Katy gets a gong from the Heart Foundation

milkman said :

If the Netherlands is so amazing, why don’t certain people move there…?

Because it’s a socialist hell-hole.

@ BicycleCanberra:

I really think people above have a point about your obsession with unrealistic European comparisons.

Why don’t you try to place your lobbying in a more local context, first suggestion: get rid of those pathetic compulsory helmet laws. I know I would start cycling.

thatsnotme said :

I sometimes wonder whether BicycleCanberra will be happy until we bulldoze all of our pesky hills, run some canals, and convert the Tuggeranong Parkway into a bicycle only freeway.

I’ve got some criticisms of the way cycling infrastructure is planned in Canberra – on road bike paths starting and ending with no thought about how a cyclist gets on or off them is a big one – but this constant ‘but this is how they do it in the Netherlands’ stuff is getting pretty old. Turning Canberra into some type of European style cycling utopia is probably about as realistic as the Dutch showing off their new beach that rivals Bells for surf-able waves…

So your happy that we have copied the American style of road planning,(for which some American cities are removing major roads) but to have a pedestrian and cycling friendly city ,what no way!
We can spend 100’s millions on roads but only a few million for walking and cycling. A survey of Canberran’s want more spend on walking cycling yet that hasn’t happened why not?
I would say that given Katy Gallagher has been in the job less that a year, this is more of an encouragement award, rather than recognition of the work she has done.

The Netherlands will always be the measure stick for how well a city does on cycle infrastructure, for which we can easily copy from. Its not about density or how flat it is( even San Francisco has a higher cycling rate than us) its about the political will to change and having vision for a cycling city. http://vimeo.com/38043563

If the Netherlands is so amazing, why don’t certain people move there…?

I sometimes wonder whether BicycleCanberra will be happy until we bulldoze all of our pesky hills, run some canals, and convert the Tuggeranong Parkway into a bicycle only freeway.

I’ve got some criticisms of the way cycling infrastructure is planned in Canberra – on road bike paths starting and ending with no thought about how a cyclist gets on or off them is a big one – but this constant ‘but this is how they do it in the Netherlands’ stuff is getting pretty old. Turning Canberra into some type of European style cycling utopia is probably about as realistic as the Dutch showing off their new beach that rivals Bells for surf-able waves…

I think you’ll find all previous ACT governments have invested in bike paths.

“Look at what you have to do to win an award in the Netherlands. http://youtu.be/XVM99OOo86A. This year the focus was on cycling to schools.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love bikes and love cycling in Canberra (one of the many reasons our move from Sydney was a smart one) but to compare Canberra to Den Bosch is slightly unrealistice…. apart from a older and more sophisticated cycling culture and slower speeds, Den Bosch has about 1/10 of the area AND 4X the population density of canberra, as well as being completely flat. If Canberra was like that we would undoubtedly have even better cycling infrastructure than we do now, and it”s already among the best (if not THE best, depending where you live/work in Canberra) in Australia.

It’s a well deserved award because Katy and her team (and previous Labor Governments in the ACT) have invested well in shared paths and cycling infratsructure, unlike most state and local governments across Australia. Most of the others are trying to catch up to us now and I don’t think they ever will.

Yes, we’re lucky to live here.

You don’t have to do much to get an award these days. Look at what you have to do to win an award in the Netherlands. http://youtu.be/XVM99OOo86A. This year the focus was on cycling to schools. Something that the ACT Government has ignored for years.