Our Super Tuesday bicycle rider count results have been crunched and the result is: not much change.
It’s not surprising numbers have been relatively static considering no major new transport-related bicycle infrastructure has been built in Greater Hobart in the past year.
The count was conducted in southern Tasmania between 7am and 9am on Tuesday 6 March by 55 volunteers spread across the four council areas of Clarence, Glenorchy, Hobart and Kingborough.
Overall, Tasmanian sites were up and down to give no real net difference in rider numbers across the city. Kingborough and Glenorchy sites had rider number increases of 11% and 10%, while Hobart was unchanged and Clarence sites declined by 6%.
Some of the sites which increased noticeably or continued an upwards trend included:
- Howrah Rd and Foreshore Trail, Howrah
- Howrah Rd and Mortyn Place Track, Howrah
- Main Rd and Springfield Ave, Moonah
- Intercity Cycleway south of the Tasman Bridge, Hobart
- Sandy Bay and Hampden roads, Battery Point
- Davey Street and Lynton Ave, South Hobart
- Molle and Goulburn streets, Hobart
- Morrison and Murray streets, Hobart
- Intercity Cycleway and Bay Rd, New Town
Tasmania came out on top nationally for the percentage of women riding at 26%. We’ll now take a closer look at the count data and identify if there are particular areas women feel more comfortable riding and what that means for infrastructure planning.
Anecdotally, women tend to prefer separated infrastructure and obvious bike lanes on road, our analysis will confirm whether this is the case for greater Hobart.
Devonport and Launceston councils do a handful of counts around the same time of year but their figures are not included in the Super Tuesday results.
Both council counts suffered the same fate as Hobart’s with rider numbers plateauing over the past few years.