woop! says... i heart sydney bike lanes and cycleways

Posted by kluster on May 5, 2011 0 comments

Half a decade ago bikes were an unusual site on Sydney’s inner city roads. Bikes not adorned by nylon-clad roadies, that is. These days they’re pretty much a fixie-ture (see what we did there?). Whether you’re of the opinion that rising numbers of riders are a result of increasingly bike friendly streets, or vice versa, matters not. The proof in the pudding is the bikes on the streets and the time is ripe for celebration. Enter Woop! The bike-lane worshiping event arm of I Heart Sydney Bike Lanes and Cycleways. They’re about to host a street-long, in-your-face-Alan-Jones bike festival to celebrate the completion of the Bourke Street bike lane. Read all about it.

Covered: IHSBL vs Alan Jones, Surry Hills street festival, 4400 on Facebook.

Kluster: Rolling festival, interesting concept. Tell us about its history, and how the idea came about.

Jackie Lau: We were so thrilled when the final bit of tarmac was laid on the Bourke St cycleway that we wanted to get out there and celebrate it en-masse. Although Bourke St is only a small piece in a much larger network, it's such a vital and symbolic one that we felt this should be acknowledged. At the time we had planned a much more casual ride with our Facebook fans but what started out as a loosely organised Sunday ride has turned into something much bigger and exciting.

And the association to the petition-beating I Heart Sydney Bike Lanes and Cycleways? What’s the connection there?

The I Heart Sydney Bike Lanes and Cycleways Facebook group was started by Jamie and myself one Sunday afternoon out of sheer frustration. We had endured a week of cycle-lane bashing led by Alan Jones who described the cycleways as one of the most disgraceful projects he has ever witnessed in all his time in public broadcasting. He then said he had a petition of more than 3000 signatures opposing the development and would be supporting legal action against the council.

We couldn't understand what was so disgraceful about the City of Sydney finally taken action, where successive NSW governments had failed, to make this city a more accessible, enjoyable and safe place to live or visit! More...

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