We're growing...
Cycle commuters a larger tiny minorityCatharine Munro Urban Affairs Editor
October 26, 2007
MORE and more Sydney workers are using bicycles and motor scooters to get to work.
Census figures released yesterday show that the number of people who cycle to work has risen by 18 per cent. The number of scooter and motorbike riders rose by 27 per cent.
But the figures are still tiny compared with how many drove to work by car, the most popular way of getting around.
While there were 10,886 bike riders and 9062 on motorised two-wheelers, 1.2 million Sydney residents used their car to get to work.
The increase may be due to petrol prices and awareness about climate change, said Professor Stuart White of the Institute for Sustainable Futures.
"It's possibly due to petrol cost, but the size of it is a direct reflection of the lack of appropriate facilities," he said. "It's problematic that there's so little invested in cycleways relative to motor vehicles."
The increase was still sharp enough to affect the breakdown of commuting styles, with the number of cyclists rising as a proportion of all work travellers to 0.6 per cent in 2006 from 0.4 per cent in 2001. Car, train and bus patronage remained relatively stable as a proportion of overall transport methods.
The former Roads and Traffic Authority director, Ken Dobinson, said the figures for bicycle use showed there was potential for more people to switch.
"If you do the right thing, more people will cycle if they can," Mr Dobinson said.
New bicycle tracks should be built away from arterial roads because it was cheaper, he said. Bike lanes that expanded arterial roads had to be strong enough to carry trucks.
