Pedalling Through the Cost-of-Living Crisis Conference: Cycling for Affordable, Sustainable Mobility
Description
Registrations close on Friday 4th September 2026
Hosted by the Illawarra Bicycle Users Group (IBUG), as part of Bicycle NSW BUG Network, this one-day conference brings together policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and community leaders to explore how walking and cycling can reduce household costs while creating healthier, more connected communities.
With cost-of-living pressures rising, the forum highlights how everyday short walking and cycling trips can cut expenses, ease congestion, and improve access to schools, shops, the University of Wollongong, and local destinations.
This conference will be a dynamic, ideas-packed day bringing together leading voices in transport, health, planning, advocacy and community action to explore how cycling can reshape our response to rising living costs.
Topics include...
• Reducing household transport costs
• Safe and connected cycling infrastructure
• Access and equity
• Health and community benefits
• Policy approaches that support affordability
If you are keen to attend this event but cannot financially afford to register, please email contactus@ibug.org.au
Final Program
- 9:30 am - 10:00 am
SESSION 1: WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Welcome by Ed Birt on behalf of IBUG Welcome to Country - Uncle Richard Davis Tania Brown - Lord Mayor of Wollongong Circus Monoxide Performance
- 10:00 am - 11:00 am
SESSION 2: THE BIG PICTURE – CYCLING TO BEAT THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS
Ed Birt (IBUG) - Wollongong – It’s Time to Pedal Forward Jackson Lenham (Wollongong City Council): Strategy and Implementation of Cycling in Wollongong. Dick Van den Dool (Director Barros van den Dool Active Transport Pty Ltd): Shared Spaces on Shared Paths-- the conflicts are real, but how do we make it safe, that is the question. Graham McCabe (STEP Advisory): Bicycle Paths Planning and Implementation Best Practice.
- 11:00 am - 11:30 am
MORNING TEA AND DISPLAYS
- 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
SESSION 3: THE BENEFITS OF CYCLING
Jennifer Kent (Australian School of Travel, Univ of Sydney): Actively Unlikely – The cultural and political foundations of children’s school travel. Holly Hughes (Super Counts Program Manager, Bicycle Network): Bicycle Network Transport Data and Surveys. Paris Lord (Canberra by Bike): Creating joyful, social short trips by cycle. Luke Jansz: Lessons from bikepacking. Lily Piccolo: Different not less - Cycling with a disability. George Takacs (Illawarra Healthy Cities): Ride Daily - The prescription for adding life to your years and years to your life.
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
LUNCH
- 2:00 pm - 2:40 pm
SESSION 4: ADVOCACY
Post lunch performance: The Swamp Wallaby Syndicate bicycle songs Peter McLean (CEO Bicycle NSW): Bicycle Advocacy, a big business approach. Bjorn Karlsson (Velonia Cologne Germany): Beyond Mobility - Cycling as Social Infrastructure to Reduce Living Costs. Cecily Michaels (Exec Director Pedal Power ACT): How Advocacy Shaped Canberra's Cycling Future and Why It Matters More Than Ever Discussion
- 2:50 pm - 4:00 pm
SESSION 5: WORKSHOP - MAKING CYCLING VISIBLE
Help yourself to afternoon tea throughout afternoon session. World café style, with different tables where people can workshop different topics. Possible topics: • Exploring different scenarios for particular case studies, e.g. Bulli HS catchment area. • Designing particular intersections. • Designing particular arterial roads. • “I hate cyclists” versus “I love cycling”– discuss!; • Developing a bike policy for our city. • Screen video made by Bulli HS students of their experiences riding e-bikes. • Using the visual and performing arts to create a cycling culture. • The value of monitoring and data collection. • How to integrate new mobility technologies into cycling infrastructure.
- 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
SESSION 6 - PANEL DISCUSSION: SAFE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CYCLISTS
Facilitator: Clare Watson The motivations of different types of cyclists and their differing requirements from infrastructure: • Denise James and student from Bulli High School (view of children who use e-bikes) • Bronwyn Wood (SWIFT) (view of vulnerable cyclists) • Beth Robrahn (former President of IBUG, transport planner and advocate, affiliated with Better Street) (view of female cyclists) • Jay Gaffey (view of fitness cyclists)
- 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
SESSION 7: EVENING - INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION
Drinks, nibbles, entertainment (The Swamp Wallaby Syndicate music), light meal (buffet) Romain Loubere (French urban planner): Lessons from France’s Bicycle Revolution Maud de Vries and Michela Chamonal: International Bicycle Mayors Netherlands Bjorn Karlsson (Velonia Cologne Germany): Beyond Mobility: Cycling as Social Infrastructure to Reduce Living Costs Screening of film ‘Together We Cycle” Discussion 9.00 - Finish
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity