On yer bike Campbell, ALP urges

NEWS

Forget power to the people ... the Opposition in City Hall wants the Lord Mayor to lead from the front when it comes to the new CityCycle bike hire scheme by putting power to the pedal ... his own.

Although the scheme opened a month ago, Campbell Newman still has not ridden a CityCycle bike, Labor leader Shayne Sutton claims. And this “failure” to ride one of the distinctive yellow bikes is an indictment of the botched scheme.
Councillor Sutton believes the reason the Lord Mayor hadn’t ridden a bike yet was because of safety concerns about the project.
“Campbell Newman has already admitted that accidents between motorists and CityCycle cyclists are inevitable, so perhaps that’s why he hasn’t used his own scheme yet,” Councillor Sutton said.
“Actions speak louder than words and Campbell Newman’s failure to use CityCycle is an indictment of this botched scheme.
“I have always said that CityCycle will only be successful if there are safe bikeways for cyclists to use, but Campbell Newman had made no attempt to create a safe cycling environment in the inner-city or come up with a solution to the helmet issue.
“If the Lord Mayor won’t use his own CityCycle bikes, how can he expect anyone else to? “I’d also like to know whether the Lord Mayor’s Public Transport Chairperson Margaret de Wit has used the scheme either.
“Labor Councillors have always supported the idea of a bike hire scheme, but Campbell Newman has completely botched the implementation of CityCycle,” she said.

• The Independent ran out of time to get a response from the Lord Mayor. His comments will be posted online shortly.