Kirsty Kelly is quietly spoken, but in this interview she shares great insights with authority.

Since 2019, Kirsty has been CEO of the AITPM (Australian Institute of Traffic Planning in Management) which is Australia’s national association for transport professionals.

Under Kirsty’s leadership, the AITPM recently published a groundbreaking Policy Issues Paper: The Path to Net Zero: Decarbonising Australia’s Transport System. You can download the full paper here.

In this interview we discuss six highlights of the paper’s 22 recommendations. AITPM is a professional membership association, not a lobby group, but many of these recommendations are in alignment with the things that lobby groups are calling for.

Kirsty has taken a keen interest in sustainable urban development for many years. Prior to joining the AITPM she was CEO of the Planning Institute of Australia – the peak professional body for Australia’s urban and regional planning professionals.

Kirsty is a qualified urban planner who has practiced her profession both within local and state governments and in private practice. She’s also been a member of range of boards and advisory groups.

In the What’s Up? section that follows our interview with Kirsty, we mention two organisations:

Yarra Bug Podcast is an excellent long-running podcast that is also broadcast on 3CR community radio in Melbourne.

Camcycle is an advocacy organisation based in the small university city of Cambridge UK. Its dynamic CEO Roxanne De Beaux recently completed a speaking tour of Australia that we attended and we hope to have Roxy as a future guest on the Squeaky Wheel Podcast.

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Matt is a great communicator who not only gives many insightful comments, but does so with a smile on his face and a glint in his eye.

In our interview he covers a wide range of topics from the “D-Day Invasion” of cars that lands in every schoolground twice a day, through to “autobesity”, the need for better urban planning and more.

Matt is a leading transport researcher and renowned expert on urban planning who has spoken widely via local state and national media, plus given keynotes at many conferences

Until recently Matt was Deputy Director at Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute. He has secured five national research grants and led major transport collaborations with Brisbane City Council and Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Matt grew up in Melbourne and graduated with a Bachelor of Planning and Design (hons) for the University of Melbourne. He then moved to Brisbane in the late 1990’s where he did his PhD in Urban Planning at the University of Queensland.

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Sara Stace is a city shaper, urban transport innovator, and bold advocate for better streets. With a career spanning 30 years across federal, state, and local governments, as well as the private sector, she has played a key role in shaping cities, land use, and transport policies. She's also recently started her on consultancy, Vivendi Cities.

In this episode, Sara discusses Better Streets Australia's campaign leading up to the 2025 Australian federal election. The campaign presents five key policy ‘asks’ and has already built a coalition of 100+ companies and non-profits.

Sara refers to Infrastructure Australia mid-way through our conversation and mentions that she was not sure of the minimum project value threshold before projects must be assessed by them. It is $250 million.

🔗 More about the World Cycling Alliance: here.

🔗 More on Better Streets: here.

🔗 Follow Sara’s insights on LinkedIn: here:

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For more than a quarter of a century, Kevin has been one of the world’s most senior and successful leaders of cycling advocacy organisations.

At the time we spoke to Kevin he was just about to retire after building Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) from small foundations into a large, successful, industry-funded peak advocacy group.

Originally from the UK but having lived in Brussels for many years because it’s the headquarters of the European Union, Kevin and his team have just seen the European Declaration of Cycling. This is a landmark – highest level statement from which billions of Euros of funding and other benefits should flow.

Kevin chose to take a huge pay cut and to end an international corporate career in major food and beverage companies in order to join Cycling UK, then years later the European Cyclists Federation, then his most recent role at CIE.

In this podcast Kevin shares many pearls of wisdom from his life’s experience both in the corporate and advocacy worlds, including tips for how to increase the effectiveness of advocacy organisations of all sizes.

In the podcast, starting from the 10 minute 35 second point, Kevin mentions several financial amounts. All of these amounts he refers to are in Euros.

When the podcast was recorded the exchange rate was $1.62 Australian = €1 Euro. Therefore the amounts he refers to converted to Australian dollars are:

· First European budget when Kevin joined: €600 million = A$972 million

· Current budget spending €4.7 billion = A$7.56 billion.

· Additional €2 billion from covid funding = A$3.24 billion.

Links:
The European Declaration on Cycling
Here is a link to the full declaration

Cycle Industries Europe 10 Point Manifesto.

Here is a link to Stephen Yarwood, former Lord Mayor of Adelaide, urban planner and “city futurist”, referred to by Kevin from when he visited Velo-city Adelaide.

In 2022 we also did an in person video interview of Kevin at Eurobike in Frankfurt, German. That interview has some overlap, but a lot of other material not covered in our podcast. You can watch that interview here.

CIE new CEO. At the time of writing these show notes the new CEO to become Kevin’s successor had not been announced, but here is a link to the CIE news page where the announcement will appear.

Finally there’s are recording of Kevin’s speech to a crowded room at the Cycle Industry Leaders Breakfast that was presented on 4th July 2024. This was recorded on a phone from a seat in the audience so the sound quality is not great, but the speech itself is worth listening

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The Micromobility Report Podcast will entertain and inform you through conversations with change makers working in all aspects of micromobility across business, government, academia and advocacy.

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Phil Jones is a quietly spoken achiever who has played a significant role behind the scenes in some of the UK’s most important advancements in active travel. Phil lives near Birmingham, UK where he has worked as a Charted Civil Engineer for over 40 years.

In 2003 Phil founded PJA (Phil Jones associates) which has grown to over 130 staff today and is widely recognised as the leading expert consultancy regarding cycling and active transportation, particularly in relation to transport planning, engineering and placemaking. PJA is also actively involved in the Australian market, with some team members based here.

Phil was a key player in providing technical expertise for Wales’ groundbreaking national implementation of 20 mph (30 kph) speed limits.

He also serves on the board of Active Travel England and helped write the UK Department of Transport’s Manual for Streets.

Phil also serves on a number of other boards and advisory panels, including a significant amount of pro-bono work for advocacy groups.

Links:
PJA website
https://pja.co.uk/

UK’s Manual for Streets
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/manual-for-streets-2

Active Travel England website
https://www.activetravelengland.gov.uk/#

Active Travel Capability Ratings System
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-active-travel-capability-ratings

20 mph speed limit Wales, half million signature petition.
https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/half-a-million-signed-petition-to-reverse-20mph-limits-where-cymru-is-at-seven-months-into-going-slow-680223

Agilisys report re positive impact of lower speed limits in Wales.
https://agilysis.co.uk/2023/09/25/wales20/

AITPM policy paper on decarbonising transport.
https://www.aitpm.com.au/policy/decarbonising-transport

Streets Ahead Podcast link to the Louise Hague M.P. interview
https://shows.acast.com/streets-ahead/episodes/louise-haigh-mp-secretary-of-state-for-transport

Visit our Micromobility Report Podcast page to read the transcript of this episode and view more content.
Our Micromobility Report website contains hundreds of micromobility articles that we’ve published since launching in 2020. Subscribe to our free bi-monthly newsletter!
The Micromobility Report Podcast will entertain and inform you through conversations with change makers working in all aspects of micromobility across business, government, academia and advocacy.

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Kylie Nixon is one of Australia’s most experienced active transport professionals, but also a mum who encourages her kids to walk and ride and of course, worries about their safety.

She graduated from the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering, followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Regional Planning.

Kylie is an Associate Principal for the global consultancy Arup, where she’s worked for 28 years. Her career with Arup has taking her around the world including living in London for about six years and working as part of the team planning infrastructure for the 2021 London Olympic Games.

She then returned to her hometown of Brisbane. With Brisbane having been awarded the 2032 Olympics, Kylie is hoping to apply some of the experience and lessons she learned from London to help make the most of Brisbane’s unique Olympic opportunity.

Visit our Micromobility Report Podcast page to read the transcript of this episode and view more content.
Our Micromobility Report website contains hundreds of micromobility articles that we’ve published since launching in 2020. Subscribe to our free bi-monthly newsletter!
The Micromobility Report Podcast will entertain and inform you through conversations with change makers working in all aspects of micromobility across business, government, academia and advocacy.

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Over recent years Lee Waters has been one of the most courageous and consequential politicians in the world when it comes to advocating for safer, more sustainable travel modes and questioning the usually unchallenged primacy of private automobiles.

As Minister for Transport in the Welsh Government he led bold reforms in sustainable transport policies that generated international interest - including a new approach to road building, a default 20mph speed limit in built-up areas, and a set of institutional reforms to embed integrated transport based on 'one network, one timetable, one ticket'.

Prior to becoming an elected politician, Lee had a high level career spanning media and lobbying organisations.

Links: Global Cycling Network Motonormativity Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_4GZnGl55c

Lee Waters Blog: https://amanwy.blogspot.com/

Lee Waters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leewaters/

Visit our Micromobility Report Podcast page to read the transcript of this episode and view more content.
Our Micromobility Report website contains hundreds of micromobility articles that we’ve published since launching in 2020. Subscribe to our free bi-monthly newsletter!
The Micromobility Report Podcast will entertain and inform you through conversations with change makers working in all aspects of micromobility across business, government, academia and advocacy.

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Melinda has dedicated her career to sustainable transportation. Her impressive qualifications and career record are only matched by her high energy levels and huge capacity to make a difference.

She is recognised as an international change-maker in urban mobility (winning a ‘Remarkable Women in Transport Award from GIZ/Transforming Urban Mobility Initiative in 2020.

She holds a Masters in Urban Planning, International Development from New York University and a Bachelor in Environmental Studies and Bachelor in English Literature from University of California.

Melinda’s career has spanned government, the private sector and community organisations.
She has previously been Head of Sustainability at Bird, and Deputy Director at NACTO’s (National Association of City Transport Officials) Global Designing Cities Initiative

She also has experience working in Manilla in the Philippines and other developing nation cities and has worked at the ClimateWorks Foundation.

Currently she divides her time between two organisations that she respectively founded and co-founded.

Brightside is her consultancy based in Brooklyn that offers expertise across communications, grant applications, research, policy advocacy, strategic initiatives and sustainability.

Meanwhile the Equitable Commute Project is a charity providing subsidies for e-bike purchasers, particularly for low income delivery workers.

As you will hear in this podcast, Melinda is great communicator and someone who is more interested in getting good things done than seeking personal recognition for her many achievements.

You see more about Melinda and connect via her LinkedIn page here.

Visit our Micromobility Report Podcast page to read the transcript of this episode and view more content.
Our Micromobility Report website contains hundreds of micromobility articles that we’ve published since launching in 2020. Subscribe to our free bi-monthly newsletter!
The Micromobility Report Podcast will entertain and inform you through conversations with change makers working in all aspects of micromobility across business, government, academia and advocacy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.