Naturally, those that order right at the death, run the risk of not getting their first choice. Anyway, lets hope we will have enough to supply everyone. Orders over the last few days have been terrific, Two orders of three bikes and another of two., plus a few singles.

I'm really looking forward to arranging an ebike ride, where we can all come together to celebrate our new found mode of transport.

Just a bit of house keeping:

Glow Worm have had to change their bank details on the order form, so I have attached the correct version. Also all documents are now available as down load from

http://sustainablejamboree.org/

Sustainable Jamboree will be hosting an electric bike forum on Saturday 23rd from 1.00pm to 2.30pm. I will present and have the eZee Sprint on hand for test riding. Please come along and bring friends. Very Informal and a good opportunity to have a burn around the Mount Ommaney Library. if you own your own helmet, please bring it with you."

Background on Dr Paul Martin - one of our speakers our electric bicycle meeting

Dr Paul Martin is a Specialist Anaesthetist who for the past 9 months has been riding a bicycle for transport instead of taking the car - commuting, grocery shopping, going to restaurants, you name it!

His first difficulty was finding a bicycle that was suitable for this task - in a country where most bicycles are sports equipment or toys. In this search, he discovered the electric assist bicycle; in his case a Dutch built e-bike. This allows him to overcome the last few obstacles when traveling by bicycle in his normal clothes - the heat, humidity and hills. He is a strong advocate of cycling for transport - normal folk in normal clothes - and believes that the key to urban cycling is quality infrastructure and not emphasising cycling as a 'dangerous' sporting activity only, requiring special equipment and safety gear.

Electric Bicycle Buying Group

Our upcoming meeting is on electric bicycles. Garry Willett from Sustainable Jamboree, will be talking about the e-bike bulk buy he is organizing. For those considering this offer, here is some more information about the bikes available (taken from the Sustainable Jamboree website).


"Please let us know if you’re interested to buy an electric bicycle for $1600 ($700 off)! Models on offer include the eZee Sprint or Torq.

We’re in the process of organising a buying group in partnership with Glow Worm bicycles but we need 50 people to order one with them through Sustainable Jamboree.

http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/store/product/ezee-torq
http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/store/product/ezee-sprint
http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/faq

Those interested can contact Garry for an order form etc: garry [at] sustainablejamboree.org

For information about the Queensland Government’s position on e-bicycles see: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Registration/Registering-vehicles/Wheelchairs-and-small-devices/Motorised-foot-scooters-and-motorised-bicycles.aspx#motorised_bicycles

This buying group does not constitute a product endorsement. Please do your own research before making any decision."

TTKD Sept Meeting: Electric Bicycles - The future of transport in the city?

Electric bicycles offer an affordable, sustainable and congestion free way to travel in the city.

Come and hear from some local electric bicycle enthusiasts, try out their bikes and check out the opportunity to get an electric bike at a heavily discounted price.

Speaking on electric bicycles will be

Dr Paul Martin, an Anaesthetist and electric bicycle enthusiast. Paul has been able to replace most car journeys with cycling and will be speaking about the advantages of electric bikes and why they are well suited to a city like Brisbane.

Garry Wilett, a member of Sustainable Jamboree, Garry is organising an electric bike bulk buy will talk about how you can purchase your own electric bike at a heavily discounted price.


Why an electric bike? well as Garry told us:

"This probably does not mean much, but let me tell you my bike can do 30Kmh without peddling. Faster if I peddle. It can travel 40km on a charge and up to 90kms if I peddle a bit. It flys and guess what I don't feel like I have been rung out when I get to the other end. No heart palpitations or wobbly legs. Oh, and I don't wear lycra. I just ride in my every day clothes. The bike paths are getting better and I have found riding the bike quite safe."

Wed 15th 7:30pm
The Uniting Church Hall
982 Moggill Rd Kenmore

Electric bicycle world tour

Electric bicycles are a cool piece of technology that can allow you to ride around a hilly and hot city like Brisbane without breaking a sweat. Despite their advantages, which include being an extremely environmentally friendly and efficient method of transport, electric bikes don't have a very big profile here in Oz. This is in contrast to countries like China where it is estimated there are 120 million electric bikes on the road.

In an effort to raise the profile of electric bicycles Spaniard Guim Teruel has undertaken an electric bicycle world tour. Starting in Beijing, Guim's cycles have so far taken him through parts of Asia, New Zealand and down the eastern sea board of Australia. Currently in Sydney (he appears to have been in Brissie last month but unfortunately I wasn't aware of it) Guim has been powering his journey with solar panels attached to a small trailer that he tows which charge his spare battery.



Guim has a website where he has been documenting his travels. Check it out and check out electric bikes.

If you want change - Follow up with your political representatives

There were a number of good speeches after the Walk against Warming. For its relevance to how we can create change locally the speech from Cr Helen Abrahams was quite interesting.
Similar to her message at the 350.org day of action, Cr Abrahams emphasised that if we want to create change not just at a personally level, but at a local level, turning out for events such as walk against warming is necessary but not sufficient.
We need to follow it up with our political representatives.

The BCC has a policy of making Brisbane carbon neutral by 2026, for now, I'll let you decide how well that one is going.
The BCC also has a policy of being carbon neutral council by 2026, which does seem to be making progress.

But as Cr Abrahams pointed out, if we want change at the rate we know is necessary, we need to tell our political representatives. Some semi-quotes follow.
"the council uses 50% Greenpower and plans to move to 100% Greenpower in 2010, tell your councilor you support this"
"everytime the council builds a bikeway, fill-up that bikeway and then demand more and bigger bikeways".
"everytime the council adds a new bus, fill that bus and then demand another bus"

So if you want change - Use the "green" initiatives provided by the council and follow up with your political representatives!

On its current trajectory it seems unlikely Brisbane will be carbon neutral by 2026, but this is council policy, if you don't want this otherwise laudable aim to be simply window dressing ...... well, you know what to do.

The best way to support active transport is.... to actually support it

Despite improvements, and a lot of rhetoric, recent decisions by the State Government shows it still has some way to go before sustainability and promoting pubic and active transport become central to its decision making.

Locally, the newly announced Kenmore Park n Ride is a good example. While we thoroughly support new facilities such of the Park n Ride, (which should help to ease congestion along Moggill Road and give local residents a chance to decrease their carbon footprints). It is disappointing that the plans for the Park n Ride do not include any bicycle facilities, even though the addition of such facilities is now becoming common place at other major public transport facilities such as QR train stations and Busway stations.

Adding secure and covered bicycle parking facilities to this (and any future) Park n Rides would greatly enhance the facility at a minimal cost. Benefits of adding bike parking would include increasing the number of people able to park their “vehicles” in the same amount of space (likely to be important given that demand for Park n Ride parks often exceeds supply). Providing an option for people travelling by bus to get to the bus stop in a healthy and carbon neutral manner and the promotion of cycling more generally.

The newly released Draft SEQ Regional Plan, Section 12.3 states that plan “strongly supports public transport and active transport modes such as walking and cycling”. Adding bike parking to public transport hubs would allow the government to do both at the same time and at least start to address the serious lack of cycling infrastructure on this side of town (ignoring for the moment the similar lack of public transport infrastructure). After all, the best way to promote cycling as a credible way to get from A to B is to actually make it convenient enough for this to be true.


Ps: TTKD has been in touch with our local state representative about this issue, but if you feel the same way, feel free to get in touch with the member for Moggill Dr Bruce Flegg.