Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I received a rather interesting e-mail today. Evidently I'm not the only one feeling disenchanted at the way Bicycle Queensland is supposedly "representing the interests" of cyclists in Queensland. Oddly, I do not seem to be able to locate a direct link to the post at the bike-qld list at this time, instead getting this error message at the list archive. The gist of the message seems to be this:

In my experience, Bicycle Queensland does not represent the needs or views of all Queensland cyclists, and certainly does not stand up and advocate for the rights of cyclists on the Gold Coast.

In the past, they have used the considerable efforts of Gold Coast cyclist volunteers who have run hundreds of cycling events to promote cycling to their own insular advantage. There is a general misconception that our Gold Coast Bike Week, Ride to Work Days, Cycling Buddies programmes, Cycling Skills workshops and regular rides are supported, connected, endorsed or funded by BQ. This is not and has never been true.

When Bicycle Gold Coast was initially formed in 1997, BQ refused to assist us. We received our advice, encouragement and information from Bicycle NSW. We continued for the following 9 years in spite of BQ's discouragement and negativity. Our funding has largely come from the supportive generosity of Gold Coast City Council. Qld Transport used to throw in $2000 towards our operational costs for the Ride to Work Day but they made that payable through BQ, but BQ refused to pass it on to us. This is the reason why we no longer run our Ride to Work Days.

Evidently there's supposed to be a Special General Meeting on December 6, but as usual, nobody seems to know where it is, or why it's scheduled when everyone is going to be at work (well, actually, I can probably guess why). Maybe there's something on their website, but since I'm unlikely to be able to attend, I can't really be bothered looking it up. To be honest, I don't think BQ have ever represented my interests as a cyclist, even going back to the whole M1 debacle over four years ago. This whole thing doesn't surprise me at all.

These days I'm pretty disillusioned with the whole advocacy side of things anyway. Most of the things so-called "advocacy groups" campaign for (such as bike paths that go nowhere) offer no benefit for transportational cyclists whatsoever. When someone raises another issue they've neglected (such as occasions when I've been assaulted while cycling), we're either ignored or abused.

BQ these days seem entirely focused on organising "big rides" to raise money and generate membership. Now I have no general problem with this, but it seems to be accompanied by an attitude that basically says "screw any existing members with complaints, as long as we find someone else to donate to us, we don't care". Consequently, many of us have simply decided not to bother renewing our membership.

It would be nice if this particular Special General Meeting was going to be the start of something changing in BQ, but I doubt it. Having seen the way the people in charge at BQ recently used "proxy votes" to re-elect themselves, I have no reason to suspect anything is going to change this time either.

Enough of that. I think I'll go for a ride now.