Cycling infrastructure IS a political issue - but it shouldn't be a partisan one
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2023
- On Sunday 27th of August 2023, I volunteered to lead the Indooroopilly Bikeway Community Ride held by State MP for Maiwar Michael Berkman, and attended by Greens candidate for Lord Mayor Jonathan Sriranganathan. Inevitably when advocates like me attend events like this, we are accused of making active transport a political issue.
There is this perception that advocates need to be completely apolitical.
But the reality is, advocacy is about amplifying the messages of those who have electoral power, and those who want it. People decide how they vote, and what they value.
We have run community rides of our own many times over the years, and they are significant events to organise. So if a political representative or candidate wants to do the organising and just have my help to run it on the day, you bet I'll put my hand up.
And that goes for the LNP, ALP or any other political party.
Politics has a direct, real effect on everything to do with our lives. To claim you are apolitical and don't engage in politics is a position of privilege those of us advocating for change do not have.
You can't inspire change if you don't speak up for an alternative way of doing things.
So my challenge to anyone who is triggered by this video and others like it that promote the positive message about cycling in our cities from any particular political persuasion - if your party has good news about active transport, or wants to run a community ride, get in touch. I'm happy to help!
Because at the end of the day, I don't give a flying toss what party you represent. If you are actively working to change the car centric, car dependent approach of this city, I am happy to get your message out there.
For any Toowoomba residents watching, I have organised a community bike ride like this on on the 14th January. We'll meet at 8am at the Lindsay St carpark, Queens Park and ride to Lake Annand for morning tea.
The event is part of my council election campaign which has a focus on active transport and sustainable development.
As usual great video Chris. Your message and that of Jono are so important. We need to want to have a better way of living and if the people demand it, politicians will make it happen otherwise they lose office.
Great video, Chris. Such an important message.
Great job Chris!👏
Totally agree Chris, keep up the good work!
Councillors should all be independent, party alignment should be abolished.
So we'll have a situation where nothing ever gets done, as no-one can agree what to do, or in which order?
Sounds great. (Sarcasm)
As opposed to what you have today?@@jasonrivers7518
Most councils aren't party aligned and they get plenty done. Brisbane is an outlier in that regard.
@@ChrisCoxCycling
Queensland, I think you mean, Chris- it's the natural consequence of not having an upper House...I also think of the Council report, a few years back, which said that Hamilton got the most footpath rehab of any Northside suburb- in reality, the suburb had basically doubled in size, and most of the footpath rehab was on the roads of what used to be Eagle Farm, which were bad, when I first rode on them, in 1982 & have not aged well, mate.
I couldn't make it along to Berko's ride on the weekend unfortunately but I'll try and get along to the next event. Thanks for putting in the hours Chris, we all appreciate your level-headed non-partisan advocacy.
Thanks for this Chris. I'm a council candidate in Toowoomba and I'm organising a community bike ride in January. This video was my inspiration.
Fabulous! Best of luck. Great to see candidates using active transport as an important community issue. Feel free to comment with the event details.
@ChrisCoxCycling It's been well received so far. Toowoomba is super conservative, but people here are still responsive to active transport and sustainable development. It's all about the messaging. People remember the good old days when Toowoomba was a sleepy country town and kids could ride their bikes anywhere. They recognise that urban sprawl and car dominance has changed that and they aren't happy about it.
I'll let you know when I have a date locked in.
The greens 30km/h street policy makes me a single issue voter
Presuming in their favour? 😉
I think on top of adding more bike lanes, the council needs to put effort into putting more malls, or a different variety of shops and SCHOOLS in every suburb. Where I live, we don't have a mall or a lot of options to choose from, so we have to drive to Indro to buy things that aren't food. Also where we live, we don't have a high school, the closest one is in Kenmore (which is bursting at the seams because of this from what I heard). And a bike isn't a viable option due to the distance because of how spread out everything is. I wish we were more like the Netherlands, where everything is a good 5-10 minutes ride by bike. Because I hate having to drive all the time, and the public transport isn't reliable due to the buses getting stuck in the car traffic (oh and the lack of a train line that doesn't come out here). But I think giving each suburb more variety could reduce some traffic, since we had the option, not a lot of people would have to drive so far to get to the same places all the time.
I'd love for more bike infrastructure, but when we do, they better actually be usable. Because at the moment, even if we add them, people will most likely still resort to cars due to how far away a lot of locations are.
Apologies if what I'm saying is all over the place!!! This has been on my mind for months now.
You are not all over the place, you are spot on. It's not just about bike lanes, it's about rethinking how we do cities. It's the 15 minute city idea, having more of what we need within easy walk or cycle distance. Yeah you can still drive, but you don't need to as much.
That's what impressed me about Jonathan Sriranganathan's speech - transformation, not just piecemeal infrastructure
Wish I could have made it to the ride on Sunday.. was in a big crowd not protesting but cycling to Gold Coast. There is a huge pool of potential advocates!
Yeah, it was unfortunate the ride was on the same time as B2GC, and yet still got more than last time. There is demand! As Jonathan Sriranganathan said, need to do more than coming to a ride - talk to neighbours, friends, colleagues. Spread the positive message about how much better things can be if people have choices other than drive
I'm a Greens member and everything Michael and Jono sounded great to me, but I'm disappointed that the party hasn't really turned those general ideas into an actual platform for the council election. It's only about 6 months away and I'm worried that if they don't get a wriggle on that it's gonna fast turn out to be too late, that the LNP will just waltz right back into office by default. I hear you when you say that transit and active transport shouldn't be partisan issues, and even I'm willing to wait until election day for the major parties to blow me away with some great policies for dismantling Brisbane's car centric infrastructure. But I just don't see it happening. I really want the Greens to get serious already.
As a party member you have more access than most to tell Jonathan and Michael that's what you want and to find out what the platform will be. Listening to Jonathan, if his platform is based on transformation, it's going to be compelling!
Something different to piecemeal projects and spruiking $x million in spending will be enticing.
My dream is that one day all the political parties will agree that cycling infrastructure is important and will compete on how much and how good the cycling infrastructure that they promise to build will be. Much like they do for roads now...
Exactly my dream. Not assessing each candidate/party on whether they are even supportive of active transport, but how much they are committing to build in the most useful places.
We definitely need more active transport options for walking and cycling etcetera. Keep up the advocacy.
100% agree! We need the political will to make it happen. Every MP and candidate who supports it unequivocally and without qualification gets us closer to achieving that.
'My father was an ALP man, his father before him and that makes me......' Never understood the 'rusted on' to a political party mentality, as if it were some kind of sport. Active transport infrastructure is just common sense and no political party has a monopoly on that.
Yep! It's fine if a party mostly aligns with your values, but assess them every election. Assess the people standing and what they say and stand for.
In my experience, what parties traditionally stand for and what they actually do is very different.
In a comment below you say :
"Cycling infrastructure is not radical, it's not left wing. It's practical and is useful to people on all incomes, all abilities, all nationalities. "
That's exactly what makes it left wing. Why do you think most of the opposition to cycling infrastructure, public transit, reducing sprawl, and walkable neighbourhoods tends to come from the right? Why do you never see left wingers frothing angrily about "15 minute cities" like it's a bad thing?
The opposition to fairness isn't a bug, but a defining feature of reactionary politics.
True, I guess the point is they're not radical things insofar as being out there, never tried before ideas. They're proven, evidence based solutions that have worked in numerous cities around the world.
What you're saying is the conservative side of politics and the community is really the radical element in opposing proven solutions to problems they are upset about. That's pretty accurate, and might be a good way to frame things!