‘If they want us on the roads, we’re getting on the roads’: Riders plot peak-hour protest
Posted by kat_is_good
‘If they want us on the roads, we’re getting on the roads’: Riders plot peak-hour protest
Posted by kat_is_good
16 Comments
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First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1s8anrs) on 2026-03-31.
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E-bikes and e-scooters in their hundreds will swarm the Story Bridge’s traffic lanes during peak hour on Wednesday as riders protest against the Queensland government’s proposed laws to push the devices off paths and onto roads.
Following a [10-month inquiry](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/under-16s-face-e-scooter-ban-under-queensland-recommendations-20260304-p5o7jq.html), Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg introduced laws that would ban under-16s from the devices, require riders to hold a car licence, and introduce a 10km/h speed limit on footpaths and shared paths.
Kathryn Good, from the Story Bridge Active Travel Alliance, said lawmakers were trying to put the brakes on everyday riders instead of building safe infrastructure.
“If they want us on the roads, we’re getting on the roads,” she said.
The group organised the snap protest for Wednesday evening, with e-bike and bicycle riders encouraged to join the ride during peak hour, across the Story Bridge to the Queensland Parliament.
The bill’s [explanatory notes](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/push-to-get-cyclists-scooters-off-footpaths-and-onto-busy-roads-behind-new-laws-20260326-p5zitv.html) say the 10km/h limit – which is slower than jogging speed or a [toddler on a balance bike](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/toddler-v-e-bike-we-put-10km-h-speed-rule-to-a-race-with-a-two-year-old-20260310-p5o96e.html) – might deter riders from paths with high pedestrian activity or where “high-quality active transport infrastructure is available”, encouraging riders to select routes that support higher speeds.
However, riders argued that network did not exist.
About 90 per cent of Queensland’s off-road bicycle infrastructure – the “quality active transport infrastructure”, as opposed to a bicycle merely painted on the road surface – are paths shared with pedestrians.
There are very few “bicycle-only” or “pedestrian-only” paths in the state.
Good said most riders did not have a choice between a separated bikeway and a footpath.
“It’s a choice between a footpath and fast, hostile traffic,” she said.
Organisers said the Story Bridge route was chosen to highlight the choice legal pedal-assist bike riders would have between riding at 10km/h on its footpaths, or on the road with traffic.
[In a guideline for shared paths published online](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/_/media/busind/techstdpubs/cycling/speed-management-on-shared-paths.pdf?sc_lang=en&hash=549881C8570C1A17C1DCD8F9B25C4AA0), Transport and Main Roads noted that bicycles could become unstable to ride at speeds below 11km/h.
Bicycle Queensland chief executive Matt Burke has thrown support behind the protest ride, encouraging people to head along if they were concerned about the “whole mess” that came out of the parliamentary inquiry.
“I will be there, and we will be joining this,” he said.
Riders of non-electric bicycles would be exempt from most of the new rules, which would apply to people riding e-scooters, and e-bikes that only receive motorised assistance up to 25km/h while pedalling and are limited to 250 watts.
E-scooter riders would be allowed on any road with a speed limit up to 60km/h, instead of the current 50km/h, to reduce traffic on footpaths, meaning it would be legal to ride in traffic on the Story Bridge, Turbot Street, Gympie Road, Kelvin Grove Road, Moggill Road and Coronation Drive – although they would be limited to 25km/h.
The laws have not yet passed, so e-scooter riders would be unable to join Wednesday night’s event on the 60km/h six-lane Story Bridge.
The inquiry was launched following concern about injuries and deaths, which data shows were mostly caused by high-powered electric motorbikes which were already illegal to ride on public roads and paths, or illegal e-scooter use, such as speeding, drink-riding or not wearing a helmet.
The Story Bridge’s footpaths were [suddenly closed](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/footpaths-on-the-story-bridge-to-remain-closed-for-weeks-20250318-p5lken.html) due to safety concerns in March 2025, prompting advocates to [call for a traffic lane to be repurposed](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/why-the-story-bridge-won-t-have-a-traffic-lane-repurposed-for-bikes-and-walkers-20250819-p5mnzb.html) for active transport, while a court ruled a protest in the form of a march which would have shut down all six lanes of traffic on the bridge [could not go ahead](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/budget-bjelke-petersen-organiser-lashes-lord-mayor-as-court-blocks-story-bridge-protest-20250529-p5m34h.html).
The Story Bridge Active Travel Alliance then ran a bike bus – a group of cyclists riding together for safety – to help people commute across a traffic lane on weekdays until one footpath [reopened after 212 days with temporary decking](https://archive.is/o/HpSg1/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/opening-date-for-story-bridge-footpath-revealed-20251002-p5mzln.html).
The critical mass protest will operate as a legal group ride, with participants following road rules.
They will meet at Raymond Park, Kangaroo Point, at 5pm on Wednesday, for a 5.30pm ride to Parliament via the Story Bridge.
Critical mass, a worldwide phenomenon, started in 1992 in San Francisco, where hundreds of bicycle riders travelled as a group for safety to “reclaim the streets” and call for more active travel infrastructure.
A police spokesman said they were aware of an “unauthorised protest”.
“As is standard for protests, police will be present to provide guidance or instructions if required,” he said.
“Police anticipate the protest will be peaceful.”
One for the malicious compliance sub! Love to see it
Excuse me but this is dumb!
You don’t target one road, you setup a route, you encourage people to cycle the route, start at any point, end at any point, and ask for them to do it during peak gratification hours.
If it comes to it, ask for donations and pay people to ride. You don’t want to make this one blocked road that Google and Waze will route people around, you want to target an absolute systemic collapse of the transit system, as a true simulation of how a dumb law like the new one will actually impact the country.
And don’t do it just one day, do it every day, ask people to do it all week, and don’t buy from the shops as you go around, setup water and snack stations for people taking part, so you severely restrict the flow of money into the economy in the area. Let the real damage sink in for all of the constituents, the actual people who will be impacted by this rubbish.
Protesting a politician is the cost of business for them, but causing their constituents to derive them, that’s damaging to the politician.
The majority of e-mobility deaths have occurred when a rider is on the road and collides with a motor vehicle. If the government thinks it can push riders onto the road AND make them safer, it must take steps to make roads safer for riders. A 30km/h speed limit on side streets would be a good start. It should apply to everyone, drivers, ebike riders, cycle commuters and tour de suburbs competitors alike.
They used my idea. You welcome Brisbane
https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/yn4LUNRsdZ
Gympie road next.
I live near, so I’d be screwed, but holy shit it would make waves. It’s already bad as it is.
25km/h is still too slow, all the LNP knows is ineffective punishment
I just want to be able to walk this beautiful city without being run over by a car *or* a junkie on a scooter.
Must be nice to have all that spare time.
Some of these laws are a bit bonkers. Encouraging them to ride on 60km/h roads at 25km/hr is not only a safety risk but will also result in disruption of traffic flow for all road users and congestion.
Which is the intent of this protest I assume.
Personally I’ve have had enough of people coming into the city and flying down footpaths on lime scooters. Unfortunately, we have a government that won’t change the road infrastructure but cars have already taken most of our streets, people who walk shouldn’t have to carry the burden of these devices too. The footpath speed limit is a good thing.
This will definitely drum up sympathy and support from those of us why just want to walk on the foot path with our kid and dogs without being run over by dickheads on scooters and e-bikes going too fast.
Screw up an already shit commute? Yes I’ll support your dumb bullshit campaign!
I think cyclists should team up and block as many roads as possible, as often as possible. Then e cyclists should do the same on pathways, crawling along at 10km hour.
The laws are utterly farcical and entirely in keeping with LNP lunacy.
Just stay safe out there. There’s a fuckload of angry cunt drivers around who have extra supercharged fuel price anger now.
You know what, good.
We’re all stressed, you can see it in the lack of kindness strangers have for each other in day to day interactions. You can feel it in the bubble of anger you feel when someone cuts you off and doesn’t wave even though you slammed on your brakes to save their stupid life.
We’re not a state that protests well historically. Let’s start holding our “leaders” accountable for their shit decisions. All of them.
If everyone contiued the ride down to the Woolloongabba 5 ways you’d gridlock every major road, in every direction. Just saying.