Merri-bek BUG

A reminder to all that this Sunday (3rd) the Sydney Road street party is happening.

Anyone available is encouraged to help out at our stall during the afternoon, from 12-6. Currently the early hours of 12-2 are well catered for. If you can please email committee@morelandbug.org to let us know what time you might be interested to help out. It is just a matter of answering inquiries and chatting with your fellow cyclists, and encouraging new people to join our mailing list.

If you can’t join in, then still try and drop by for a chat, and tell us your recent cycling thoughts for Moreland, or pick up a TravelSmart map.

As many of you would know, a riders rally is planned for next Thursday, June 21 to protest against the Baillieu Government’s decision to cut the Victorian bike budget to zero.

Bicycle Network Victoria and various BUGs are organising the event and the estimate is that there’ll be 3-4000 riders there on the day.

The rally is from 7.30 am to 8.30 am in front of Parliament House.

If you are not happy with the Baillieu Goverment’s decision, make your voice heard and come along to the rally. You can make your way into the city at your own leisure or join one of the organised rides. More details on the rally and various meeting points and times for rides can be found here.

Moreland BUG member Tim Read is organising a ride to the rally from Brunswick. We meet at Cafe L’Amour, 76 Lygon St. (next to Gelobar), Brunswick East at 7am and ride in together along Canning St.

And Anna has set up a Facebook event and so far 72 people are going. You can join here.

While some elements of the rally are still on the drawing board, a rough run sheet for the morning currently looks like this:

0730 – rally starts, Victorian Parliament steps, Spring St, Melbourne
0745 – we plan to unfurl a fabric bike path to symbolise the types of facilities that will now not be possible with zero funding. This “path” can be passed around overhead or perhaps symbolically laid!!
0815 – speech and pics
0830 – event ends

Hopefully we will have a good turn out so make sure you are coming along!

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From vicbugchat:

Parliamentary hearings can be a bit stuffy, but if you’re interested, come along. Having a presence there will help demonstrate to politicians that the public’s concerned about this issue (if they haven’t already realised!!). It’s also worth hearing what bike advocacy groups, Andrew Tivendale, and James Cross’s parents, have to say about car dooring and cyclist safety.

Where: Parliament of Victoria, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne

When: Wednesday 23 May at 8.00pm, meeting at 7.30pm outside Parliament.
If you get there late just go inside and report to the front desk – they’ll tell you where to go.

Speakers: Bicycle Victoria, the Road Safety Action Group Inner Melbourne, Amy Gillett Foundation, Andrew Tivendale, the parents of James Cross, and Melbourne Bicycle User Group.

You can read Melbourne BUG’s submission to the hearing here (PDF).

More details of the hearing are here.

Christine Campbell, the MLA for Pascoe Vale, attended the AGM on Thursday night. Among the items that she talked about was an acknowledgement she gave the BUG, Council and individuals who have worked on various bike infrastructure projects within Moreland.

From Hansard on October 26, 2011 (PDF):

Moreland Bicycle User Group

Ms CAMPBELL (Pascoe Vale) — Congratulations to the Moreland Bicycle User Group (BUG) for its great work in promoting healthy and clean-energy transport. Its work assists all Moreland cyclists, from those for whom it is their principal transport to those who enjoy being recreational cyclists. Its website and email communication keeps everyone informed of current and future events. Thanks to Julia Mischke, whose emails keep us informed, and to all those at the Moreland BUG committee for their commitment. Thanks to those who work at Moreland City Council and dovetail in with local cyclists, particularly the infrastructure team headed by Nerina di Lorenzo, who has completed the ‘shovel ready’ plan for the final link of the Upfield shared pathway. Thanks to Sebastian Motta, whose work has addressed safety width and beautification around the Western Ring Road, which has been widened. When partnership, hard work and a comparatively small amount of funding all combine, sustainable and healthy cycling transport occurs.

The next big project is the Craigieburn rail corridor bike path, which is the next project for the Moreland BUG. The Moreland BUG, Moreland City Council and the Department of Transport all require action to bring this great idea to fruition. Because of the work by Moreland
City Council’s infrastructure team, detailed designs are available for Department of Transport staff when they are ready to action a rail corridor project. Congratulations to Cr Kathleen Matthews-Ward, whose vision and persistence taught us that it was possible, and to Paul McKay and Rod Overall, who showed up the pitfalls and solutions.

News from north of the border…

Banksia Gardens Community Centre in Broadmeadows is seeking enthusiastic community members to form a small sociable volunteer team to establish a bicycle recycling and repair hub.

The Broadmeadows Bicycle Hub is a volunteer-run bicycle recycling and repair centre. As well as teaching and supporting local residents to repair and maintain their own bicycles, it will also recycle old bikes and sell them at heavily discounted prices. The aim is promote cycling in the Broadmeadows community to provide more access and mobility options as well as healthier lifestyles.The initiative will rely on forming a small sociable volunteer team to manage and run the hub.

Full training will be given and ongoing support will be provided by the CERES Bike Shed and Banksia Gardens Community Centre. We will be hosting a Volunteer Information Evening on Wednesday 9th November from 6:30-8pm at Banskia Gardens Community Centre (71-81 Pearcedale Parade, Broadmeadows). We will provide food and drink on the evening as well. Everyone welcome.

Ride to Work Day is on Wednesday the 12th of October 2011.

To acknowledge the day, Moreland City Council is hosting a Ride to Work Day community breakfast in Victoria Mall, Coburg (Melways 29, H1) between 7:30 and 9:00 am on the day.

If your commute to work doesn’t get you past Victoria Mall, check out the BV website to find a Ride to Work Day breakfast near you.

And don’t forget to register at https://ride2work.com.au/rtw/. One lucky registrant can win a signed and framed Cadel Evans BMC jersey as a reward!

If you are thinking about riding to work into the city on that day but are not sure how to do it you can meet up with BUG member Ross Millward who is happy to accompany you. Just send an email to committee@lists.morelandbug.org to take up his offer.

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This weekend marks the end of daylight savings.
It will be getting darker earlier, which means your ride home from work will soon be in twilight or at night.
When the clocks go back, its time to put the bike lights on.

This weekend is an ideal time to do a quick check to see if you are ready to ride at night.

• Do you have front and back lights?
• Do they work?
• Are they still bright after they’ve been on for a few minutes? – An LED light with flat batteries will start out bright but quickly fade.
• Do you have reflectors?

To meet road rules for riding at night your bike will need to have bright front and rear light visible from 200m and a rear reflector.
If your bike lights aren’t up to scratch and new batteries don’t do the trick … its time to pop into your local bike shop and get some new lights.

To make it easy, Moreland City Council, in partnership with Avanti Superstore (Brunswick), Lygon Cycles, Rays Bicycles (Brunswick), Commuter Cycles, and Velo Cycles is offering you a huge 20% off selected bike lights during the month of April in the ‘Clocks Back, Lights On” bike lights promotion.

Simply print out the attached voucher and take it to a participating bike shop to claim your discount.

It’s also a good idea to wear bright clothing when you ride to make it easier for other road users to see you.
I keep a hi-viz vest in my pannier and pop it on over my day clothes when I ride home, but there are many more stylish options. When you’re at the bike shop have a look at the range of fashionable reflective wristbands or trouser cuffs.

See you out on the road

Simon Stainsby
Sustainable Transport Officer
Moreland Council
9240 1168

The Moreland Energy Foundation is running a sustainable transport ideas competition, prices include vintage bicycles, a folding bike, car share vouchers and a bike trailer… check it out here.

Submissions are due by the March 25th and are restricted to residents of Moreland city council, sorry. Good luck.

This year’s Sydney Road Street Festival will be held on March 6 (12 noon to 7 pm). The Moreland BUG will be there with an information stall and bike parking for people who ride to the festival.

We are in need of some people who would like to help us out on the day!

If you want to give a hand (as little as one hour is enough) please email Julia and let her know your preferred time you would like to help and also if you would like to help with the stall or the bike parking.

Bicycle Victoria organises a visual bike count of bike commuters, which is a really important input into the data used to lobby for better cycling infrastructure. It’s an annual event and this year there are 47 municipalities involved this year.

It’s that time of year when we start pulling together the cycling count. We did it last year with the Moreland council and it was hoot so we are saddling up again.

Paul has updated the website, so if you can spare a couple of hours on the morning of Tuesday March 1 (between 7am and 9am), that would be just fabulous.

We need 30 counters — click here to register!

You can find out more about the Bike Count at the BV website.