Wollongong is one of only 20 Bike Cities around the world.
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The honour is given to the city for hosting the UCI World Road Race Championships and puts Wollongong on the map with cities like Vancouver, Paris and Glasgow.
These cities show a long-term commitment to supporting cycling at all levels, and Wollongong City Council has been working hard to make sure the city lives up to the label.
Cringilla Hills Bike Park, the new mountain biking track in Bulli, and the new pump tracks, a new criterium track in Unanderra, are among the projects delivered so far.
There have also been attempts to make cycling around Wollongong safer with the introduction of pilot bike lanes.
Smith Street, between Belmore Basin and Keira Street, is one of the routes where a bike lane has been introduced, making it easier to link the city centre to the ocean if you're on two wheels.
But as Alasdair Marshall outlines in our story, it takes more than a label and a few bike lanes to turn Wollongong into a Bike City. It also requires a change in attitude towards cyclists.
"Nowhere else in the world have I experienced the lack of care, utter disdain and outright hostility to bike users I have experienced in Wollongong and the Illawarra," Alasdair said.
If someone like Alasdair, a man who has commuted by bike for 25 years, is a trained cycle leader and was even the project officer for Scotland's first national cycling path, feels it is dangerous to cycle on our roads we have a severe problem.
How can we ask people to leave their cars at home and get on their bikes more if we think we are taking our lives into our hands every time we hit the road?
Alasdair places fault with car drivers and lawmakers, claiming that more needs to be done to protect bike users and to punish careless drivers.
In January 2022, the UK changed its road rules for cyclists, giving them a priority with passing a turning car. The exact rule change allows pedestrians priority when crossing road junctions.
A law change isn't a simple fix but does press home the priorities.
Gayle Tomlinson
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