Roberta Albrecht

Yesterday, Simon from Brisbane West BUG met with Roberta Albrecht, Labor’s candidate for Pullenvale Ward to discuss active transport in the neighbourhood.

Roberta used to ride as a child and in to her teens, even using it as the primary way to get to and from school. But like a lot of people, she had an on-road biking accident when 19 and hasn’t really ridden since. So we caught up at Kenmore D&D for a coffee and a chat.

Although Roberta hasn’t ridden many years, her daughter was also an avid rider growing up and cycling was her primary form of school transport from Kenmore. Roberta tried to encourage her daughter and not create the fear she still carries from riding on the road. We discussed the “fear of riding on the road” and how that is stopping a lot of potential active transport users where there aren’t feasible alternatives.

The conversation then expanded beyond just cycling to “not needing to drive a car in the suburbs”. Roberta is keen to improve the basics in the suburbs with a focus on better lighting at night and improved shade around bus stops and better multimode connections – particularly for people further out (e.g. Bellbowrie) as she recognises that Moggill Rd is not a safe place to ride. Roberta commutes into the city for work, but has found the bus service just too unreliable, and unfortunately now feels forced to drive in early each day.

Even though Moggill Rd from Chapel Hill outwards is a state govt (TMR) responsibility Roberta would really like to see what could be done to speed up both improved public transport and separated bike lanes. A lot of the discussion centred around closer co-operation between state and local governments in this area so that there was more of a focus on choices for people rather than just driving. We discussed Labor’s policy commitment to focus more on the suburbs and, if she is elected, Roberta is keen to explore local connectivity projects.

Since we were at D&D which overlooks Kenmore and Kersley Rd , Simon talked about the opportunities to make Kenmore Rd an active transport corridor as the road is wide enough to support a separated bike and pedestrian capability. He also explained a little bit about the Principal Cycle Network. Roberta also supported the idea of scramble crossings near schools as “it just makes sense”.

Hopefully with some better off-road infrastructure in future, we’ll see Roberta out and about cycling. Thanks for taking the time to chat to West Brisbane BUG and good luck in the Pullenvale election!