BUG meetings

The BUG is meeting on Sunday 2 March at the Dr. Price Rooms in Little Street at 11.00 am.

The meeting is to provide feedback to members and to organise a working party to assist with the 2008 Ride 2 Work day in October this year.

For details of the national R2W 2008 event see here: http://www.bv.com.au/join-in/126/

Please try to come down and participate.

Also, the TRC candidates have been invited to come to the same meeting place on 9 March at 11.00 am to meet cyclists and explain what they are hoping to do should they be elected to the new regional council.

TRC candidates have until 10 March to get their responses to our 'ten questions' in and these will appear on the blog shortly after for you all to read.

T-BUG has asked the cycle shops and clubs to circulate the 9 March date to their members, so we are hoping for a decent sized roll up.

Please try to come on 9 March, don't forget to bring your bike too.

America beckons those with a tale

CYCLING STORIES WANTED
In an effort to bolster their library of articles about bicycle adventures, the staff at GoNomad.com recently wrote to Adventure Cycling, a USA based cycle magazine and website, asking for a message to be passed on to their readers:

We pay for well-written stories that contain good information about cycling. We are looking for stories about biking in different parts of the world to be published in our new bicycling section. We pay $US25 for any stories with good photos that we use.

Send your enqueries to Max Hartshorne at editorial@gonomad.com

You can see examples of stories they've already published at this link:
http://www.gonomad.com/bicycle-tours/bicycle-tours.html

Anyone sending a story in, would you mind giving this blog site a plug please?

T-BUG questions for Toowoomba Regional Council candidates

T-BUG is contacting all the candidates, either by email or by post, who are standing in the March election asking them to fill out this brief questionaire.

These are important questions and will tell Toowoomba cyclists a lot about their future local government representative.

Much of the information needed to answer these questions is available on this blog site.

Final responses will be posted here prior to the election.

T-BUGs ten questions for TRC candidates

1) Will you support Toowoomba’s growing cycling fraternity, by taking a leading role in the improvement of road safety and infrastructure, as outlined in the current TCC 'cycle strategy'?

Yes No Further comments:

2) Do you agree that the new regional council has a responsibility to participate in all aspects of national, state and local cycle policy and strategies?

Yes No Further comments:

3) Are you prepared to support the implementation of the current TCC 'cycle strategy' action points?

Yes No Further comments:

4) Should TRC help make this a cycle-safe and cycle-friendly region?

Yes No Further comments:

5) Can you support the Toowoomba BUGs 3Rs community awareness campaign, in relation to 'road user behaviour '?

[3Rs = same Road, same Rules, same Responsibilities] - for all road users

Yes No Further comments:

6) Do you support formation of the Toowoomba Bicycle Advisory Committee ensuring cooperation between TRC, relevant government agencies and the Toowoomba Bicycle Users Group?

Yes No Further comments:

7) Do you support the community ideals as expressed within the TCC 2050 Plan?

Yes No Further comments:

8) Are you aware of the importance of 'end of journey facilities' to commuting cyclists, in encouraging more people to ride to work?

Yes No Further comments:

9) Are you aware of the need for increased secure bicycle parking throughout the TRC area?

Yes No Further comment:

10) Do you regularly ride a bicycle?

Yes No Further comments:

If No: If elected, are you prepared to start riding a bicycle on a regular basis, promoting the environmental, economic, social and health benefits of this alternative, efficient, low cost, low impact means of travel?

Yes No Further comments:

If Yes: If elected, are you prepared to keep riding a bicycle on a regular basis promoting the environmental, economic, social and health benefits of this alternative, efficient, low cost, low impact means of travel?

Yes No Further comments:

Toowoomba Council supports BAC

Today, 19 February 2008, the Toowoomba City Council voted to support the formation of a Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Members of the Toowoomba BUG have previously met with Cr. Graham Barron, chairperson of the Roads and Transport portfolio, to discuss the purpose of BACs.

Cr. Barron assisted the T-BUG members to meet with TCC staff and himself to further explore the benefit to Toowoomba cycling a BAC might bring.

The T-BUG is very pleased to have had the TCC support the BAC concept so enthusiastically and we look forward to the new members of the expanded Toowoomba Regional Council following up on this decision as soon as they practically can after the March election.

Sunday 17 February: social ride

Nine riders turned up for our ride from Allora to Warwick. It was a lovely day for riding in the country.

A big welcome to Janet Mayes who is to be commended on her first ride-54km.

After coffee at Garden World, Grant took us on a tour through the main street which he partly designed when he worked in Warwick.

This Sunday we will be doing the 30km city circuit- Margaret St., Picnic Point, Rowbotham, Ramsay, Nelson, Uni, Platz, Burton,South, Anzac Av, Tor, Taylor back to coffee at the Oxygen Cafe.

We will leave from the Oxygen at 7:00 on Sunday 17 February.

Hope to see you there

Where is 'Copenhagen Lane' Toowoomba?

Read about the first Copenhagen style bike lanes in Australia.

Of course, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney are bigger cities than Toowoomba, but it's time we started to come to terms with what is going on all over the world to improve cycling.

Read more about cycle friendly roads here:
http://www.bv.com.au/change-the-world/11629/

SEQ Cycle Network Program

So, where does Toowoomba feature in all this improvement?

Read more here:

http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/General_information/Cycling/Cycle_network_program/#capital_grants

Cycle Network Program funds will provide cycling infrastructure for transport and utility trips that connect to major attractors such as schools, universities, shopping complexes and workplaces.

Sixty per cent of program funds will be matched by local governments as capital grants for cycling projects while the remaining 40 per cent will fund cycling works associated with state-owned assets.

Funding is available to 11 local governments in south-east Queensland and to state agencies to develop cycling facilities on state-owned assets. The Cycle Network Program 2007–08 funding is as follows:

• capital grants—A$14.14 million
• capital works—A$9.4 million.

Local governments are invited to apply for grants to develop cycling facilities. An application is scored against five equally weighted selection criteria to determine its contribution towards the Queensland Government's objectives and priorities.

See what Townsville council spends on cycling

Below is an excerpt from a letter to the James Cook University BUG from Tony Mooney, Mayor. For the full text go here: http://www.ttbug.org/2007/tcc-cyclingbudget2007.htm

Townsville has a growing network of bikeways, bike lanes and pedestrian paths in the city and suburbs and the Council is keen to encourage the community to use them.

Funding has been allocated in the 2007/08 budget for a number of bikeway projects including –

· $627,000 for bike path and pedestrian route improvements around local schools, as part of the School Route Safety Program

· $300,000 for coloured asphalt entry points, intersections, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings near schools, local shops and community hubs

· $715,000 for the Ross River Parkway including –

o $175,000 for the bikeway link behind the Council’s Parks Depot at Cranbrook

o $72,500 for a new link from the Queens Road car park to the river bikeway

o $166,000 for more bikeway links in Annandale

· Over $1 million has been allocated to widen Cape Pallarenda Road

· $82,000 for the next stage of the Mundy Creek bike path

· $50,000 to widen the road and construct bike lanes in Mooney Street