Greetings cycle advocates

Melbourne BUG has at last settled on a new venue for meetings and is ready to
restart
regular gatherings to discuss campaigning on cycling issues in the City of
Melbourne
municipality. We hope to be focused on campaigns/advocacy and educational
activities
such as workshops, but we're welcome for anyone to get involved who might wish
to help
the BUG run social activities or host any other cycling-related events. The keys
to MBUG's
success will be to aim to achieve realistic goals and practical outcomes to our
lobbying
efforts.

The first campaign off the rank will draw attention to the shared paths of
Southbank and
the Carlton Gardens. Cyclists often traverse the Carlton Gardens as a natural
extension of
Canning St and Queensberry St cycling routes, but bikes using the park is a
touchy subject
with some other park users. There are shared paths around the edge of the
Gardens but
these are less than adequate as they cross many driveways, and often pedestrians
are not
aware that the footpaths are shared paths. Melbourne BUG made a submission to
the
Carlton Gardens master plan in March this year asking for allowances for
cyclists but more
attention needs to be drawn to this busy cycling crossroads.

At Southbank, Melbourne City Council are asking police to enforce "Cyclists
Dismount"
signs, due to the behaviour of a minority of cyclists who ride along the
promenade at
excessive speed. Russell Lindsay of the Melbourne Bicycle Police has asked
Melbourne BUG
to help inform cyclists that unsafe riding along Southbank could cause the
thoroughfare to
be closed to bikes. While we're at it we can suggest to Southbank pedestrians
that bikes
can safely share the space.

We're planning to produce flyers and signs, and to do shifts handing out this
information
and speaking to people at these locations about the need to share these spaces.
Other
ideas include encouraging cyclists to ring their bells in shared zones with
pedestrians, a
letter writing campaign and a media release.

What do you think of these issues? Would you like to get involved? What other
cycling
issues do you want to address in the City of Melbourne?

Our new meetings venue, the cafe/bar Prudence on Victoria St, North Melbourne,
offers
drinks and coffee (but you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to) and
a relaxed
atmosphere. They expect that the upstairs room will be ours alone for most
meetings.

The next meeting is at 6.30 pm on Wednesday 8 September.
Prudence
368 Victoria St (near corner with Howard St)
North Melbourne Ph: 9329 9267

Meetings will continue at Prudence at 6.30 pm on the second Wednesday of every
month.

See you there!