Campaign Report – BCC 2016 Elections – Space for Cycling Brisbane

Brisbane City Council 2016 Elections Campaign Wrap up

Space for Cycling Brisbane

On 13th September 2015 Brisbane’s bicycle user groups and community cyc 2015-11-15 10.57.13 ling organisations (Airport BUG, Brisbane CBD BUG, Brisbane North BUG, West BUG. Chicks Who Ride Bikes, EaST BUG & Pedal Brisbane) came together to create and work toward a vision for Brisbane where it is easy, convenient, and safe for people of all ages and abilities to walk or ride to their destination. The result was The Space for Cycling Brisbane Campaign, a city shaping campaign aiming to make a better, more liveable, dynamic and vibrant city for all.

The initial task for Space for Cycling Brisbane was to target candidates in the Brisbane City Council election in 2016 with the aim of making cycling an election issue. The local government election is now over and it’s time to look back on Space for Cycling Brisbane’s campaign.

The Candidates, Commitments and Cycling Policies.

During the Brisbane Local Government election campaign, Space for Cycling Brisbane (S4CBNE) representatives organised face to face meetings with forty three candidates to talk about cycling issues in their wards. Space for cycling Brisbane also met Adrian Schrinner with all of the mayoral candidates except Graham Quirk who sent Active Transport Caiman Peter Matic in his place. In addition to local government candidates, S4CBNE met with three State MPs and one Federal MP and took Mark Bailey MP, Minister for Main Roads and Road Safety for a tour by bicycle of Brisbane North side bicycle infrastructure.

One of the highlights of the campaign was a candidate debate organised by CBD BUG for the
three Brisbane Central ward candidates in
the Great CBD Bug debate.

Throughout the election campaign S4CBNE reported bicycle policies and initiatives as they were released. When all parties had released their bicycle policies and commitments we analysed and summarised the major bike infrastructure promises in tables and with an awesome infographic (thanks Belinda and Jacob) which allowed people to easily compare the bicycle commitments of each of parties.

Social Media and Web Based Engagement

Space for Cycling Brisbane kept voters updated on the campaign and candidates commitments through daily Facebook posts as well as through our webpage and twitter. Many of our posts and tweets were shared by others who followed the campaign, including candidates, politicians and other advocacy organisations including some from overseas. The S4CBNE website allowed supporters to sign up for email updates and notices.

The Tell your Candidates facility on the S4CBNE website allowed voters to post a message to their candidate which we passed on either by email or in person. This was a useful facility but was overshadowed by the extremely popular Collaborative Map.

Collaborative Map. The Collaborative Map allowed anyone to pin a location and make a comment on how good (or not so good) it is for cycling. At the end of March we had over 800 pins on the map from Bracken Ridge to Forest Lake. This was useful and easy way to engage candidates just by sending them a link. The Collaborative Map will continue be a great source of information for engagement with all levels of government. Thanks to everyone that has been dropping those pins, keep up the good work. And if you haven’t started yet, the map is easy to use and helps to identify where Brisbane has great cycling space and where more work needs to be done.

A Bike Friendliness Surveywas sent out to all candidates and results were published on our web page for each candidate. The survey was useful to make candidates aware of our campaign but was of limited value to voters as only about half of the candidates responded.

Twelve Campaign Videos were produced for our YouTube and Facebook pages to promote our campaign asks. There were very popular and were shared widely amongst the cycling community and candidates.

Print Media and Radio

Space for Cycling was fortunate to get favourable coverage in various Newspaper articles including Bayside Star, Courier Mail, City North News.

4ZZZ radio invited Space for Cycling Brisbane representatives on to their show ’At the Local’ to promote our campaign and our movie night.

S4CBNE representative Chris Cox was successful in getting a cycling question asked the Lord Mayoral Candidates on Quest Newspaper’s online session with the candidates.

Meetings.

S4CBNE met with Bicycle Queensland, The RACQ, the Heart Foundation and presented at a PedBikeTrans meeting. S4CBNE also had six team meetings during the campaign which anyone was welcome to attend. S4CBNE representatives also attended meet the candidates events such as Politics in the Pub for Gabba Ward candidates and Deagon Ward Candidates.

Bike Rides.

Campaigning is more fun if you can do it on a bike. S4CBNE organised a ride to promote the CBD Protected Grid Ride and as well as a ‘Make Sylvan Rd Safe’ awareness ride. Both rides were successful and attracted a good crowd which included candidates and public. We also had a Ride to the Bikes Vs Cars Movie night thanks to Brisbane Style over Speed.

Public Events.

Public events attended included: Pushies Galore, West End Markets, Nundah Criterion races and Murarrie Criterion Races and Bike Week Ride to Work Breakfast, At these events S4CBNE volunteers spoke to people about our campaign, and gave out brochures, stickers and post cards.

CBD Protected Bike Grid was the most heavily promoted infrastructure ask of the S4CBNE local election campaign. Many other cities in Australia and around the world have installed protected bike lanes in their cities because these lanes have been shown to get more people out of their cars and on to bikes. Space for Cycling Brisbane promoted the Brisbane CBD Protected Bike Grid through public events, bike shops, and handing cards on bike paths. The campaign produced 1500 postcards and personally delivered 325 of these to the Lord Mayor’s office. The Lord Mayor replied to the many people who signed post cards and S4CBNE has drafted a response to the Lord Mayor’s reply.

The Film Night on Tuesday 2nd Feb 2016 was very successful. We sold out all 17 Mark Bailey film night 5 seats and the event raised both awareness and funding for our campaign. Mark Bailey MP for Yeerongpilly and Minister for Main Roads very kindly opened the event. Professor Phil Heywood (retired professor of urban planning and keen bike rider) gave an inspiring introductory speech to the event. The film Bikes vs Cars by award winning documentary film maker Frank Gertten was entertaining and thought provoking with some great characters and a happy ending. We received many favourable comments from people who attended. One said: “I never thought your movie would move my perceptions so much in such a short time. An epic journey that has changed the way I see my world.” and “It was a real eye-opener as to what can be done and the support that can be mustered to make it happe Audence film night n.” valet parking sign

Thanks to everyone who came along and especially the many who came by bike.

Thank you to our supporters.

Space for Cycling Brisbane has had the generous support of many people who have given their time and money to help make the campaign a success. As well as private donations we have received donations and support from Epic Cycles, Reid Cycles, and Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. Thank you also to the bicycle shops and businesses who kindly displayed our literature and promoted our campaign – Activ Cycle Coaching Milton, Bicycle Obsession Brisbane City, 99 Bikes Fortitude Valley, Hola Cycles Indooroopilly, Planet Cycles – Woolloongabba, Yellow Jersey Bike Shop Woolloongabba, Logan Road Cycles Woolloongabba, Bicycle Centre Boggo Road Woolloongabba, Crankstar Woolloongabba, Electro Bikes Wolloongabba, For The Rider Woolloongabba, Uni Bike Shop – UQ St Lucia, Bikeology Taringa, My Bike Shop Mitchelton, River City Cycles Yeronga, Lifecycle Petrie Terrace, Bikeology Taringa, Hoffy Cycles Sandgate, the folks at Cycle.org.au and the Koffy Trike in the CBD who also sells Space for Cycling cookies!