On this page you can listen to each of the speakers as well as the public debate at the Geelong Cycling Forum which was held at Beav’s Bar in Geelong in southern Australia on 15 June 2013.
• Introduction by host Mik Aidt, a journalist from the cycling city of Copenhagen, Denmark. (5:28)
Mik Aidt gives some examples from Copenhagen and New York on how the construction of bike paths can improve local business as well as citizen’s health and the city’s economy. You can see his powerpoint slides while you listen to the recording.
• Rod Charles, local cycling enthusiast, author of the new bicycle book ‘A Whirr of Many Wheels’. (7:12)
Rod Charles talks about Geelong’s identity as a cycling city.
• Barton van Laar, President of Bike Safe. (8:25)
Barton van Laar describes the cycle path ideas for Geelong which Bike Safe currently is discussing with the council.
• Karly Lovell, Travel and Transport Manager, Deakin University. (7:44)
Karly Lovell explains what Deakin University has done to promote cycling among its students.
Special guests at Geelong Better Block for the day included:
• Jason Roberts, cofounder Better Block, USA. (5:19)
Jason Robert gives an inspiring speech about the effect that events like Better Block can have on a city. Don’t look at the cycling issue as an isolated issue. Make it part of the bigger picture — of making your city a more liveable place. It is all about making your city into the place of your dreams, he says.
• Tamsin O’Neil, owner of the Australian cycling magazine ‘Treadlie’, as well as the ‘Green Magazine’. (4:25)
Tamsin O’Neil had come to Geelong from Melbourne, and she was invited to give an outsiders’ view on what she had heard and seen at the forum.
• Forum debate. (15:58)
While rounding up, the forum participants gave Barton van Laar a mandate to continue the discussions with the council on their behalf with the aim of making Geelong a more liveable city with better and safer conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.
The Geelong Cycling Forum on 15 June 2013 was part of the Geelong Better Block, where community demonstrated changes they would like to see in their city.
The Bicycle Show broadcasted live from the event on The Pulse FM, and the forum was broadcasted as a one-hour radio show on the last Saturday of July 2013.
Related
Bicycle Users Geelong has put up posts on their website which relate to the topics:
- Yes, Minister! It’s time for change in transport priorities
- Bike riders save economy $21 on each commute
- How is it that this rich nation of clever people cannot deal well with the bicycle
- Geelong; poor at active travel – Gov. report
- Victorian Greens will introduce a new law to make cycling safer
- “This is hardly rocket science” Federal MP Richard Marles on bike safety
Bicycle Users Geelong currently has an online poll – they’d like to know why you ride. It is right side bar of the website, after the event listings: www.bicycleusersgeelong.org.au
7 June 2013:
Call for more cyclists in the streets
We should cycle for better health, for faster and cheaper commuting, for less noise and pollution of the air, and to support our city in its ambition to become a more liveable and sustainable place. Authorities need to lower speed limits for cars and build more bike paths, yes. But we must understand that this is not going to happen until we start with ourselves and create public pressure with meetings, petitions, and by showing our numbers in the streets. The more the merrier, because this is how it works: the more cyclists we are out there, the safer it becomes to be a cyclist on the road.
24 April 2013:
The real value of cycling
Cycling is not only good for your health, it is also profitable for society. A new study from Denmark shows that sick leave drops by one day per 1,200 kilometres travelled on the cycle track, and what is spent on improving conditions for commuter cyclists comes back to the municipality in saved sick-leave expenses and reduced CO2 emissions.