Kate Richards

Kate Richards, Independent candidate for Pullenvale Ward, lives in the suburb of Pullenvale and appreciates the challenges of active transport connections to shops, schools, services and the Centenary Bikeway which provides access towards the city. Her husband and children are regular bike riders, and Kate feels anxious whenever her husband rides on Moggill Road. But there is currently no safe, separated infrastructure between Kenmore and Pullenvale or Moggill.

As someone who has worked in the Council organisation for over a decade as a council officer and then Councillor, Kate knows first hand the challenges of getting good infrastructure in place for all residents. While engineers cite technical barriers for building active transport infrastructure or even reducing speed limits on suburban streets, she says power comes from the community. Kate appreciates the way groups like Brisbane West BUG are advocating for their community and she believes when multiple community groups come together and bring the broader community with them, that is how change happens.

Kate is very supportive of active transport and believes there are opportunities to do things better in Pullenvale. She strongly agrees Kenmore Road is a perfect opportunity to trial protected bike lanes and cycle street designs, given it connects several schools and shopping centres and forms a part of the Principal Cycle Network route to the Centenary Bikeway. She also said that in her time as councillor she was lobbying to widen the Cubberla Reserve shared path and provide lighting and would continue to do so.

Kate also suggested providing bike carriers on Translink buses would help encourage bike use from Moggill and Pullenvale, where safe infrastructure doesn’t exist, rather than people driving in with their bikes and parking at Moore Park or Cubberla Reserve as some do now.

There was also a discussion around better pedestrian infrastructure, and since the coffee and chat was at D&D Espresso at the corner of Kenmore Road and Kersley Rd, close to Kenmore South State School, the idea that scramble crossings near schools made a lot of sense.

Kate has seen first-hand the challenges that living in a “one road in, one road out” area creates – particularly during natural disasters. She is supportive of a green bridge designed to carry buses, bikes and pedestrians across the river, as was originally proposed by Brisbane City Council in 2019. Apart from providing bikeway access to the Centenary Bikeway from Moggill, it would provide bus access to the rail line, an emergency access point in a bushfire or flood, and opportunities for more utilities and services. She also believes there are opportunities for better use of the Kenmore bypass corridor for active transport paths, and potentially underground public transport.

Thanks Kate for spending some time chatting to West BUG and being supportive of improving local travel options.