YarraBUG

Faith and Val are joined in the studio today by Dr Afshin Jafari Research Fellow at RMIT's Centre for Urban Research. We all share our bike moments before taking a look at two local pieces of news.First a reminder that the proposed ban on people travelling with e-bikes is open for consultation until today.  You just have time to have your say! Once you have done that make sure you contact your local MP.Secondly the City of Yarra are looking at changes they can make to the intersection of Scotchmer Street and St Georges Road to improve it. Take a look and give them your feedback. Dr Afhsin Jafari takes us through the elements that make for a safe bike lane including all the considerations about width. These are very relavent in Yarra at the moment with discussion around narrowing the Elizabeth Street protected bike lanes. We also take a look at the different standards used around the world and in Australia, their consistencies and otherwise, and local inconsistencies in building to the guidelines. As new peopl

On this weeks show, Chris has a radio edit of the Future of North Richmond - People, Bikes, Cars and Housing forum held Thursday 7 August 2025 with presentations by Karen Hovenga (see Elizabeth Street, North Richmond housing) and Jeremy Lawrence (see Councillor vs. Officer Plans), that also involves Elizabeth Street protected lanes 'narrowing' and adjacent issues.The next Yarra Council meeting on 12 August 2025, please make a submission and attend the meeting if you can. Read Bicycle Network: Yarra to vote – again – on critical bike route (8 August 2025)It was a good discussion, attended by members of the North Richmond Precinct Community Committee and other local residents. 'We learned that the East and West Carparks, on the housing estate, are not fully utilised (about 50% empty) and that all residents who own a car in their own name can be given a car park permit, as well as any regular support workers.  Residents also discussed the difficulty that they have in owning bikes as they don't have secure storag

Faith and Val are joined in the studio today by Elliot Fishman of the Institute for Sensible Transport to discuss the Victorian State Government's proposed ban on people travelling with e-bikes on trains. We share our bike moments and our first ever sponsorship by Bicycle Network.We discuss the policy and data vacumn within which this decision is being made, the ensuing lack of impact assesment and the ongoing failure of the State Government when it comes to this important part of the transport system. Despite calls from Coroner Audrey Jamison seven years ago for the better regulation of e-bikes little has been done, even after the Morrison government made the importation of more dangerous non-compliant bikes easier in 2021. While the  ban seeks to address the issue of battery fires on trains, especially in tunnels, the ban is imposed on e-bikes whose batteries have never been associated with these fires. The ban will impact people accessing work, addressing shortfalls in the PT system, dangerous gaps in the

On this week's show Chris chats to Rochelle Anderson from Surrey Hills Neighbourhood Centre about the new Boroondara e-bike library trial programme, what's involved, providing locals to try out a top of the range e-bike, the bikes, training, how the Merri-bek e-bike trial went, responsibilities, survey follow up and more.The topic de jour everywhere is e-bikes and safety concerns on public transport, with bit of back history about previous bike bans back in 2008 on V/Line and Connex which stemmed from storage issues and overreach.In short, the e-bike compliance issue sits at Federal government with grey imports, point of sale and dodgy conversions. Concerned about e-bike PT restrictions? Please contact your local state member ASAP and make a submission to Conduct on Public Transport Regulations by 18 August 2025.Remembering John Englart: Family and friends will celebrate John’s life on Monday, July 28, 12 noon – 4pm, at St Mark’s Fawkner, corner of Lee Street and Sydney Road. All who knew John are welcome. Gi

Faith and Val are joined in the studio by Andrea Bunting, Secretary of Climate Action Merri-bek. We share our bike moments and take a look at some local news including the death of Brian Dixon, co-founder of Bicycle Network, and the recent suggestion that e-bikes should be registered as motorbikes. We remember our friend John Englart who passed away suddenly last week and his incredible legacy as an activist and campaigner for sustainable transport and climate action.John was a member, and often committee member, of Merri-bek BUG since 2007 and Convenor of Climate Action Merri-bek since 2013.  But his history as an activist and campaigner goes back decades; participant and organiser in the Rides against Uranium in the 1970s and '80s, Critical Mass rider since the1990s, writer, publisher, diligent documentor of campaigns and activism, he also found time to be a beloved friend, father and partner. Vale John Englart 1955-2025. A celebration of John's life will be held on Monday July 28th 12-4pm at St Mark's Chur

Faith and Val are joined in the studio by Mathew Peckham and we all share our bike moments, including the 2025 Melburn Roobaix and installation of a long overdue prioirty crossing on the Inner Circle Trail at Alfred Crescent. We note the improvement to the City of Melbourne bike lane budget since last week. while also noting it still won't deliver the projects in the Transport Strategy. Mathew tells us about a crash he suffered on a protected bike lane in the CBD when a distracted pedestrian stepped in front of his bike. Mathew suffered injuries that prevented him from working for a significant amount of time and have left him with ongoing health issues but was disappointed to discover that despite having paid registration and TAC insurance premiums for decades, his crash wasn't covered becasue there was no motor vehicle involved. We chat about the changes made to TAC over the years to better adapt it to provide no fault support, and the social contracts we have where we pool resources to ensure everyone is l

On this weeks program Chris catches up with Cr Sophie Wade from City of Yarra about local walking and cycling initiatives, her recent European trip that illustrate how London, Paris, Rotterdam and many European cities are providing active transport options for their citizens, including micromobility, bike hangars, 30km/h zones, school zones, allocating road space to people and smooth transitions on paths and surfaces, and returning home, talking about that now infamous 8 April meeting at Yarra Council, on to positive stuff such as upgrades to Wellington/Johnston Street intersection, design work and upgrading Wellington, Gipps and Langridge Streets.Local news includes Sundays Melburn Roobaix roll that showed the glorious biodiversity of cycling in this town, Victoria Walks: talking walking and driving and Nick Reeces predictable backflip and weird 'safety' pivot over protected lanes despite a overwhelming public response supporting safe infrastructure.Today is final day of 3CR radiothon - a big THANK YOU to ev

Fresh from a brief technical gremlin wrestling session Faith and Val warm up the mikes by sharing their bike moments. We check in on our Radiothon fundrasing target and remind everyone of the different ways they can make a donation to keep 3CR and Yarra BUG Radio on air! If you'd like to make a donation you can do so here: https://www.givenow.com.au/cr/yarrabugradioshow Every litlle bit helps! We recap events at the Future Melbourne Commitee's Draft Budget submiissions hearing last week where 179 people registed to speak to their submissions to the CoM budget, particularly the bike lane budget. With over 1450 submissions calling for the bike lane budget to be increased to the levels of the last term, it was a long night! You can watch the meeting here You can read more about the City of Melbourne bike lane budget (including a detailed analysis of the spin around bike lane funding) here. Bicycle Network are calling on everyone to email Councillors and ask them to increase the funding. We finish up with a remin

On this weeks program Chris talks to Kathryn Good from the Story Bridge Active Transport Alliance about the sudden footpath closure earlier in 2025 apparently due to Cyclone Alfred, difficulties with any answers being given, poor communication from Brisbane City Council, poor detour arrangements, discovering reports about the bridge being being at risk of further damage from the elements and vehicles, who will foot the maintanance or restoration costs, planned court actions, petition to Brisbane City Council, organising bike bus for users safety and where changes to transport planning in cities like Paris and London has lead to fantastic outcomes for active transport. Also see Bike Queensland: Bike Bus scheduled for Story Bridge and Space4Cycling Brisbane.Local news: Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece has an attempt at appealing to Melbourne's cycling community, Bike Melbourne and Bicycle Network local campaign to restore City of Melbourne active transport budget, how to stay warm on the bike tips from Sarah @ E

Our 2025 radiothon show has a bit of everything with Val, Chris, Steve and Nik in the studio, Dr Moss Cass' contribution to community radio, the Great Ride of Return, bicycle moments, the rebirth of Critical Mass since 2022 and how it has changed, including local advocacy mobilisation in response to Yukako Fukuharas tragic death on King Street in May 2022 and that Melbourne City Council on June 2022 meeting. Her name was Yukako: Yukako was a kind, funny and joyful woman from Japan who dreamed of improving her English in Melbourne and was living that dream until her life was tragically cut short in a bicycle accident with a truck on King Street in the CBD on her way to school on May 17th 2022. Nik talks about what happens next with Melbourne City Council on 17 June 2025 and bicycle infrastructure funding and Val reading Mulga Bill riding his new bike into Deadman's Creek. Givenow to Yarra Bicycle Users Group Radio!Celebrate everything you love about community and bike riding by supporting Your Station, Your Vo

On this weeks program Chris chats to Hiroyuki Yuzurihara about his world cycling journey that started as a homage to his grandfathers attempt to write a novel seventy years ago, his adventures, reasons for traveling, what he's experienced, how he's found Melbourne, the kindness of strangers, meeting new friends and what’s coming next. You can catch up with Hiro on threads, buy me a coffee and more.Local news includes last Fridays Critical Mass: Big City Lights ride, Save the City of Melbourne’s Bike Lane Budget: make a submission by 5pm, Monday June 2025 and 3CR 2025 Radiothon: Your Station, Your Voice!Donate here to keep Yarra Bicycle Users Group Radio & radical community radio on airProgram musicShonen Knife, Cycling is funAvicii, Wake me up

Faith and Val are joined in the studio by Nik Dow of Bike Melbourne. We share our usual bike moments before turning to the Draft City of Melbourne budget currently out for consultation. Nik explains that Despite Mayor Reece's commitment during the 2024 elections to “maintain investment in bike lanes over the next four years at the same level as the previous term of council”, the draft budget shows a huge cut to funding.The City of Melbourne is proposing to spend more on Christmas decorations than it will on building new protected bike lanes and will fall significantly behind in its aims to build 50km of new physically protected bicycle lanes by 2030 on local roads. City of Melbourne is proposing to spend $1.5M in comparison to the City of Sydney spending $13M in an area twice the CoM. With such a small investment the schedule for buidling the nwtork of 50km of new protected bike lanes by 2030 can never be met. You can make your submission to the Draft Budget here. (The section for the first text box is "Bike

On this weeks program Chris interviews Dr Afshin Jafari, Lead researcher and RMIT Research Fellow about new research (Melbourne cycling infrastructure plan risks getting stuck in low gear if feeder networks not considered) that shows that state and local governments should connect and build more dedicated bike lanes to make the existing Strategic Cycling Corridors a viable transport option.'In this study, we developed a city-scale agent-based simulation model for Greater Melbourne to evaluate changes in travel mode share from cycling infrastructure modifications. We clustered bicycle riders into five demographic groups: Maverick Males, Motivated Adults, Conscientious Commuters, Young Sprinters, and Relaxed Cruisers, estimating mode choice parameters for each group.'RMIT: Understanding the impact of city-wide cycling corridors on cycling mode share among different demographic clusters in Greater Melbourne, AustraliaNews includes City of Melbourne and Yarra Council draft budgets, with reduced funding for active

Val and Faith are joined in the studio by Alison McCormack, CEO of Bicycle Network. We all share our bike moments and consider what appears to be a significant cut to the CoM budget for bike lanes. In light of what everyone agrees is needed to make the CoM a liveable city into the future, the cut from $4M to $1.5M doesn't make any sense. Alison McCormack updates us on the new version of the Great Vic Bike Ride, plans for which have just been released. The changes are designed to make the Great Vic more accessible to schools, provide a deeper dive into a region while also giving participants a journey to complete. You can find out more about the Great Vic Bike Ride here. 

On this weeks program Chris talks to Laura Aston about Wayfinder Labs about finding new ways to unlock potential so everyone has convenient access to safe and healthy transport, topics include systems thinking, Open Streets initiatives and finding ways to travel that are healthy, convenient and safe.Local news includes the weekend festival of electoralism, the floating signifier of now ex LNP leader, Peter Duttons bus getting wedged on a protected bike lane barrier in Pitt Street, Sydney, ongoing Elizabeth Street protected lanes media coverage with our previous 3CR program quoted in a news.com.au article, the example of College Street Cycleway outlasting both a NSW transport minister and now disgraced shock jock and a Coppin Street Cycling Corridor public meeting at 6.30pm, Monday 5th May, Central Club Hotel, Richmond.3CR’s annual Radiothon fundraiser is coming! We need to raise a whopping $275,000 to keep the station afloat and with YOUR help, we know we can. No donation is too small (or big!), and all donat

On todays program Chris catches up with Pierre Vairo from Bike West about last weeks quiet opening of the Footscray Road walking and cycling bridge.Also a recap of Yarra Councils 8 April 2025 meeting, where our petition with 1100+ was tabled, with something going very wrong where Yarra has to call another meeting: Extraordinary Council Meeting called for Elizabeth Street at 7.15pm Tuesday 22 April 2025, read more + actions you can take.Pierre talks about the 200m green bike bridge opening as part of three completed components of the Westgate Tunnel Project, with the 2km+ veloway/green snake and Rainbow Bridge still to open. We discuss the ongoing issues with WTP including a tragic avoidable death, another serious life changing injury (730 Report: Warnings about intersection ignored by authorities prior to crash that left cyclist paralysed, Critical Mass Footscray in February and ongoing ford work with not fit for purpose signage.Program musicKing Stingray, Day off

Faith and Val are joined in the studio by Andrew Talati of Neighbourly Ride and we all share our bike moments. We talk about the shambolic Yarra Council meeting last week and the decision affecting the Elizabeth Street bike lanes. You can read the detail about what happened, the proposed dangerous changes and what you can do here. Andrew reminds us how Neighbourly Ride started, and brings us up to date with it's revival. Neighbourly Ride provides short social rides for newbies, creating community connections through sharing local routes and experience riding in a sociable and welcoming environment. Its the perfect next step for those hoping to start using their bike but not sure how to start. Neighbourly Ride needs volunteers to help provide more local rides in more areas. Get in touch with them if you think you can help! 

On this week program, Chris talks to Anna Johnston with a follow up interview about Collins Street protected bike lanes in nipaluna Hobart, the recent public meeting, intense debates over moderate changes to public space, using active transport to move around cities and community mobilisation to create awareness, ongoing dialogue to improve our cities, decrease pollution, congestion and more.Local news includes Yarra Council meeting on 8 April with Elizabeth and Coppin Street on the agenda to be possibly removed or narrowed or simply left alone until state government plans for the area are finalised, read more at Yarra for Safe Streets, Elizabeth Street protected bike lanes: a history and watch the socials. Local news includes No to Nuclear Solidarity Bike Ride to Brighton and Kooyong on 26 April and two surveys where your feedback is welcome: Towards Sustainable Mobility Practice through Community Engagement and Climate Risk Appraisal Shared E-scooters in AustraliaProgram musicKing Stingray, Camp DogBonobo,

Val and Faith are joined in the studio by Paul McKay, former General Manager of Bicycle Victoria (now known as Bicycle Network)  We share our bike moments before taking a look at BUGs, or Bicycle User Groups. It's thirty-five years since the first Bicycle User Groups were created in Australia in 1990 . Paul explains why Bicycle Victoria created BUGs, their role as advocates, their changing relationship wth Bicycle Network over the years, and their resilience as grass roots community advocates.   

On this weeks program Chris talks to Adam Pulford about Lime and Neuron e-scooter rental schemes in Melbourne including them no longer available in Melbourne or Yarra, a disconnect between decision makers and end users creating kneejerk reactions, how consultation processes don't necessarily work for busy people, how e-scooters provide a vital last mile/km travel option, why aren't designated on-road parking bays an option to keep footpath areas decluttered, why modern cities should be embracing new travel ideas in a environmental and cost of living crisis, state government support for e-scooters, how to plan and design streets for everyone, problems with e-scooters trials means they can be easily lobbied against as part of the so called road culture wars and what steps people can take next.Local news, Brunswick Bike Shed holding earlier sales during CERES Harvest Festival this Saturday 29 March then offering free bike checks to festival attendees from 12pm to 3pm andCritical Mass Boroondara, 5.30pm, Friday 2