PETER MCCUTCHEON, REPORTER: There’s a growing number of Australians commuting to work on two wheels.
Have you noticed a change in how more bike friendly Brisbane has become?
PETER MCCUTCHEON: Ellie Evans has joined what some have described as an active transport revolution.
ELLIE EVANS: It’s good for me physically, it’s good for my mental health and it’s so beautiful around here.
PETER MCCUTCHEON: But in parts of the outer suburbs, there’s barely a bicycle to be seen.
PROF. MATTHEW BURKE, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY: That’s where our most hostile, anti-cycling road landscapes are.
ANNA BECK: The terrain is really rubbish, it’s a 80k road the whole way, there’s no shoulder so I don’t do that ride to work, which is a bit sad.PETER MCCUTCHEON: The best Anna Beck can manage is a once- a-week ride to the local school with her daughter, Elva.But even that’s a challenge in an outer Brisbane suburb.There’s no dedicated bike paths so, Anna and Elva take their mountain bikes on a pony trail.ANNA BECK: It’s a bit grim actually. So there’s often about four or five bikes in a school of around 800.PETER MCCUTCHEON: And here lies the problem – the cycling revolution is not evenly spread mainly because of the states of our roads.RACHEL NOLAN, CHAIR BICYCLE QLD: How much people ride is directly related to how safe they feel and that’s about how good is the road infrastructure.MATTHEW BURKE: We’ve started to do good things. The Federal Government has a policy they’ll invest in bike lanes as part of […]
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