Category: Episodes

Season 2, Episode 1

With Sara Stace

Sara Stace is a dynamic force of nature who will never die wondering what might have happened if she gave something a try!

After graduating as both an Architect and Urban Designer, Sara initially worked in these professions both within Australia and abroad.

Sara is a city shaper and innovator on cities, land use, urban transport and economics. She’s worked in federal, state and local governments, and the private sector, for 30 years.  Sara is currently on the board and treasurer of the World Cycling Alliance, President of Better Streets Australia, and has served on many other boards across both the government and advocacy sectors.  Sara has co-authored over 30 publications and policy papers for the United Nations, Australian Government and others.

You can see more about the World Cycling Alliance here.

You can see more about Better Streets here.

Better Streets is running a campaign leading up to the 2025 Australian federal election. They have a list of five clear ‘asks’ and have built a coalition of companies and not for profit organisations that have endorsed this campaign. At the time of writing this there were about 100 organisations signed on, but Better Streets is still looking for more to join. You can see the full list of coalition members here.

Sara has comprehensive background information and regularly posts on her LinkedIn page here. In that page, you will see that just after recording the Squeaky Wheel podcast with us, Sara announced on 6^th Febe 2025 that she’s cofounding a new consultancy called Vivendi Cities.

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.

Season 1, Episode 7

With Kevin Mayne

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.
Via this link.

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 to.

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Season 1, Episode 6

With Phil Jones

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

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Season 1, Episode 5

With Kylie Nixon

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.

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Season 1, Episode 4

With Lee Waters

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/

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Season 1, Episode 3

With Melinda Hanson

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.

Links

Website: Brightside

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

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Season 1, Episode 2

With Tom Cooper

Tom Cooper is the Australia New Zealand General Manager of Beam, a global micromobility company undergoing impressive growth in the APAC region. With 20,000 vehicles and a team of almost 400 in Australia and New Zealand alone, Tom’s insights into Beam’s success, as well as the challenges along the way, make for interesting listening.

Tom shares in detail about Beam’s journey to date and plans for the future. He speaks frankly about the challenges in growing micromobility in Australia and elsewhere. Tom also goes into detail about some of the new technologies they’ve developed to help overcome these challenges.

Our conversation also covers everything from negotiating with governments through to behaviour change and even the Brisbane Olympics.

Links

Website: Beam Mobility

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Season 1, Episode 1

See.Sense

Philip and Irene McAleese are the co-founders of See.Sense. Established in 2013 by Philip and Irene McAleese, See.Sense leverages advanced sensor and AI technology to make cycling and micromobility safer and smarter.

Philip and Irene have won a string of prestigious international awards for their ground-breaking technology that they’ve been rolling out in countries around the world.

Having founded See.Sense in Northern Ireland, at the start of 2024 Philip and Irene moved to the opposite side of the globe to re-settle in Brisbane, Australia.

Despite the big move, they still have a team working back in Northern Ireland and projects running in Europe, as well as new projects in Australia and elsewhere.

In this episode, you’ll learn more about their remarkable journey so far, plus hear an announcement about some exciting new technology they’re launching to expand the services that they can offer.

Links

Website: See.Sense

See.Sense has featured in a TV Series called “Big in America with Alex Polizzi”. You can watch the episode here on YouTube.

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