Top image: “Darebin resident Ruth Jelley is advocating for a cycling lane on High Street, Thornbury” Photo: Chris Hopkins. Bottom image: Back2Bikes in Port Melbourne

Call out for Back2Bikes volunteers + lack of safe cycling infrastructure in Darebin: on this weeks 3CR program, Chris discusses the somewhat slow implementation of 100km of pop-up bicycle lanes, promised in last year by the Victoria State Government (Safer Cycling And More Routes To Keep Melbourne Moving, 7 October 2020) and a lack of safe cycling infrastructure in Darebin, discussed by previous guest Ruth (How you can support Darebin Councils Streets for People project, 26 April 2021) who was interviewed in the Sunday Age (Pop-up bike lanes ripped up, stalled despite cycling upswing, 9 May 2021)

This weeks guest is Geoff Smart from Back2Bikes at 525 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne. We talk about changes to Back2Bikes Sunday program, commencing on 30 May, that will refurbish bikes for people in need with a call out for three volunteers with intermediate bicycle maintenance skills, Back2Bikes activities assisting homeless, asylum seeker and refugee communities, Wednesday Womens nights and connecting case workers and Support Agencies.

News includes Bicycling Australia: The Data Is In … Cycling Participation Numbers Are Way Up, 7 May 2021, quote, “Urban traffic count specialists MetroCount recently took a look at seven random bike monitoring sites across Australia to see how COVID has affected cycling and to compare/contrast trends in different cities before, during and after initial lockdowns”