March 2026

Come and say hello at our monthly meeting. For March we are meeting in the gardens next to Borderlands, 77A Paisley St, Footscray VIC 3011. We'll be there from 6PM, on Friday the 13th. All welcome.

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1938162206826622

Melbourne Airport Rail - Superhub Project

Sunshine

The long proposed Greenline is to become a reality.
The northbound leg of the Hampshire Road overpass will be closed to cars and converted into a pedestrian and cycling link over the railway tracks.
Details are unclear, but excitingly the government are saying that this path will connect to the Kororoit Creek trail via Derby Road.
We're looking forward to a safe crossing of Anderson Road at the bend.

Tottenham

Tottenham station is also set to be rebuilt by the project, this will include a new pedestrian tunnel separate it from the polluted Ashley St.
Unfortunately, there's been no mention of cycling or the width of the tunnel. Walking bikes for 110m to get to the Sunshine shared path on the north side of the tracks is.. less than ideal. If this is the case we will have to mount a HUGE campaign.
https://engage.vic.gov.au/airportrail-stage1

Ride to School Day

Ride to school day is on Friday 20th, BikeWest will be hosting an event. We'll start at Gaudion Reserve, West Footscray and ride on Barkly St to Footscray West Primary School and finish at Footscray Primary School.
Parents of kids at FWPS, FPWS, Bulldogs and Learning Sanctuary should either join FB event https://www.facebook.com/events/1269991364573308/ or email contact@bikewest.org for more details.

Parkiteer Cage

The new parkiteer cage at West Footscray station is nearing completion. Great to see more bike parking provided to help feed the improved train service due to Metro Tunnel.

Critical Mass

Critical Mass is on the 27th. We'll be heading west to promote/advocate for all of the above. Come for a friendly safe ride starting at the state library on Friday 27th 5:30pm. Look for more promotion and course/potential en route meeting points on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.

Veloway Bumps

BikeWest agrees that the expansion joins are overly bumpy, especially in a western direction. So far no one wants to put their hand up to acknowledge or fix it, but BikeWest will continue to advocate. We’ll step up our campaign soon, but we have been collecting data on this, see a graph of our data collection efforts below.

Riding around West

Exactly 5.5kms from my door is a spot on the Maribyrnong river*. The river runs
below two high banks with housing either side. High up on the north bank is
Avondale Heights. Not so high up on the south bank are the grey and white boxes,
the new housing you might see driving or cycling along Duke street Sunshine, just
past that red Buddhist temple.
I see all this from the river trail. Crunching along the gravel for about 2 kms from the pipe bridge, I stop at to this spot where the river is momentarily banked up behind a line-up of huge boulders, forming a causeway of stepping stones from the north bank to the south bank.
Here the river water has found its gurgling voice as it pushes through and under the boulders and then the water runs out in foaming rivulets on its way to find a wider, calmer place further along. I can’t help thinking the river water is having a bit of fun and excitement getting past those blue stone boulders. I stop my brief morning cycle to sit on the rocks with the ducks. Maybe I will see a platypus in the dark shadows of grass and reeds along the edge of the water? Maybe not. It’s a reason to sit for a bit.
The ducks are flapping and preening. There is no one about in this moment. The air is cool. The river sounds like music. I came for the ride and the sound of the gravel under my tyres, this moment on the river is my reward for getting out on the bike. Within the hour, I’m back at home, refreshed, to make this little scrap of writing for the newsletter.
Breoke.
*From Cranwell gardens, Canwell Street Braybrook, ride through the gardens down to the Maribyrnong river. Keep the river on your left as you ride downstream for a bit (toward Footscray, the City). You come to a pipe bridge across the river. Now you are on the north side. The track is a bit rough, so walk the bike off the bridge, down to the river trail. Keep the river on your left, ride upstream along the gravel trail for about 2 kms. Stop at the stepping stones. Sit down and enjoy. If you want to ride further, go all the way to Brimbank park and have a toastie at Brimbank park café.

Harris St pedestrian crossing

BikeWest have submitted a document with Seddon Cricket Club with some proposals to improve the safety of the pedestrian crossing over the new path on Harris St leading to the bridge over Whitehall. Hopefully council take heed

State Election Campaign

BikeWest are part of the coalition of advocacy groups in conjunction with Bicycle Network. There are meetings soon to discuss priorities for the campaign. Any suggestions are welcome

Near Miss Map

There are far too many crashes, near misses and other incidents that go unreported so BikeWest has worked with a fantastic colleague Vince to produce the Near Miss map to report these near misses and give us more evidence to advocate for safer cycling. The Near Miss Map can be found here, please use it if you have a near miss and share it widely

Maribyrnong Council

Franco Cozzo Link

BikeWest are working hard with Maribyrnong Council to join the Hopetoun Bridge with central Footscray.

Westlink

BikeWest is continuing our campaign to lever off the opening of the Dixon Veloway and highlight the gap to the shared user path (SUP) on Cross St beside West Footscray Station. There is a 2km black hole between the Veloway and West Footscray Station and we have drawn up plans that utilise much of the designs the ALP took to the 2019 federal election. We are working with Maribyrnong Council and this will be part of the state election campaign. We have also met with the Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino as this is part of his electorate to discuss the possibility of federal funding.

Quarry Park Masterplan

BikeWest continues to work with Maribyrnong Council to develop a bicycle park in Quarry Park. The ask is for extended MTB trails, a crushed gravel running/CX path around the perimeter as well as a Bike Education Centre/Event space with a cafe and deck with the best view in Melbourne. Maribyrnong staff and the consultant are on board with their report being finalised next meeting in April. .

Hobsons Bay City Council

HBCC are developing their Integrated Transport Strategy and have a workshop this Sunday at Williamstown Library

Sunday 15th March 2026
Williamstown Library - The Gallery Space
Time : 10:30pm – 12:30pm

Research, International News

The benefits of active transportation interventions: A review of the evidence

https://jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/2468

Interventions to promote active travel (walking and bicycling) have many societal benefits. This study reviews the benefits of active travel infrastructure (e.g., painted bicycle lane, pedestrian refuge island) and interventions (e.g., bike share program), and provides a summary of the effects, and quantifies the effects where possible. There is more evidence in the literature on safety effects and changes in bicycling and walking associated with active transportation interventions than on other effects such as changes in physical activity and vehicle miles traveled. Variation in effects is substantial for most infrastructure interventions with existing local transportation infrastructure and land-use patterns are especially likely to moderate the effects of active transportation interventions.

Can health information promote active transport?

Turns out not really. The treatment group in the study received the information but no real difference was found. There is some evidence that the treatment group moderately reduced their transport-related carbon footprint on the weekends, however, the results indicate that information-based nudges in transport doesn't really achieve meaningful changes to transport behavior.