An image really has impact when in 14 years 128 requests from 26 countries have been received requesting permission to use it!

The requests to use the Canberra Transport Photo with permission are given freely by We Ride Australia and have come from municipal councils and governments, advocacy organisations, research institutions and publishers to name just a few.

It has also been re-posted, tweeted, pasted into presentations many, many more times than even we will ever know.

The photo use leader board is led by Germany with 22 and the USA with 21 official requests.

A close grouping of three countries follow: UK with 19, Brazil with 15 and Australia with 11.

Some of the more interesting requests have come from India, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland showing how universal the desire for images that tell the story simply and accurately is in advocacy for active travel.

The photo was organised on a frosty Sunday morning in Canberra, Australia in late 2012 and we had a fabulous roll up of Canberra volunteers that included interested locals, members of Pedal Power, parents and family members and at least two Members of Canberra’s Legislative Assembly and one federal Member of Parliament.

The ACT Government helped with traffic planning and ACT buses provided one of their own – which incidentally provided the number of people we needed to photograph – the capacity of the bus is 69 people!

Purely by chance, at an average motor vehicle occupancy rate of 1.15 persons per car trip in Australia at the time, it gave us a nice round 60 cars needed to carry our 69 people! A perfect four rows X 15 cars. The smallest car was Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur’s Smart and we did have a tandem.

While We Ride Australia’s focus is on national advocacy for active travel, our investment and effort to create the Canberra Transport Photo has gone truly global!

We’re very grateful to the people of #Canberra and the ACT Government, @TCCS_ACT, for helping us create it, the photo is still telling the story!

Key facts for the Canberra Transport Photo:

  • 69 people, 1 bus, 69 bikes and 60cars
  • Photo has been produced in a 3X, and 4X format (with pedestrians)
  • Country list: Australia 11, Austria 2, Belgium 2, Brazil 15, Canada 5, Croatia 1, Czech Republic 1, Denmark 2, Finland 1, France 4, Germany 22, India 1, Krygyzstan 1, Lithuania 1, Netherlands 2, New Zealand 2, Poland 2, Portugal 1, Qatar 1, Romania 1, South Africa/Africa 2, Spain 3, Sweden 2, Switzerland 4, United Kingdom 19, USA 21.
  • No bikes (or cars) were hurt in the making of this photo!
  • If you would like to use the photo crediting @werideaustralia for your publication, thesis, advocacy campaign or website no problem! Just drop us a line and we’ll provide you with a high-resolution version of the image! Contact us here.

#activetravel #cycling #bikesarebetter #cyclingpromotion

updated 15 April 2025