Jess Pugh MP

With the Queensland State Election just 2 months away, Chris, Kevin, Wendy, Erica and Olivia from Brisbane West BUG invited Labor’s Jess Pugh MP, Member for Mount Ommaney for a bike ride from Jindalee to Darra Train Station. With the group ranging in age from 10 to 70, it was a good mix of different types of riders.

While Jess rode to school when she was a child, cycling isn’t something she does regularly now, and in fact her last bike ride was probably with Chris during the 2020 State Election campaign. But with a Tern e-bike on loan, she was good to go.

Starting from our film night prize sponsor Chase the Rider Coffee Shop, the group first made their way up past Jindalee State School during the later stages of school drop off. (Hectic!) From there they made their way along quiet Kooringal Drive, which Chris pointed out would be the ideal kind of street to make 30kph. A local street not intended as a through road, heavily used by people walking and cycling between shared paths, it feels crazy that the default speed limit of 50km/hr applies.

After crossing the newly rebuilt Kooringal Drive Bridge, the group stopped to look at progress at the Centenary Bridge Project. We’re very much looking forward to the separated bike and pedestrian paths through the project when it’s completed.

They went south along the Centenary Bikeway, navigating the stressful and unpleasant crossing at Dandenong Road off ramp roundabout, through the Sumners Road tunnel which Jess helped advocate for and deliver, and took to the Darra Station Bike Link – which was illegally blocked by customers of the metal recycling plant; a frustratingly common occurrence.

Chris showed Jess the Darra Station bike parking compound, before the group took a more direct route back to Jindalee, through Sinnamon Park.

Despite the warm, humid morning, Jess was surprised to be sweat free and comfortable back at the starting point, one of the great benefits of e-bikes – Brisbane’s climate becomes much less of an issue! Jess reflected on how she felt most uncomfortable riding past Jindalee State School feeling squeezed between parked and moving cars, and that as a parent she would be reluctant to let her children ride in that environment, even with the 40kph School Zone. Conversely, once on the Centenary Bikeway she was surprised how comfortable and safe she felt all the way to Darra Station.

The Centenary Bikeway is a fantastic trunk cycleway managed by the State Government, but Jess’s experience showed that without safe and comfortable local connections on streets in and through the suburbs, it will go under-utilised. It’s why it’s so important for the State Government and Brisbane City Council and other local governments to cooperate to deliver a safe, workable cycling network.

Thanks Jess Pugh MP for Mount Ommaney for taking the time to ride with us!