The summer holidays are a time for family-friendly activities: early-morning bushwalks, picnics in the park, days spent by the beach, and bike rides along many of the Illawarra’s scenic cycleways. And right now is the perfect time to get pedalling, says Illawarra Bicycle Users Group (iBUG) president Beth Robrahn, with the organisation establishing a pop-up cycleway for attendees of this weekend’s 36th annual Illawarra Folk Festival and a family fun ride from Beaton Park to Lang Park on January 28.
“It was an obvious opportunity to feature the pop-up cycleways,” Beth said, following the success of Wollongong City Council’s pop-up cycling routes established ahead of the UCI Road World Championships last September.
“It was only at the beginning of January that [iBUG members] were on another ride together and just got to talking and just thought that it would be a fun way to get people together and encourage people to ride.”
Beth, who will turn 50 this year, has been cycling for transportation since she was 18 years old. There has never been a more important time to opt for cycling than now, she says, as the health and environmental benefits are evident.
“Cycling is important for people's health and wellbeing, and as a mode of transport it is really important, especially as we're faced with a climate crisis when we're looking at reducing carbon emissions,” she said.
“Cycling is a really important piece of that solution, and again, the health benefits are also known and proven, and those two things together make cycling a really important public benefit.
“The more people riding, the better for everyone.”
Beth’s philosophy is a key component of iBUG’s mission. The advocacy organisation – which has more than 90 members – is devoted to encouraging more people to ride by campaigning for safer streets and more separated pathways. They've been doing this for more than a decade.
Wollongong’s pop-up cycleways proved popular in 2022, with many Illawarra residents taking up recreational cycling along the new, safer bike routes. However, iBUG believes more infrastructure is needed to enable cycling to become a viable transportation option for our region.
“I think the pop-up cycleways were an attempt to trial some improvements that have otherwise been really difficult for Wollongong Council to get started and those – the pop-up cycleways – sort of came about with the UCI [Road World Championships] event in mind,” Beth said.
“[The Illawarra] has, obviously, a really great coastal cycleway, but what's needed is additional infrastructure in the more congested parts of that cycleway and then, frankly, more of a network so that there's more options for people to get both north and south, but also particularly east and west.
“There are not enough east-to-west safe routes for people to use – and that's true if you're riding for recreation or if you're riding for transport.
“To get to train stations, to get to the shops, to get to schools, it's really important to have [those] east-west connections, and they're just frankly not there.”
As for the pop-up cycleways organised by iBUG for January’s festival attendees and local families, there is hope that the fun factor of cycling will encourage more bike riders to lobby for the development of further cycleways. Wollongong City Council’s pop-up cycleways final survey closes on January 30, with residents and cycleway users invited to give their feedback on the shared pathways and bike lanes to determine the future of the routes.
iBUG held their first pop-up cycleway at Honk! Oz Street Music Festival in the Wollongong CBD on Saturday, January 14, with cyclists turning out to ride through the city streets.
“It was a great opportunity,” Beth said of the Honk! Oz Street Music Festival pop-up ride.
“It was a really fun event, so we were really happy to be involved in that.
“Hopefully we can drum up enough interest and have a bit of a bigger crowd for [the next rides]."
For more information on the pop-up cycleways headed for the Illawarra Folk Festival in Bulli on Saturday, January 21, and the Beaton Park to Lang Park family fun ride on Saturday, January 28, visit the Illawarra Bicycle Users Group website