Read Active Transport Statements from Candidates at the Port Adelaide Bicycle Forum.
Hi Folks, PortBUG has a simple message in this post – ‘Vote for Cycling’! The Local Government elections are coming up soon. You’ll receive your election papers in the post. Just mark the boxes of your chosen candidates and return in the envelope provided – old fashioned but it works.
With a new report from the IPCC out this week it’s now very clear that Australians must do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, around 25% of which come from transport. We also face a growing epidemic of disease and ill health (and associated financial burdens) stemming from our general lack of opportunity for safe ‘every-day’ transport-related physical activity. It’s now clear that Governments at all levels need to embrace Active Transport (including utility bike use) as a bottom-line strategy in planning and investment.
No new bike infrastructure!
Yet in our last State Budget, the State Bike Fund – on which Council’s depend to fund new bicycle infrastructure – was reduced from over $2M to around $300,000. The former fund was completely inadequate and the new one just seems like a bad joke! The PA/E Council alone last year used up $164,000 of the Fund. Clearly $300,000 will go nowhere in meeting the growing community demand for new, secure bicycle infrastructure! This will mean no more of the new bicycle paths and separated bikeways, improved kerb ramps, safer rail crossings and redeveloped and safer streets that bike riders so badly need!
This has to change! The Port Adelaide/Enfield Council has been a leader within both Local Government and across the State. Not only does it have a great Bike Plan, but it’s Councillors and staff have done their level best to implement it! But we still have a way to go! The Council’s move to support Active Transport needs your ‘Active Support’ in the elections.
Please:
- check out the growing number of Candidate’s (currently 11) who have posted their views on Active Transport at our facebook group, the Port Adelaide Bicycle Forum (and consider joining or following so you can stay in touch)
write the names of those people you’d like to vote for on your fridge (both for Mayor and for your Ward) and…- ensure that you can make an Active Transport-informed choice in the coming elections!
PortBUG: The Port Adelaide Bicycle User Group. 
Hello, Could you please send a note out to your fellow bike riders about showing consideration for walkers on shared use paths. This morning my wife and I were walking along the path near the river in the city. Four MIL’s cam flying past us without any warning they were coming through. I yelled out that they should give warning they were coming through and was just ignored. The thing is bike riders demand respect from other road and path users. I believe to get respect you should also show it. Now an argument could be we aren’t all like that. Well guess what neither do all drivers dislike bike riders but it’s easy to lump them all together around a latte fueled chat and moan session. So if bike riders want respect from people who choose to walk, then perhaps a behavior change is in order. Regards Jack Mann
Sent from my Samsung GALAXY S5
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Hi Jack, thanks for the note. I think all PortBUG members and ‘followers’ would strongly agree with your sentiments. Shared Use Pathways are exactly that! And the rules for using them are very clearly spelled out at the DPTI web site and echoed here in our own ‘safe cycling’ pages. We all need to behave responsibly with the safety of fellow pathway users in mind. It’s my bet that the riders you encountered may not even have had bells, otherwise surely they would have used them! This PortBUG web site really only covers the PA/E Council area (which doesn’t take in any of the Linear Path in the City or to the West. But I’ll post your message on the Adelaide Cyclists web page as the riders in question may well see it there! You may want to contact the Adelaide City Council (Att’n: Anna McDonald) via the email address st their front page and suggest a bit more pathway ‘Earth Wrap’ signage (big signs stuck onto the pavement) reminding bicycle users of appropriate pathway etiquette! If it’s any consolation or encouragement, all my own bikes have loud bells and I always use them. I also never ride rapidly around pedestrians! All the best, Sam, PortBUG.
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