By Julie Kofoed

Councils in Sydney say more funding needs to be given for bicycle infrastructure. Image: Tai_yi

Improvements in Sydney transport infrastructure mean more people are choosing to travel by bicycle. The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority NSW estimate that one per cent of all trips in Sydney are now made on bicycle.

While from an environmental point of view, this is an improvement, what this statistic does not show is that most of these trips are made in the small inner city. When it comes to bicycles, the vast suburbs of Sydney are being left behind.

According to the new NSW Bike Plan, Sydney will spend 158 million dollars on filling the missing links in major cycle ways between 2010 and 2020.

“There is a huge increase in the number of cyclists in the inner city where the infrastructure is getting better, but in the suburbs it seems like people are driving faster and the cyclists feel less welcomed,” says Elaena Gardner, president of the volunteer group BikeSydney.

“New riders are daunted. I think the cars in the inner city have got used to the cyclists as there are becoming more riders.”

One of the reasons why people in the outer councils do not have as many riders as the inner city has, might be because of the lack of cycle ways according to Liverpool Council.

“At present there is no continuous cycle connection between Liverpool and Sydney, it is only on-and-off road, so the cyclists have to share the general route with the cars where they do not have much protection,” says strategic and transport planner at Liverpool Council, James Semple.

Sutherland Council and Blacktown Council report the same problem.

“We have some fragmentation in our cycle ways network. It is tough somewhere if you want to ride into the inner city, because there is on-and-off cycle ways the whole way, which means that the cyclists have to share the road with the cars or the pedestrians,” says Ingo Koericke, senior environmental scientist in Sutherland Council.

Blacktown Council has made an extension in their cycle ways network during the last 10 years, but there is still only on-and-off cycle ways into the city.

According to the councils, money is the problem.

Steven Bryant, senior traffic management officer for Blacktown Council says, “We have been waiting for a completion of the network for a long time, but there is not enough funding for the building of cycle ways.”

Funding is uncertain and limited

To invest in infrastructure in Sydney the councils have to apply for funding.

The funding comes from different Governmental departments, for example Infrastructure Australia, which provides some funding for transport and other infrastructure. According to the several councils in Sydney, funding is strongly needed.

“As it is right now, the money for construction of cycle ways is limited, so we need more opportunities for funding. It is difficult because the need for cycle ways is competing with other kinds of needs,” says Semple.

He would like to see more planning of major commuter routes from the State Government and especially more funding for the infrastructure in the outer councils. Steven Bryant agrees.

“It seems like most of the money has been spent on the inner city.”

The NSW Government has spent nearly 300 million dollars over the past 10 years on cycle ways throughout Sydney and regional NSW, building an average of 200 kilometres of cycling facilities per year.

Vice president of the volunteer group Bicycle NSW, Richard Birdsey, would like to see more money spent on cycling, but says that there is a big pressure on the State budget.

“We have to be realistic and I think that a lot of things are already being done. Things are getting a lot better.”

Koericke echoes this sentiment saying, “It is improving, but compared to funding for roads, it is a minimum of money which is spent on cycle ways. And without money, it is hard to complete cycle ways.

“I would like to see more focus on cycling, because it needs a stronger push to make it sustainable… Unfortunately there is no certainty if funding, because it is politically driven and funding for cycling will only be possible if cycling considers to be worth it.”

Economic, environmental and healthy benefits of cycling

According to a report launched in May, made by the independent institute AECOM, there is an economic reason to invest in cycling. The study, which was commissioned by City of Sydney Council of a proposed Inner Sydney Regional Bike Network shows that Sydney can save millions of dollars by investing in cycling. 


According to this study, an investment in cycling would deliver at least 506 million dollars in net economic benefits over 30 years, and reduce Sydney’s traffic congestion by 4.3 million car trips a year.


The report also suggests that it will bring better health and environmental improvements such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions as well as improved air quality and lower noise pollution in Sydney. 



BikeSydney welcomes the AECOM-report.

“It is really good news. The report looks on the economic benefits for the first time, and we are excited about the result. It shows that it is worth spending money on better infrastructure for the cyclists. I hope the Government will look at the research,” says president of BikeSydney, Elaena Gardner.

“The Government is traditionally more focused on the economic benefits more than other kinds of benefits, so I hope this will give the Government a motivation to invest more money on infrastructure”.

Completion of cycle network

The report might be the starting gun for councils on the outskirts of Sydney.



“This report makes a very important difference for Sydney. To invest in infrastructure in Australia, councils have to apply for funding. And to do this, they need to prove that there is an economic benefit for the plans”, says Fiona Campbell, Transport Planner for City of Sydney (CoS) council. 



She explains that the CoS Council, which spends 76 million dollars a year on infrastructure, prepares the funding applications on behalf of all the areas in the CoS Council.

“The inner city does not need the money for the infrastructure, but we want to help the suburbs to get the same good infrastructure. With this report they have a very strong case,” says Campbell. 



According to Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, an average of 233 kilometres have been built each year in the State between 1999 and 2009. 430 kilometres of cycle ways had been built out of a possible 480 kilometres of major cycle ways that the NSW Bike Plan had promised would be in place by that year.

Matt Faber, acting sustainable transport manager for the Roads and Traffic Authority NSW says, “Where cycle ways had not been completed as promised, this was for reasons including changes to the timing of other transport projects of which the cycle ways were an integral component, delays to property access or acquisition, and overall changes to transport investment priorities.”

According to the new NSW Bike Plan, Sydney will spend 158 million dollars in specifically on major cycle ways missing links between 2010 and 2020.

“When developing cycle ways, the NSW Government will continue to focus on completing links in a high-quality network that connects Sydney’s major centres, while local councils will be mainly responsible for local routes that fill in the spaces between major cycle ways,” says Faber.

Julie Koefed is studying Journalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism. She was on exchange at the UTS on a GEJI scholarship.