In the run up to the 2024 Council Election, Bicycle NSW is reaching out to candidates to explain how they can help make NSW better for bike riding. We will encourage each candidate to take a pledge to be a #CouncillorForActiveTransport2024.
All responses received will be published on our website and shared on social media. This will help voters decide which boxes to tick on election day!
Dominic Galvin is a candidate with the Peaceful Bayside group. Peaceful Bayside is a new grassroots party. Its platform focuses on safer streets, more liveable neighbourhoods, improved access to green spaces, great public transport and connected, high-quality footpaths and bike paths.
But Dominic has not always been an advocate for better streets. He explains how his interest in active transport was ignited after a youth steeped in car culture.
Dominic Galvin behind the wheel of a classic HK Holden Ute in rural NSW (Image: Dominic Galvin)
I have been a ‘car guy’ my whole life
Cars for me are a source of nostalgia and shared memory. I remember the scorching hot vinyl bench seat of Pa’s One Tonner on a summer afternoon. And looking down the road and seeing Mum’s old XB Falcon, and feeling fancy being picked up from school by a limousine-esque WB Statesman.
My father worked in automotive sales and being driven about in the latest Holden and Ford performance cars was a source of great excitement for my sister and me. If Australia’s automotive industry peaked in the 1970s during the muscle car era, then it had its renaissance in the 1990s when I was an impressionable youth.
Our HK Ute on holiday in Northern NSW. This Ute was actually made in Bayside, at the Holden Pagewood plant. (Image: Dominic Galvin)
As I grew into my teenage years, these same Australian cars were being marketed in the United States and Great Britain. Clips of Jeremy Clarkson and Jay Leno expressing their fondness for muscle cars from ‘Down Under’ were a source of national pride!
A formative job was at Dad’s car yard, cleaning, moving, coveting and scratching (oops) the cars. On many occasions, I found myself behind the wheel of a powerful Australian muscle car and I understand the temptation to ‘give it a squirt’ better than many. I feel fortunate that no harm ever came to anyone during that period of immaturity.
The car that owned me
When I was 27, I bought a used Holden SSV ‘Special Edition’ Ute with a 6.0 Litre V8 and low kilometres for a fraction of the original price. How clever I thought I was!
My shiny black VE SSV Special Edition on a road trip in Carcoar NSW. I thought I was pretty cool! (Image: Dominic Galvin)
It was an exciting car, but it ultimately soured. This started with the constant washing it needed. A major anxiety emerged: car park dents. Then the dodgy modifications of the previous owner started to show themselves. I didn’t own this car, it owned me.
When one Friday evening I was hit by an impatient driver trying to push through a blind gap in Sydney’s peak-hour gridlock and the car was written off, all I felt was relief.
Falling in love with two-wheeled transport
I rode bikes a lot as a child and teenager. However, I never considered cycling as a way to travel across the city. The first person I met who commuted to work by bicycle was Toby. I met Toby during my first job installing trampolines. I was 19 and still lived at home in the Sutherland Shire. My driving commute saw me arriving at work tired and frustrated in ways I couldn’t articulate at that time. Toby would arrive cheerfully jumping off his bicycle, brimming with endorphins, having cycled from Castle Hill to North Ryde.
Car dependency is an unknown concept to most people. Having been brought up in a family who moved to Sydney from Central West New South Wales, driving was more than normal, it was essential. It was how you got around, saw friends and family and made a living. Meeting Toby all those years ago set me down a new and different pathway.
I moved to Canberra in my mid-twenties and fell in love with how connected the cycling network was. Despite the sometimes extremely hot or cold weather conditions, the advantageous separation of roads and cycleways means you can efficiently cover vast distances.
But the barriers to bike riding in Sydney are huge
Friends of mine from Canberra who moved to Sydney have struggled to maintain their cycling habits. They find the infrastructure inferior and motorists hostile. Knowing this I still chose cycling for my commute when I returned to Sydney. I rode on the road in the early morning and on the path in the evening. I kept it up when I moved to the Bayside LGA. It has been great to take advantage of new and improving infrastructure.
Back on my bike in Bayside and still smiling when I find routes away from the traffic! (Image: Dominic Galvin)
I spent a decade in the transport industry operating various trucks, ultimately driving particularly large and heavy ones around the inner parts of Sydney. I have seen life-changing and life-ending harm come to people on our roads. More often than not, the vulnerable road user or pedestrian bears the brunt.
Many people choose to write off harm and loss as acceptable collateral damage. Add to this the lesser-known consequences like respiratory disease in children who live on main roads, sedentary lifestyles, environmental destruction, social isolation, and financial burdens to the public and individuals.
I don’t discount the utility of vehicles, but I see the human cost of this arrangement as a shocking scar on our society.
My attitude to cars has changed
I still admire their design, engineering, performance and, in the right context, the note of a tuned exhaust. What I don’t admire is the imposition private vehicle ownership places on us. So much money and time is spent on vehicles. While they are an essential tool for some, there are many other transport options that are way better for our health, our wallets and our cities. These are also more fun!
As I have moved through adulthood, I have increasingly enjoyed the benefits of an active transport-based life.
I’m still a ‘car guy’, but I also hope to be a #CouncillorForActiveTransport.
My goal in standing as a #CouncillorForActiveTransport is to encourage more people - including other councillors - to get active!
I want everyone in Bayside to feel safe to walk and cycle in our neighbourhoods. It is so encouraging to finally see the huge potential of active transport being grasped in Sydney.
I bring a unique perspective to challenges arising from this transition. Which is why I’ve chosen to be the Peaceful Bayside candidate in Ward 4 of the Bayside LGA.
Riding an adapted trike from EveryBody eBikes with Councillor and candidate for Bayside, Heidi Lee Douglas. I organised test rides of these amazing bikes in Bexley to show the community that bike riding can be accessible to everyone (Image: Dominic Galvin)
All this from a reformed car addict!
Can you help find more #CouncillorsForActiveTransport?
Please get involved in the Bicycle NSW Council Election campaign and ask your local candidates to take the pledge! Candidates can use the pledge graphic in their own communications to let voters know that they will fight for the very best active transport outcomes.
Before you go…
If you are not a Bicycle NSW Member, we would love you to join our family. You will enjoy a raft of membership benefits and support our advocacy campaigns.
Not quite ready to sign up? Then please consider buying Bicycle NSW a coffee (or three!)
