Illawarra Bicycle Users Group president Ed Birt will be one of the key speakers at a forum during RIDE Wollongong Festival of Cycling. The event aims to show how cycling can help ease the cost of living. Photo: Supplied.
Wollongong’s 16-day Festival of Cycling aims to bring together riders of all ages and abilities, but the offerings extend beyond the two-wheel action.
There will be more than 20 riding, racing, learning and community events from the Blue Line Community Ride to the Kembla MTB & History Schools Rides and a closing Family Fun Day at Lang Park.
But there’s one event you won’t need to saddle up for and one which could ultimately help improve the family budget and your health.
The Illawarra Bicycle Users Group (IBUG) will hold a one-day forum on Friday 11 September to bring together policymakers, researchers, practitioners and community leaders to examine how riding or walking has real impacts to ease the cost of living and improve health and wellbeing.
IBUG president Ed Birt said the timing of the forum – Pedalling Through the Cost-of-Living Crisis: Cycling for Affordable, Sustainable Mobility – was no accident.
“With cost-of-living pressures showing no sign of easing, we can’t afford to overlook one of the cheapest, healthiest and most immediate solutions sitting in our own garages,” Ed said.
“Every trip someone shifts from the car to a bike or their own two feet is money back in their pocket and this forum is about showing exactly how we make that a safe and realistic choice for more people across the Illawarra.”
Ed said the forum would unpack how everyday short trips by bike or on foot could cut transport costs, ease congestion and improve access to destinations, all while building healthier, more connected communities.
Sessions across the day will cover reducing household transport costs, safe and connected cycling infrastructure, access and equity, health and community benefits and policy approaches that support affordability.
Local and international speakers will address the forum, which will also include a workshop and panel discussion on making cycling safe and visible for riders of all ages and abilities.
The day-long event will conclude with drinks, nibbles and entertainment, as well as the screening of the film Together We Cycle.
Conference convenor David Curtis said the forum deliberately brought together people from very different backgrounds because solutions to the cost-of-living crisis wouldn’t come from any one group alone.
“We want people to leave this forum with real, practical ideas they can take back to their own street, school or workplace,” David said.
IBUG will also launch its new website and a tool that helps people calculate exactly how much they could save by riding instead of driving.
Pedalling Through the Cost-of-Living Crisis will be held at BlueScope Visitors Centre on Friday 11 September from 9:30 am to 7 pm. Cost is $120 for a full day including dinner and film / $80 daytime only. To register visit Humanitix. For more details about the festival, visit RIDE Wollongong Festival of Cycling.