The City of Sydney’s new 12-year strategy to rapidly extend the city’s bike network was approved by Council on Monday night following overwhelming support from business leaders, commuters and the local community.
More than 2,000 submissions were received by the during the consultation period with 94 per cent of feedback positive. Much of the feedback received called for more connected, separated, accessible and attractive places for people to ride.
A cycleway along King Street was also specifically identified as a key route, connecting either end of the Liverpool Street cycleway.
See Bicycle Network's ongoing campaign to build the King Street Cycleway
The council’s previous cycling plan which included the roll out of key separated cycleways, resulted in a two-fold increase in the number of people riding bikes.
The new Cycling Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2030 builds on the success of the previous plan with an ambitious target of 10 per cent of all trips in the city to be made by bike.
The plan includes four key action areas – connect the network, support people who ride, support business and lead by example.
To be successful the plans will also require strong ongoing support from the community, with greater financial support and quicker approvals from the NSW Government.
With a booming population alongside the growing costs of congestion, Lord Clover Mayor acknowledged the important role of cycleways in keeping our streets moving.
“Community support for building Sydney’s bike network has never been stronger,” the Lord Mayor said.
“Business leaders know traffic congestion is crippling our city and costing $8 billion in lost revenue and productivity, but many people still don’t feel safe riding a bike to work.
“Around one million people live within a 30-minute bike ride to the inner city, but we simply can’t expect more people to give riding a go if they don’t feel safe and supported to do so.
“We’ve taken inspiration from other global cities like New York and London where cycleways have been built quickly and strategically – creating safe bike routes that have seen rider numbers increase dramatically.”
The City of Sydney Cycling Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2030 includes the accelerated development of the following priority bike routes:
- Bondi to the CBD along Moore Park Road – which is the NSW Government’s highest priority
- bike connections to and around Central Station
- final designs for extending the King Street cycleway in the inner city
- final designs for the extension of the Castlereagh Street cycleway on either end
- new cycleways linking Green Square to Randwick council area
- new cycleways connecting Redfern and Newtown
- final design for a bike connection between the city centre and Sydney Harbour Bridge with Transport for NSW and Roads and Maritime Services
- more safe bike connections to Pyrmont and Glebe.
Bicycle Network is a strong supporter City of Sydney’s work to increase the number of people riding bikes.
We would like to commend the council on their ongoing commitment to growing bike riding across the city as a sustainable, efficient and cost-effective way to keep Sydney moving.
See the full media release here.
The draft plan can still be viewed online here.
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