Kath Angus

This morning, Mary (Brisbane South BUG) and Belinda (East BUG) caught up with our final Coorparoo Ward candidate, Kath Angus – The Greens. Kath is a very experienced rider, and her kids have grown up walking, cycling, and catching public transport around Woolloongabba and East Brisbane. For today’s ride, she was keen to check out the area around Camp Hill, where there are fewer bike paths, and even more missing connections. Tackling the loop in morning peak hour made for perhaps our most adventurous candidate’s ride so far.

Starting outside Coorparoo Secondary College, the trio made their way across to Whites Hill College – just in time to experience the school-day morning traffic chaos. It was great to see local families doing the school run by bike despite the hilly terrain and busy traffic. Hills are not a show-stopper for active transport – especially with the growing popularity of electric bikes – but they do require some careful planning to ensure that the flatter routes are safe and connected. Unfortunately that’s not what we encountered today; Kath’s cyclo-cross skills came in handy more than once!

While Kath is pretty fearless herself on the bike, riding with children and later deciding when it’s OK to let your kids ride to school by themselves brings a whole new perspective. This morning we experienced a number of crossings with tiny refuge islands, barely large enough for one person at a time. Kath dubbed these “baseball crossings”, where you have to dash from one base to the next, relying on the person in front of you to be clear and make the next base before you follow them. That was challenging with three experienced adult riders; good luck riding with kids or a cargo-bike or trailer. And of course, nothing says “this is not a safe place” like mangled pedestrian fencing at a mid-block crossing point.

As well as the schools we visited, our route took us past local cafe/shopping strips at Martha Street and Eva Street, as well as larger shopping centres at Samuel St and Coorparoo Central. None of those locations are particularly welcoming for people arriving by active transport; indeed people have been killed at junctions in two of those locations!

Kath shared two topics that have repeatedly come up in conversations while she has been doorknocking this area. The first is families looking for somewhere close to home where their kids can have fun on their bikes or scooters, being active outside. The second is Old Cleveland Road, which we tackled this morning. Kudos to anyone who rides there as their regular weekday commute!!

Finally, over coffee, we discussed some of the factors that deter women in particular from riding, and how much is within the power of Brisbane City Council to change. (Hint; a lot, but it’s not confidence courses and “behaviour change” programs). We also compared notes on our experiences as women riding at night – which is something Kath does regularly as a health-care worker with variable shifts.

Thanks Kath for joining us on a exhilarating ride this morning. We think you’d be a great advocate in City Hall for making the experience of riding a bike in Brisbane’s suburbs less about adrenaline and much more accessible for everyone.