Politicians and Mayors Taken for a Ride in Melville

Donning helmets, lycra and special ‘Cycle Instead’ T-shirts, the participants set off on bicycles on Tuesday morning (11 March) as part of the Department for Planning and Infrastructure’s (DPI) annual Members of Parliament and Mayors’ Bike Ride.

The City of Melville was this year chosen to co-host the Bikeweek event, which showcases parts of the State’s metropolitan cycling infrastructure and provides the State’s decision-makers with direct experience of cycling conditions in Perth to encourage further improvements to the Perth Bicycle Network (PBN).

Attracting a record 52 participants and led by Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan and City of Melville Mayor Russell Aubrey, this year’s ride started at Bull Creek Train Station and finished at the Heathcote Cultural Precinct, in Applecross.

Mayor Aubrey said it was good to see that so many politicians and community leaders understood the importance of cycling as a form of transport and a way of improving health and reducing traffic and parking congestion. “Co-hosting this year’s event has given the City a chance to highlight its commitment to sustainable forms of transport and show off some of our cycle ways,” he said. “Over a number of years, the DPI has matched the City’s funding on a one-to-one basis to upgrade and improve our city’s bicycle network.”

Ms MacTiernan said the City of Melville had been one of the leading local governments in providing cycling infrastructure and promoting cycling.  “Since 2001, the State Government has provided the City of Melville with a total of $363,000 towards building local cycling infrastructure through the PBN Local Government Grants program,” she said. “This has resulted in 11 kilometres of new bicycle lanes and two kilometres of new shared paths, much of which involved upgrading older paths to a new, higher standard.”

In 2006, the State Government provided the City of Melville with $150,000 to upgrade the shared path along The Esplanade in Mt Pleasant, from Rookwood Street to just south of Canning Bridge.  Since then, the City of Melville has upgraded the section south of Rookwood Street through to Deep Water Point. The City is now keen to upgrade the path from the Raffles to Heathcote.

Mayor Aubrey said the City of Melville, in partnership with the DPI, had also developed a very active TravelSmart program, which uses community education to make people aware of alternatives modes of travel that are healthy and environmentally friendly. “We were one of the first local governments to hire a TravelSmart Officer, in the year 2000, and over the past eight years, we have instigated many TravelSmart innovations,” he said.