Early in the pandemic, when there was much less traffic on the roads, people took to their bikes. But since then, fewer people are cycling, with rates now lower than in 2011.

Two-thirds of people want more transport funding to go into walking, cycling and public transport.

The decline in cycling probably shouldn’t surprise us.

In the past 40 years, the percentage of children who walk or ride to school has dropped from 75% to 25%. Furthermore, cycling receives only about 2% of transport budgets.

As well as the three transport priorities, we can of course take many more actions that would help increase walking and cycling.

These measures include: boosting housing density, beautifying our neighbourhoods, programs to build people’s confidence and skills to walk and cycle, such as beginners bike tours, and more frequent public transport.

  • ky56@aussie.zone
    23·
    1 year ago

    I’m not riding on the road. Period. I ride too slow and there are some real dickheads in cars on the road. Allow cyclists to switch between using the footpath under a certain speed limit and the road or fuck off.

    • Zagorath@aussie.zone
      10·
      1 year ago

      You can tell how much a state cares about cyclists by whether they already allow this. It’s illegal in NSW and Victoria. It’s legal in Queensland, WA, and SA. It should be no surprise that NSW and Vic were also the last states to implement minimum passing laws, in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

      NSW and Vic are crap states.

    • Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      When I was couriering, riding on the footpath was legal.

      No one believed it. I had made cards of the 2 relevant road rules for handing out purposes but usually it was just an argument.

    • shirro@aussie.zoneEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      I saw several older people around town take up cycling once the law was changed to allow adults to cycle on footpaths. They change between surface based on their capabilities and perceived safety as everyone should. Look out for yourself first and worry about obeying laws designed to kill people second. Cycling on paths has its merits for all ages though it can still be dangerous due to driveways etc. The commonwealth should force universal adoption to bring the backward high road fatality states up to standard. Until then mass civil disobedience is the way.

    • Lintson@aussie.zone
      61·
      1 year ago

      There needs to be cycling roads that are just for cycling, not just painted green strips on existing roads. Big ask but it’s what we need for the majority of persons to use bikes as an actual mode of transportation.