23/03/2025
I love seeing local children riding on the Bourke Street cycleway to school each morning, and on the weekend I ran into one of the first to do it!
I first met Diego shortly after the Bourke Street cycleway opened, some 15 years ago. He and his schoolmates at Bourke Street Public were part of an informal "bike bus" group, commuting to and from school in bicycle convoys.
Fast forward to the weekend just gone, and a young man approached me at the opening of our upgraded Arthur Street Reserve Playground.
He handed me his phone to show me a scanned newspaper article and explained that he was the little boy in the clipping!
Bourke Street cycle way was one of the first that the we built, and at the time the reaction from some media and the State Government was vicious. You would have thought I was opening a nuclear reactor.
But every day there are long lines of children and parents riding to Bourke Street Public School.
We knew how important cycleways would be to help people who would like to ride, but don't feel safe mixing it with fast moving traffic. That is especially true of children and families.
Thanks Diego and your dad, Luca, for stopping by and reminding me of why our fights to make the City a more liveable and connected place for people are so important.
