June 2025

Veloway:

It would appear the Veloway is getting very close to completion (though we are not privy to any additional information) and we hope it works for people on bikes traveling to and from the west. However, we do have a few reservations about the Veloway. We are deeply concerned about personal safety for those who use the Veloway due to the lack of passive surveillance and escape routes. Off the record discussions with the police have reached similar conclusions. A few un-monitored security cameras will do little to improve this. In addition, a significant, decades old issue that continues to be overlooked is, how do people on bikes safely reach Shepherds Bridge if they are coming from the west?

While the state government will no doubt jump up and down saying how fantastic the Veloway is, if you have to take your life into your hands to get there from Footscray and beyond, then it won't attract any new riders. Existing riders may transfer to it. The state member for Footscray, Katie Hall, has completely ghosted us regarding our requests for meetings or to answer our questions about this which is very disappointing but when it comes to cycling infrastructure, this is consistent with prior behaviour. Maribyrnong Council are reportedly investigating some options to connect to the Veloway but these are very much in the embryonic phase and Maribyrnong Council is very understaffed in Active Transport, so progress is slow.

Other WGTA projects

The bridge over Williamstown Rd that connects the Federation Trail to the Hyde St Path and the new path under the bridge towards Spotswood are clearly very close to completion. These are great new pieces of infrastructure and they can't be opened fast enough. While the designers weren't brave enough to continue the path past Hudson Rd and it suddenly stops 20m short of the intersection, it hopefully will push along another proposed protected bike infrastructure between Spotswood and Newport along Hall St.

The Rainbow Bridge near North Melbourne Station is also finished and has not opened yet due to various works on the eastern side. Hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Maribyrnong Council

Maribyrnong Council have a few projects they are working on, including some on Barkly St West Footscray near Whitten Oval. We have not seen any details but have been assured the plans will be very beneficial to cycling, however, as always the sticking point will be the removal of a few car parks (cue sky falling in).

To this end, there are a couple of things people can do to help:

Write to council to say how important it is to have safe cycling infrastructure for all ages and abilities. Paint is not infrastructure.
Do some car park occupancy counts on different days at different times. Specifically Barkly St from Summerhill Rd to Geelong Rd morning, lunch time, evening on weekdays and weekends. Previous data collection by BikeWest has been used in council work to justify works so every little bit helps.

Other projects include fixing the junction of Harris St and Hyde St as part of the West Gate Tunnel Project. As many of you will know these lanes are incomplete. (They are supposed to be bidirectional and currently are very confusing to all users). This is yet another project we have grave concerns about as they have planned a pedestrian crossing from the Seddon Cricket Club rooms to Yarraville Gardens just before the new bridge. Unfortunately this is down the hill and even without pedaling, people will be traveling at 35kmh+ (40kmh+ if pedaling) when they get to the crossing. As nearly all cycling infrastructure guidelines around the world will attest (eg UK DoT) you should never do this due to the inevitable conflict between people on bikes and pedestrians. This is where hundreds of kids play Auskick running in random directions. We have warned WGTA and Maribyrnong Council repeatedly about this and while acknowledging the issue have not changed the design. We dearly hope a kid doesn't end up in hospital due to something entirely predictable.

The glacial progress of cycling infrastructure continues at Maribyrnong Council but this is consistent across all councils. There are several reasons for this:

Lack of capacity, there are a couple of staff responsible for a LOT of work
Blocking by senior staff. Many senior staff remain unconvinced about prioritising bikes as a means of transport despite the vast amounts of evidence showing it would deliver enormous benefits as cities such as Paris are finding. Maribyrnong in particular seems to have been burnt badly by the Melon St debacle.
Procedural fetish: state and local governments insist on highly restrictive procedures that inevitably provide road blocks and delay and delay and delay projects. There is even an academic paper on this and Shifter has done a YouTube video on it.

The only way this will ever change is through large scale, regular calls from the community via email or letter demanding better. Until then, the council will continue to point to a few angry NIMBYs on Facebook as evidence they should do nothing

Nicholas Bagley - The Procedure Fetish

Melbourne City Council Budget

As many of you will know, Melbourne City Council (MCC) have halved their bike budget. This is really disappointing news as MCC set the trend for other councils in terms of bike infrastructure. If they cut the budget, other councils will take that as a signal to cut their bike budgets too.

We have been informed 94% of all submissions to the MCC budget were about the bike lanes and all in favour of reinstating the budget. Bicycle Network are coordinating a campaign to get the budget reinstated. Given the minuscule amount allocated to bike infrastructure this is a really important campaign

https://theconversation.com/australia-spends-714-per-person-on-roads-every-year-but-just-90-cents-goes-to-walking-wheeling-and-cycling-247902

Notes from new member Brenda

I joined BikeWest last year and turned up to a few meetings in a haphazard way. This year I’ve decided to be more focused in getting involved. I’ve got the monthly meetings on my wall calendar

It’s been an interesting month of local advocacy action. I turned up for the Critical Mass ride in the CBD. It’s not a BikeWest event but I love to join in. Cyclists gather in a hoard? A mob? Definitely not an orderly peloton. We fill up the road, momentarily block traffic and scoot through intersections controlled by the police who are on bicycles too. It’s a way of being visible to everyone, people in cars, people at tram stops, people on footpaths, in cafes. BUILD more SEPARATED and SAFE bike paths please, that’s our message. Oh and this month we were protesting that the City of Melbourne has CUT FUNDING from bicycle infrastructure budget. It’s a backward move, and we all know cyclists do not move backward. After the ride if you don’t have to rush home, you can have a bevi at a pub with your new cycling friends, or the old friends /family that came with you. Did I say it’s the best fun?

I turned up on Sunday June 1, to the Olive Festival in Yarraville for the BikeWest tent. If you are reading this newsletter, maybe you came up to our table and joined the mailing list. It surprised me how many people did come and talk to us about cycling matters. The good people of the West are appreciative of our efforts to advocate for SEPARATED and SAFE cycle paths. So you are also welcome to come to our meetings.

A few of us turned up to have a photo taken underneath the green Veloway. The Star Weekly news may publish a photo and article about the issue of cycling safely to the Veloway from Footscray. At the mo there is no safe direct way to get to the Veloway on cycle path. I usually ride along the footpath past the Police Station if I’m heading to Footscray road from Buckley street Footscray. Everyone’s got their own creative way of getting to Footscray Rd/ Veloway, but hey its time for a SAFE and SEPARATED cycle path.

This month, me and Pierre wandered along to a meeting of minds on the busy corner of Essex and Eleanor Streets on a Saturday arvo. It was NOISY and BUSY with cars doing a run between Ballarat Rd and Barkly Street through what should be a quiet residential road with a primary school on that corner too. There will be a push by local residents for a calming of traffic at this corner and including Essex Street between Summerhill and Gordon.

I’ve found a group of friendly folk at BIKEWEST and even though I’m an “old lady” (in age not spirit), our shared love of bicycles, and riding bikes around our local area and far far beyond it, advocating for all ages to be safe on the streets keeps us all connected. FYI, Women welcome BTW.

Olive Fest

BikeWest recently had a table at the Olive Fest in McNish Reserve Maribyrnong.

If you think there are some community events we should be at let us know and even better volunteer to come along and chat to the community about all the benefits of getting more people on bikes.

Altona Kororoit Creek Bridge Open

The new bridge across Kororoit Creek at the end of Racecourse Rd is now open. Some council staff appear to have put up a no bikes sign on the road part when heading northwards. We believe this to be illegal as cycling is only forbidden on certain roads, for example freeways.

Having said that, maybe it will be a good idea to stick to the Shared User Path as someone has already crashed their car on the bridge. The quality of driving in Australia leaves a lot to be desired. Getting a driver's license is much more difficult in many countries, e.g. Germany and Sweden with a much greater emphasis on safety. One of the many things that could be done in Australia to make the roads safer.

Westside Cycle Club Event

The Westside Cycle Club was formed a few years ago for those who are more about participating as opposed to racing, especially getting more unrepresented groups cycling i.e. kids and women. While it's been a mixed bag so far, they continue to do group rides where all are welcome and are planning to do a Cyclocross (CX) event in September at Jacks Magazine. It will include a community event as well as some races. They recently did a test event with a snapshot below.

Get in touch if you want to participate or help out.