Some corrections about the conditions in which the first Cycling Strategy was made: - The state government was largely supportive at the start, so were the NRMA - Opposition came from some unexpected sources: the pedestrian council, bicycle user groups who were largely made up of sporty cyclists, and landscape architects Thanks to Graham McCabe, who wrote the 2007 cycling strategy, for reaching out with these corrections!
Great video! It's amazing seeing how far Sydney has come over the past decade, but it's also sad how piecemeal the process has been and how much communities have protested. Motorists need to realise that every cycleway takes cars off the road and alleviates traffic. Locals need to realise that these cycleways exist to make footpaths safer for pedestrians. I admire the City of Sydney for fighting to build more cycleways in the face of relentless opposition!
Definitely! It's admirable that CoS have not focused just on the detractors but also listened to the bigger but less angry parts of the community who really want more cycleways to be built
One suggestion on the animation: after the first few cycleways were on the map I found it difficult to spot where the next one was being drawn, especially if it was a short one. If you do more animations like this (and I hope you do) it might be worth adding something to draw attention to the right part of the map such as an animated arrow or spotlight that moves to the start of the cycleway just before it starts drawing or a shadow on the rest of the map or a circle around it or drawing it with a wider stroke and different colour then fading to purple and regular stroke width once it's drawn. I dunno, whatever works.
That's a really good idea, thanks for the suggestion! I think having it drawn in a different colour then fading to purple would have worked really well, I'll keep that in mind for the next video of this style
I agree with this but further, maybe adding ones before 2007 in a separate colour so we can see progress over time. Also future links in a different colour as well
I'll have to look into that and maybe make a video about there next! I was almost on the Paramatta Council's active transport advisory board (I applied and was accepted when I lived in Epping), but then unfortunately I withdrew when I moved to Bathurst
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism If you're doing Parramatta, run a fun little compare-and-contrast to Ryde Council, the black sheep of the Sydney suburban area. Somebody on Ryde Council REALLY doesn't care about cycleways, and yes I know that Epping Road forms a backbone … but … it connects to nothing! You can do an unbroken stretch from Sydney Harbour Bridge up to Epping Station and then … crickets. More importantly, can ANYONE figure out how to head south from anywhere along Epping Road, to connect to Parramatta River? Everything seriously cuts off before Victoria Road. In fact Exhibit A is the total let-down you get on the western edge of Gladesville Bridge. It's zero fun between there and Kissing Point. I think the least-worst option is to lean on the NSW Government's effort with Parramatta Light Rail. If going up from Sydney Harbour Bridge and the glorious cycleway beneath Gore Hill Freeway (chef's kiss! you'd never know if you never go), push on and on and on through the maze parallel to Epping Road until you get to Epping Station. Then take a few blocks on slightly quiet streets to get to Pennant Hills Road near Carlingford. Cross the main road as safely as you can, and once you reach the light rail, you're connected - the entire M4 Cycleway, both sides of Parramatta River, and Westmead up to Richmond and the M7 is open to you.
Thanks for laying out and describing this map. The cycleways situation in Sydney seems to be much better now than ever and hopefully would continue to improve further. I think one piece of infrastructure that's often still lacking in Sydney is bike racks. It's not uncommon that I'd be arriving at some commercial area and found no good place to lock my bike, or there may be some bike parking near the train station but the station is rather far from where I actually want to go. Bike racks should be a common feature in every entry points to public pedestrian plaza/outdoor malls. It always feel dirty to lock your bike to some random fences, poles, or other infrastructures that aren't properly designated as bike parking area.
Thanks for the comment! Totally agree, secure parking is a problem. More train stations definitely need those opal access sheds like at Redfern and Epping and we need to start building bike parking garages!
I am glad that you are still doing these about Sydney now you have moved. I am cycling in Sydney every week day, even saw you once in Alexandria. I love it but I am still incredibly frustrated when I need to get somewhere and there are no other options but the busier road. I have been abused and threatened by many impatient and completely deluded motorists.
Luckily it's still easy to visit Sydney from Bathurst so I still make my way done there occasionally and can keep apace with the changes going on! Sydney has come a long way but definitely still has heaps of work to do to be bike friendly. The trip numbers hage increased super quickly but are still pretty low compared to what they could be, and a lot of that comes down to most roads still sucking
I lived in Sydney in 1988 when the pedestrianised Pyrmont Bridge and the Darling Harbour precinct was open. It was patrolled by security staff whose sole job seemed to be to prevent cycling. Glad to hear that has changed.
Wow I'm glad that doesn't happen anymore. Occasionally there are security guards who stand next to an advisory 10km/h speed limit sign and don't really do anything but that's very prefereable to the situation in the 80s
Great video. I'm 55 and grew up in and around Sydney. I left Sydney over 18 years ago, and so much has changed. The amount of new cycleways is unbelievable.
I'm delighted to see that cycling is slowly conquering the place it deserves in Sydney's streets. I expect that you will see a significant rise in cycling popularity once all these separate routes are linked together in a network.
now all we need now is a city road/ broadway/ cleveland street/abercrombie street/ regent street/ glebe point road/ harris street cycleway and itll be perfect 😢 ... only one can dream...
That would be amazing. At least Broadway has been added to the city's cycling plan and some pretty serious consideration is being given to a cycleway there though!
That's exciting! I've conteplated riding to the airport before since strapping a suitcase to my bike is easier than taking it on a bus (and of course I could avoid the huge train fare) but I've yet to see any secure, long-term parking for bikes - do you know if they've got any parking so poeple can leave their bikes at the airport while on a trip?
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism BNSW is pushing Airport for it - including some ideas around bike valet as part of the carparking (pay to have your bike in the carpark facility). International currently has an under cover bike parking (not designed for long term) - Domestic should have something basic by the end of the year with long term plans to match international.
Thanks! I mostly stuck to the paths the council considers part of its transport network, it considers the shared pedestrian areas around the harbour part of its recreation network. That being said, I have definitely used those areas for transport before :)
Great work Chris. having grown up in Sydney, now 45, I've seen a lot change and it's so nice to see regular people riding everywhere everyday. As well as more MAMILs and the food delivery folks. E-bikes have helped mums and dads with the new fangled cargo bikes...this all means quieter, safer streets where everyone has various options to get around as part of a transport mix...
Cool video! The animation is great; alot of effort must have gone into researching when and where each cycleway was rolled out. It's also interesting to see the effort that has gone into creating a connected and legible network across the CoS, no matter how hard fought for each little peice of infrastructure must be. I'm currently writing my Master of Urban Planning thesis on Sydney's cycling infrastructure, so this video was excellent and informative procrastination.
I’m glad you covered the Bridge rd failure, but there’s some additional contention among cyclists about the Wilson st way, given how low and slow car traffic is due partly to the multiple roundabouts. From my perspective, moreso than we need cycleways, we need lower speeds for drivers and wider, more accessible footpaths
That's a good point - 30km/h speed limits and modal filters to lower traffic are their own kind of important cycling infrastructure, and a lot of Sydney's footopaths are far too narrow. That being said, I love the Wilson St cycleway since it allows bikes to bypass the roundabouts, which makes it a lot safer especially for younger users
Absolutely fantastic video! Thank you. It would be great to see similar videos for other council areas. Hopefully it would prompt other councils to expand on the great work City of Sydney has been doing. For one I find North Sydney could do a lot better.
Thank you for recognising that the Bridge Rd / Pyrmont Bridge Rd pop-up cycle way in Forest Lodge / Glebe is dangerous. Locals have been pushing for this to move to the quieter and wider St John’s Rd but the council prefers to pit pedestrians, cyclists, buses and cars against each other.
St John's Road could work well, but I definitely see why they want Bridge Rd - it goes from Annandale through Glebe straight to Pyrmont Bridge, an important cycling connection. I think the best solution for Bridge Road is to acknowledge it's not a through-road to the city for cars anymore since Pyrmont Bridge no longer carries cars. A 30km/h speed limit and modal filters could potentially work better with its narrowness than a cycleway imo
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Pyrmont bridge road is still a major connector between parramatta Rd and the city as well as cars exiting Anzac Bridge. With the relocation of the fish markets traffic is going to be even worse. St John’s Road connects to Wentworth Park and cycle traffic could easily be routed in numerous directions.
Did I miss it? They pulled up the Dunning Ave, Rosebery Cycleway and were going to replace it four streets east, out of the way, but there were so many complaints it never happened.
Omg they finally got Oxford Street?! I was inspired to first start cycling 9 years ago while I was waiting on Oxford St for a bus to finally stop and let me squeeze on. There was an endless stream of cyclists going by and I realised I was spending longer waiting for a bus than it would take me to just ride home! The Flinders St/Oxford st part was a nightmare though, so many cyclists, so little infra, many near misses and witnessed accidents.😬 Stoked to hear it’s being partially fixed even though that’s not been my commute for a long time.
Amazing to think how well Sydney City is doing in comparison to Melbourne City … who just went backwards after 2020. Insane. They’re the only ones going backwards, of any major city in the world.
I remember when Melbourne was well ahead of Sydney and I would visit and wish Sydney had that many cycleways - it's sad to see how they've lost their way.
Impressive video - I love how the network is forming from scratch and it’s frankly equivalent to the road network barely 100 years ago - see the history of the Lincoln Highway and how country roads simply didn’t join up. Drivers wouldn’t put up with dead ends today and cyclists shouldn’t either. Something really took off around 2009-10 when I noticed all the cycling paths in Olympic Park were turned into “official” paths with lane marking like the rest of Sydney started to do. At 6:27 the George St path shows an important error - you can’t and shouldn’t cycle through Waterloo Estate. The signs there ask you nicely and properly to please not do that. The cycleway signs even direct you around the western side too - and you have to negotiate some tricky road closures of Waterloo Metro construction lately. Is the new College Street path the same as the old one? I think the Bourke St / Bourke Road path is entirely contiguous (if not perfectly formed) and for a decade now, on my adventures I’ve been cycling from the city to Woollomooloo to begin the epic journey south … using Bourke Street to begin, I head towards the airport, give up at Tempe if I run out of energy, or continue under the M5 and around the golf course to Kyeemagh, then one straight path all the way along Botany Bay to Sans Souci and the Captain Cook Bridge. Recently the Sutherland Shire have FINALLY finished the cycleway north of Captain Cook Drive, and you can continue easily all the way to Cronulla along the beach. This lets you join the train network for an easy return journey. If you add that to a Manly Ferry trip, you can combine it with the Manly-to-Mona-Vale cycle path and do the entire Sydney coast, more or less.
Thanks! Something positive certainly was going on re: cycleways around that time. You're right about Waterloo Estate, I should've left a gap there - I believe it's on CoS's to do list to make the path through that park cyclable but currently there is that detour you mentioned. re: Bourke Rd and Bourke St, I decided not to include shared paths that didn't meet TfNSW's recommendations for when a shared path is a good option - i.e., only build a shared path when there's little foot traffic and few driveways. The shared path that connects the Bourke Rd and Bourke St cycleways didn't meet those criteria so I decided not to include it (along with many other questionable shared paths around the city). That Cronulla to Mona Vale trip sounds absolutely awesome. I'll have to give it a try someday.
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism I totally take on board what you say about driveways - the only long section on the Northern Beaches that truly meets that definition is the modern estates in Warriewood (but were settled in swamp land … another story for another time) Waterloo Estate … that's the main reason I commented: I don't think it can / should / will have a path through it. The residents seem thoroughly opposed to it and it's a last stand against colonialism … and, well, they keep being proved right? If the cycleway is carved through the middle, it just proves them right one more time.
Now it's just the other councils that need to pick up the pace! In the South, Georges River and Canterbury-Bankstown could certainly be doing a bit more with bike lanes and dedicated infrastructure
Definitely. Georges River Council doesn't seem to realise cycling can be a form of transportation, their cycling plan is terrible - and yet Hurstville station's bike parking is always overflowing. More councils need to embrace the fact that people want to ride for transport!
A dilemma I wrestle with is the potential for competition for space on existing roads between cycleways, wider footpaths, bus lanes and light rail. (Even after car lanes are reduced)
That's always a difficult dilemma and sometimes they do get the balance wrong - for example, some footpath is beng removed on King St for the missing cycleway link which I think is a terrible move. In my opinion, the best solution is lowering traffic volumes and speeds so that different modes can share spaces safely without needing different areas. Little Eveleigh Street in Redfern is a great example of this.
I'd love to know more about the history of the Alexandria canal cycle way. From the sections along the canal which end suddenly at Shea's creek and the path under the Campbell St bridge, I assume there was some plan to build a path connecting with the coward st path but I can't find a thing about it online. If there's a video in that topic, I'd watch it.
There's definitely a plan to bring it at least as far as Rickety St, it's on the Cycling Strategy's map: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/strategies-action-plans/cycling-strategy-and-action-plan. Not sure what the timeline would be, though. I'm sure they would connect it to Coward St as well.
Thank you so much. I have never closely followed consultations on transport developments. Why was there no allowance for cycleways along George St and Devonshire St when the light rail was installed. Devonshire has the friendliest gradient for cycling West-East through Surry Hills. Unfortunately I have learnt habits across decades of breaking laws due to poor cycle planning. Each missing link leads to rules being bent or broken. If I had to wait for proper connections I would have never ridden a bike. Thanks again. Maybe my rule breaking has led to advocates and engineers thinking “we need to fix that”.
The lack of allowance for bikes on George St truly sucks, especially since they know cyclists have to make deliveries there and that it's way safer than mixing with cars on parallel streets so the police run revenue raising sessions targeting cyclists there. It would have been so easy to put a bike lane between the seating and tram tracks - maybe one day they'll be retrofitted on. I really think they should convert the existng one-way car lane on Devonshire Street to a two-way cycleway
I hope so, too. I've heard Parramatta has been doing well with cycling infrastructure, but I'm not too sure about the rest of Western Sydney as I haven't been out that way a lot.
Great video! Is there a plan for Greater Sydney - is there a plan to connect Penrith to Paramatta, Richmond, Cambelltown, Liverpool and Sydney CBD? Has the Liberal/Labor Teams any plans to help connect Sydney by bike 🚲?
Yep, that would be the Strategic Cycleway Corridors plan: www.transport.nsw.gov.au/operations/walking-and-bike-riding/strategic-cycleway-corridors Unfortunately both governments have been pretty slack on active transport and usually invest well under 2% of the transport budget into it (the UN recommends 20%). A lot of the good progress that has been made is because of local councils.
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism @buildingbeautifully be great to see a collaboration on the greater Sydney active transport plan and you could even get@friendlyjordies on board for some comic relief.
I will allow one grumpyoldman comment. It would be great if some of the excellent young transport tubers caught up with some Sydney history... e.g.O'Dea is oh-day.
O'Dea? Oh dear. I should have known not to trust google maps' pronunciation of anything after it told me to go down "Drack-a-ford" (Drakeford) Drive in Canberra that one time.
Looking at the map in 2022 the individual cycleways are tantalisingly close to connecting up and starting from 2023 into 2025 those gaps are disappearing. All of the "interested but concerned" potential riders will soon be discovering that the missing links that made their commute too scary and unsafe are missing no longer. I fully expect to see exponential growth over the next few years as these cycleways are linked up. We will be seeing numbers like 10,000/day in no time. Maybe we'll even get some automatic counters so we can smooth out that unexplainable variability.
Yes it's definitely exciting seeing those gaps close up! I'm pretty sure I've seen automatic counters on cycleways but I have no idea how to go about getting that data. The Super Tuesday bike counts are better than nothing but the sample size is unfortunately really small since it's just two mornings in a year
Whilst this is great, it honestly feels like council is doing it alone which they shouldn't have to. Other nearby council areas have little to no cycling infrastructure which makes those just outside the council area forced into cars or buses. Whilst there are some great pieces of infrastructure outside of the city (Northern Road, Parramatta River & M7 links) the state government should be trying to support councils within Sydney to provide a city wide cycling network. No one will ever commute Penrith to Sydney CBD via bicycle but they might commute Oxley Park to Blacktown, Greystanes to Parramatta or Lindfield to North Ryde. But these types of commutes are impossible Canberra has an awesome shared path network. There are practically no cycleways but this is rarely an issue due to the lower population numbers. The same approach would work completely fine across most of Sydney with only major centres like CBD, Parramatta and North Sydney requiring cycleways to separate pedestrians from cyclists
Yeah it is a shame. Inner West and Randwick councils recently made decent cycling plans, although neither include actual budget details like CoS's did and Inner West Council hasn't really acted on theirs. When I lived in Sydney I regularly commuted by bike into the city from both LGAs and the missing infrastructure across the border from CoS made that quite a bit harder. I think with the T3 closing down for metro construction as well the state government and adjacent councils really missed the opportunity to build cycleways along the T3 and to stations along the T2 and T4 to help people with the construction period.
I don't think the Oxford street cycleway from Taylor Square to college st will be completed by next month. This is part of my commute and construction hasn't even started for most of this route.
That's the completion date they've listed on the website, but it could be optimistic. Last time I was there, though, a decent amount of construction had been done on the Liverpool St part
Yes the Liverpool St section and I'd say less than 1/3rd of the Oxford St section (between College St and Taylor Square) are currently being constructed. I think they are planning on building the Oxford St cycle lane up to Riley St initially with the section from Riley St to Taylor Square to be done as a stage 2.
If only every single cycleway wasn’t a 2.4m or less two way one. Someone needs to present the concept of uni directional protected cycle lanes to whoever’s in charge.
Great stuff. Really clear explanation showing the great progress made. BUT.. still too many gaps. The cycleways will continue to be underused (to the delight of the roads lobby) while there are gaps. Even if 90% of my trip is world class cycleway, if the remaining 10% is a death trap I will take the bus.
Definitely. Animating this has made it clear that the pace of building is picking up from its dip in 2018, so hopefully the pace continues to rise adn we'll get more gaps closed soon!
There's plenty of off-street parking that doesn't intrude on public space if you're inclined to drive into the city, somethng I would strongly recommend against as there is just too much good stuff going on for there to be room for such a space-inefficient mode of transport
Great Video, hope Sydney do better implementing their cycle plan than Geelong. Geelongs was written in 2008, and only 28% of the actions have ever been implemented. Your video tells a very different story than our Geelong one! th-cam.com/video/iix3XZoufdI/w-d-xo.html
I definitely think City of Sydney is the outlier when it comes to implementing cycling strategies, which is unfortunately. I loved Geelong when I visited - the foreshore is incredible - but the congestion around the beach was insane and the noise from the cars really impacted the serenity. If Geelong embraced active transport more it could be an even better city than it currently is!
The Bourke Rd cycleway is terrible. I wouldn't ride my motorcycle on that thing, let alone a bicycle. Bayside council have done a great job on their side of the Gardiners Rd but once you get past Campbell Rd it just falls apart. There's too many intersections & driveways with limited visibility on the route. Almost every time I travel down Bourke Rd in the middle of the day I see a near miss with a cyclist. I'd hate to think how bad it is during peak hour.
I don't ride there often but I didn't realise it was that bad! Whereabouts do you tend to see the near misses? I'm not sure if I'd describe anywhere on Gardeners Rd as good. I've cycled and driven there and hated every moment of it
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Sorry, I was trying to say Bayside's cycleway on Bourke up to Gardiners. Gardiners Rd itself is terrible for anyone not in a SUV or tank. As for Bourke Rd, the section between Doody St & Maddox St is where I've seen plenty of near misses. You have big factory buildings built right up to the edge of the property line & busy driveways that cross the cycleway. And on top of that you have tree lined streets that create shadows on the road. Unless you're wearing neon & slow down at every driveway it's too easy to get into trouble. Less attentive drivers (so most of them) either can't see you coming due to the buildings obstructing their view, or because the shadows camouflage your approach.
Oh yeah that section is terrible. I think they should have done what they did for parts of Kent St in the city, where drivers have to go up a ramp onto the cycleway and then another onto the footpath level when they use a driveway. That way they have to slow down and are more likely to give way
Well funny I should catch your great video after watching just last night the disappointment of a chap who like me thought it would be easy to hook up from Olympic Park Cycleway to the start of the Cook river Cycleway to mascot. What a joke they should be ashamed of themselves oh sure we should think ourselves lucky that there's any infrastructure whatsoever but alas it's the government who have supplied a band-aid solution to take ourselves and our family along for a safe ride around Sydney without being threatened by the mostly unskilled drivers who traverse Sydney Metro on a daily basis not to mention the poor old truckers who have to navigate a poor infrastructure for a living. Boy would I like to give it too the minister in charge of cycling infrastructure obviously the liberals didn't prioritise it and it just gets blamed on the following government in power there's no easy solution to this but as you say we'll take it whatever the allocation 😊
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Some corrections about the conditions in which the first Cycling Strategy was made:
- The state government was largely supportive at the start, so were the NRMA
- Opposition came from some unexpected sources: the pedestrian council, bicycle user groups who were largely made up of sporty cyclists, and landscape architects
Thanks to Graham McCabe, who wrote the 2007 cycling strategy, for reaching out with these corrections!
Great video! It's amazing seeing how far Sydney has come over the past decade, but it's also sad how piecemeal the process has been and how much communities have protested. Motorists need to realise that every cycleway takes cars off the road and alleviates traffic. Locals need to realise that these cycleways exist to make footpaths safer for pedestrians. I admire the City of Sydney for fighting to build more cycleways in the face of relentless opposition!
Definitely! It's admirable that CoS have not focused just on the detractors but also listened to the bigger but less angry parts of the community who really want more cycleways to be built
One suggestion on the animation: after the first few cycleways were on the map I found it difficult to spot where the next one was being drawn, especially if it was a short one. If you do more animations like this (and I hope you do) it might be worth adding something to draw attention to the right part of the map such as an animated arrow or spotlight that moves to the start of the cycleway just before it starts drawing or a shadow on the rest of the map or a circle around it or drawing it with a wider stroke and different colour then fading to purple and regular stroke width once it's drawn. I dunno, whatever works.
That's a really good idea, thanks for the suggestion! I think having it drawn in a different colour then fading to purple would have worked really well, I'll keep that in mind for the next video of this style
I agree with this but further, maybe adding ones before 2007 in a separate colour so we can see progress over time. Also future links in a different colour as well
@@johnhamilton6003 More excellent suggestions, cheers!
I must say I'm impressed with the work Parramatta Council has been doing with cycling infrastructure
I'll have to look into that and maybe make a video about there next! I was almost on the Paramatta Council's active transport advisory board (I applied and was accepted when I lived in Epping), but then unfortunately I withdrew when I moved to Bathurst
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism I'd second interest in a video about Parramatta!
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism If you're doing Parramatta, run a fun little compare-and-contrast to Ryde Council, the black sheep of the Sydney suburban area. Somebody on Ryde Council REALLY doesn't care about cycleways, and yes I know that Epping Road forms a backbone … but … it connects to nothing! You can do an unbroken stretch from Sydney Harbour Bridge up to Epping Station and then … crickets. More importantly, can ANYONE figure out how to head south from anywhere along Epping Road, to connect to Parramatta River? Everything seriously cuts off before Victoria Road. In fact Exhibit A is the total let-down you get on the western edge of Gladesville Bridge. It's zero fun between there and Kissing Point.
I think the least-worst option is to lean on the NSW Government's effort with Parramatta Light Rail. If going up from Sydney Harbour Bridge and the glorious cycleway beneath Gore Hill Freeway (chef's kiss! you'd never know if you never go), push on and on and on through the maze parallel to Epping Road until you get to Epping Station. Then take a few blocks on slightly quiet streets to get to Pennant Hills Road near Carlingford. Cross the main road as safely as you can, and once you reach the light rail, you're connected - the entire M4 Cycleway, both sides of Parramatta River, and Westmead up to Richmond and the M7 is open to you.
Thanks for laying out and describing this map. The cycleways situation in Sydney seems to be much better now than ever and hopefully would continue to improve further.
I think one piece of infrastructure that's often still lacking in Sydney is bike racks. It's not uncommon that I'd be arriving at some commercial area and found no good place to lock my bike, or there may be some bike parking near the train station but the station is rather far from where I actually want to go. Bike racks should be a common feature in every entry points to public pedestrian plaza/outdoor malls.
It always feel dirty to lock your bike to some random fences, poles, or other infrastructures that aren't properly designated as bike parking area.
Thanks for the comment! Totally agree, secure parking is a problem. More train stations definitely need those opal access sheds like at Redfern and Epping and we need to start building bike parking garages!
I am glad that you are still doing these about Sydney now you have moved. I am cycling in Sydney every week day, even saw you once in Alexandria. I love it but I am still incredibly frustrated when I need to get somewhere and there are no other options but the busier road. I have been abused and threatened by many impatient and completely deluded motorists.
Luckily it's still easy to visit Sydney from Bathurst so I still make my way done there occasionally and can keep apace with the changes going on! Sydney has come a long way but definitely still has heaps of work to do to be bike friendly. The trip numbers hage increased super quickly but are still pretty low compared to what they could be, and a lot of that comes down to most roads still sucking
I lived in Sydney in 1988 when the pedestrianised Pyrmont Bridge and the Darling Harbour precinct was open. It was patrolled by security staff whose sole job seemed to be to prevent cycling. Glad to hear that has changed.
The bicentennial
Wow I'm glad that doesn't happen anymore. Occasionally there are security guards who stand next to an advisory 10km/h speed limit sign and don't really do anything but that's very prefereable to the situation in the 80s
Great video. I'm 55 and grew up in and around Sydney. I left Sydney over 18 years ago, and so much has changed. The amount of new cycleways is unbelievable.
I'm delighted to see that cycling is slowly conquering the place it deserves in Sydney's streets. I expect that you will see a significant rise in cycling popularity once all these separate routes are linked together in a network.
Definitely! The numbers will just keep going up
now all we need now is a city road/ broadway/ cleveland street/abercrombie street/ regent street/ glebe point road/ harris street cycleway and itll be perfect 😢 ... only one can dream...
That would be amazing. At least Broadway has been added to the city's cycling plan and some pretty serious consideration is being given to a cycleway there though!
Also the cycleway to connect the international and domestic airports is so close to completion I have wanted this for years!
That's exciting! I've conteplated riding to the airport before since strapping a suitcase to my bike is easier than taking it on a bus (and of course I could avoid the huge train fare) but I've yet to see any secure, long-term parking for bikes - do you know if they've got any parking so poeple can leave their bikes at the airport while on a trip?
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism BNSW is pushing Airport for it - including some ideas around bike valet as part of the carparking (pay to have your bike in the carpark facility). International currently has an under cover bike parking (not designed for long term) - Domestic should have something basic by the end of the year with long term plans to match international.
@@bicyclechicken Awesome news! I'm definitely excited for that long term parking
Very well researched, thank!. These are the road cycleways, the shared pedestrian area around Barangaroo, Pyrmont opened around this time too.
Thanks! I mostly stuck to the paths the council considers part of its transport network, it considers the shared pedestrian areas around the harbour part of its recreation network. That being said, I have definitely used those areas for transport before :)
Hey Topher, I really really really like this video an excellent way to exemplify what’s happened and what’s going to happen tip top stuff mate.
Cheers!
Great work Chris. having grown up in Sydney, now 45, I've seen a lot change and it's so nice to see regular people riding everywhere everyday. As well as more MAMILs and the food delivery folks. E-bikes have helped mums and dads with the new fangled cargo bikes...this all means quieter, safer streets where everyone has various options to get around as part of a transport mix...
Thanks! There certainly has been a great transformation going on
Great video as always 😊
Cheers!
Cool video! The animation is great; alot of effort must have gone into researching when and where each cycleway was rolled out. It's also interesting to see the effort that has gone into creating a connected and legible network across the CoS, no matter how hard fought for each little peice of infrastructure must be. I'm currently writing my Master of Urban Planning thesis on Sydney's cycling infrastructure, so this video was excellent and informative procrastination.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Great video.. I actually did a progress update video last Friday on Oxford street, Liverpool and Castlereagh streets.
I’m glad you covered the Bridge rd failure, but there’s some additional contention among cyclists about the Wilson st way, given how low and slow car traffic is due partly to the multiple roundabouts. From my perspective, moreso than we need cycleways, we need lower speeds for drivers and wider, more accessible footpaths
That's a good point - 30km/h speed limits and modal filters to lower traffic are their own kind of important cycling infrastructure, and a lot of Sydney's footopaths are far too narrow. That being said, I love the Wilson St cycleway since it allows bikes to bypass the roundabouts, which makes it a lot safer especially for younger users
Woah nice vid man
Thanks!
Absolutely fantastic video! Thank you. It would be great to see similar videos for other council areas. Hopefully it would prompt other councils to expand on the great work City of Sydney has been doing. For one I find North Sydney could do a lot better.
Thanks! Other commenters have said Parramatta has been doing a good job lately so they might be next
There are a lot of cycleways these days. You can ride from Windsor to Cronulla and barely go on a road. Just a few back roads around Strathfield.
Thank you for recognising that the Bridge Rd / Pyrmont Bridge Rd pop-up cycle way in Forest Lodge / Glebe is dangerous. Locals have been pushing for this to move to the quieter and wider St John’s Rd but the council prefers to pit pedestrians, cyclists, buses and cars against each other.
St John's Road could work well, but I definitely see why they want Bridge Rd - it goes from Annandale through Glebe straight to Pyrmont Bridge, an important cycling connection. I think the best solution for Bridge Road is to acknowledge it's not a through-road to the city for cars anymore since Pyrmont Bridge no longer carries cars. A 30km/h speed limit and modal filters could potentially work better with its narrowness than a cycleway imo
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Pyrmont bridge road is still a major connector between parramatta Rd and the city as well as cars exiting Anzac Bridge. With the relocation of the fish markets traffic is going to be even worse. St John’s Road connects to Wentworth Park and cycle traffic could easily be routed in numerous directions.
Did I miss it? They pulled up the Dunning Ave, Rosebery Cycleway and were going to replace it four streets east, out of the way, but there were so many complaints it never happened.
My understanding is they're still building the quietway - it will likely happen next year
Great vid!
Cheers!
Keep going!
That's the plan! Thanks for your support
Omg they finally got Oxford Street?! I was inspired to first start cycling 9 years ago while I was waiting on Oxford St for a bus to finally stop and let me squeeze on. There was an endless stream of cyclists going by and I realised I was spending longer waiting for a bus than it would take me to just ride home! The Flinders St/Oxford st part was a nightmare though, so many cyclists, so little infra, many near misses and witnessed accidents.😬 Stoked to hear it’s being partially fixed even though that’s not been my commute for a long time.
Yeah it hasn't been part of my commute for a while either but I'm super keen for it! It's such a needed piece of infrastructure
Amazing to think how well Sydney City is doing in comparison to Melbourne City … who just went backwards after 2020. Insane. They’re the only ones going backwards, of any major city in the world.
I remember when Melbourne was well ahead of Sydney and I would visit and wish Sydney had that many cycleways - it's sad to see how they've lost their way.
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism I remain hopeful. The global momentum is … nice!
Impressive video - I love how the network is forming from scratch and it’s frankly equivalent to the road network barely 100 years ago - see the history of the Lincoln Highway and how country roads simply didn’t join up. Drivers wouldn’t put up with dead ends today and cyclists shouldn’t either.
Something really took off around 2009-10 when I noticed all the cycling paths in Olympic Park were turned into “official” paths with lane marking like the rest of Sydney started to do.
At 6:27 the George St path shows an important error - you can’t and shouldn’t cycle through Waterloo Estate. The signs there ask you nicely and properly to please not do that. The cycleway signs even direct you around the western side too - and you have to negotiate some tricky road closures of Waterloo Metro construction lately.
Is the new College Street path the same as the old one?
I think the Bourke St / Bourke Road path is entirely contiguous (if not perfectly formed) and for a decade now, on my adventures I’ve been cycling from the city to Woollomooloo to begin the epic journey south … using Bourke Street to begin, I head towards the airport, give up at Tempe if I run out of energy, or continue under the M5 and around the golf course to Kyeemagh, then one straight path all the way along Botany Bay to Sans Souci and the Captain Cook Bridge. Recently the Sutherland Shire have FINALLY finished the cycleway north of Captain Cook Drive, and you can continue easily all the way to Cronulla along the beach. This lets you join the train network for an easy return journey.
If you add that to a Manly Ferry trip, you can combine it with the Manly-to-Mona-Vale cycle path and do the entire Sydney coast, more or less.
Thanks! Something positive certainly was going on re: cycleways around that time.
You're right about Waterloo Estate, I should've left a gap there - I believe it's on CoS's to do list to make the path through that park cyclable but currently there is that detour you mentioned.
re: Bourke Rd and Bourke St, I decided not to include shared paths that didn't meet TfNSW's recommendations for when a shared path is a good option - i.e., only build a shared path when there's little foot traffic and few driveways. The shared path that connects the Bourke Rd and Bourke St cycleways didn't meet those criteria so I decided not to include it (along with many other questionable shared paths around the city).
That Cronulla to Mona Vale trip sounds absolutely awesome. I'll have to give it a try someday.
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism I totally take on board what you say about driveways - the only long section on the Northern Beaches that truly meets that definition is the modern estates in Warriewood (but were settled in swamp land … another story for another time)
Waterloo Estate … that's the main reason I commented: I don't think it can / should / will have a path through it. The residents seem thoroughly opposed to it and it's a last stand against colonialism … and, well, they keep being proved right? If the cycleway is carved through the middle, it just proves them right one more time.
Now it's just the other councils that need to pick up the pace! In the South, Georges River and Canterbury-Bankstown could certainly be doing a bit more with bike lanes and dedicated infrastructure
Definitely. Georges River Council doesn't seem to realise cycling can be a form of transportation, their cycling plan is terrible - and yet Hurstville station's bike parking is always overflowing. More councils need to embrace the fact that people want to ride for transport!
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Preach Brother!! 🙌🙌
A dilemma I wrestle with is the potential for competition for space on existing roads between cycleways, wider footpaths, bus lanes and light rail. (Even after car lanes are reduced)
That's always a difficult dilemma and sometimes they do get the balance wrong - for example, some footpath is beng removed on King St for the missing cycleway link which I think is a terrible move. In my opinion, the best solution is lowering traffic volumes and speeds so that different modes can share spaces safely without needing different areas. Little Eveleigh Street in Redfern is a great example of this.
I'd love to know more about the history of the Alexandria canal cycle way. From the sections along the canal which end suddenly at Shea's creek and the path under the Campbell St bridge, I assume there was some plan to build a path connecting with the coward st path but I can't find a thing about it online. If there's a video in that topic, I'd watch it.
There's definitely a plan to bring it at least as far as Rickety St, it's on the Cycling Strategy's map: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/strategies-action-plans/cycling-strategy-and-action-plan. Not sure what the timeline would be, though. I'm sure they would connect it to Coward St as well.
Thanks. The Sutherland cycleway story would be much simpler. Just end the car subsidy.
Thank you so much. I have never closely followed consultations on transport developments. Why was there no allowance for cycleways along George St and Devonshire St when the light rail was installed. Devonshire has the friendliest gradient for cycling West-East through Surry Hills. Unfortunately I have learnt habits across decades of breaking laws due to poor cycle planning. Each missing link leads to rules being bent or broken. If I had to wait for proper connections I would have never ridden a bike. Thanks again. Maybe my rule breaking has led to advocates and engineers thinking “we need to fix that”.
The lack of allowance for bikes on George St truly sucks, especially since they know cyclists have to make deliveries there and that it's way safer than mixing with cars on parallel streets so the police run revenue raising sessions targeting cyclists there. It would have been so easy to put a bike lane between the seating and tram tracks - maybe one day they'll be retrofitted on. I really think they should convert the existng one-way car lane on Devonshire Street to a two-way cycleway
Thanks for your reply. We’ll all be expecting a better deal when Sharath is Minister for Transport!👍🏽
Hopefully western sydney is not forgotten.
I hope so, too. I've heard Parramatta has been doing well with cycling infrastructure, but I'm not too sure about the rest of Western Sydney as I haven't been out that way a lot.
Great video!
Is there a plan for Greater Sydney - is there a plan to connect Penrith to Paramatta, Richmond, Cambelltown, Liverpool and Sydney CBD?
Has the Liberal/Labor Teams any plans to help connect Sydney by bike 🚲?
Yep, that would be the Strategic Cycleway Corridors plan: www.transport.nsw.gov.au/operations/walking-and-bike-riding/strategic-cycleway-corridors
Unfortunately both governments have been pretty slack on active transport and usually invest well under 2% of the transport budget into it (the UN recommends 20%). A lot of the good progress that has been made is because of local councils.
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism @buildingbeautifully be great to see a collaboration on the greater Sydney active transport plan and you could even get@friendlyjordies on board for some comic relief.
I will allow one grumpyoldman comment. It would be great if some of the excellent young transport tubers caught up with some Sydney history... e.g.O'Dea is oh-day.
O'Dea? Oh dear. I should have known not to trust google maps' pronunciation of anything after it told me to go down "Drack-a-ford" (Drakeford) Drive in Canberra that one time.
Looking at the map in 2022 the individual cycleways are tantalisingly close to connecting up and starting from 2023 into 2025 those gaps are disappearing. All of the "interested but concerned" potential riders will soon be discovering that the missing links that made their commute too scary and unsafe are missing no longer. I fully expect to see exponential growth over the next few years as these cycleways are linked up. We will be seeing numbers like 10,000/day in no time. Maybe we'll even get some automatic counters so we can smooth out that unexplainable variability.
Yes it's definitely exciting seeing those gaps close up! I'm pretty sure I've seen automatic counters on cycleways but I have no idea how to go about getting that data. The Super Tuesday bike counts are better than nothing but the sample size is unfortunately really small since it's just two mornings in a year
Whilst this is great, it honestly feels like council is doing it alone which they shouldn't have to. Other nearby council areas have little to no cycling infrastructure which makes those just outside the council area forced into cars or buses. Whilst there are some great pieces of infrastructure outside of the city (Northern Road, Parramatta River & M7 links) the state government should be trying to support councils within Sydney to provide a city wide cycling network. No one will ever commute Penrith to Sydney CBD via bicycle but they might commute Oxley Park to Blacktown, Greystanes to Parramatta or Lindfield to North Ryde. But these types of commutes are impossible
Canberra has an awesome shared path network. There are practically no cycleways but this is rarely an issue due to the lower population numbers. The same approach would work completely fine across most of Sydney with only major centres like CBD, Parramatta and North Sydney requiring cycleways to separate pedestrians from cyclists
Yeah it is a shame. Inner West and Randwick councils recently made decent cycling plans, although neither include actual budget details like CoS's did and Inner West Council hasn't really acted on theirs. When I lived in Sydney I regularly commuted by bike into the city from both LGAs and the missing infrastructure across the border from CoS made that quite a bit harder. I think with the T3 closing down for metro construction as well the state government and adjacent councils really missed the opportunity to build cycleways along the T3 and to stations along the T2 and T4 to help people with the construction period.
I don't think the Oxford street cycleway from Taylor Square to college st will be completed by next month. This is part of my commute and construction hasn't even started for most of this route.
That's the completion date they've listed on the website, but it could be optimistic. Last time I was there, though, a decent amount of construction had been done on the Liverpool St part
Yes the Liverpool St section and I'd say less than 1/3rd of the Oxford St section (between College St and Taylor Square) are currently being constructed. I think they are planning on building the Oxford St cycle lane up to Riley St initially with the section from Riley St to Taylor Square to be done as a stage 2.
Maybe it'll just be the Liverpool to Riley St part that'll be done next month then, if at all. Thanks for the insight!
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism correct. I've been told the whole thing will be completed early 2025 - before mardi gras.
If only every single cycleway wasn’t a 2.4m or less two way one.
Someone needs to present the concept of uni directional protected cycle lanes to whoever’s in charge.
Great stuff. Really clear explanation showing the great progress made. BUT.. still too many gaps. The cycleways will continue to be underused (to the delight of the roads lobby) while there are gaps. Even if 90% of my trip is world class cycleway, if the remaining 10% is a death trap I will take the bus.
Definitely. Animating this has made it clear that the pace of building is picking up from its dip in 2018, so hopefully the pace continues to rise adn we'll get more gaps closed soon!
You have a typo in the thumbnail mate - "bult"
Cheers, fixed
Clover Moore has buggared up a lot of parking for very few bikes!
There's plenty of off-street parking that doesn't intrude on public space if you're inclined to drive into the city, somethng I would strongly recommend against as there is just too much good stuff going on for there to be room for such a space-inefficient mode of transport
Great Video, hope Sydney do better implementing their cycle plan than Geelong. Geelongs was written in 2008, and only 28% of the actions have ever been implemented. Your video tells a very different story than our Geelong one!
th-cam.com/video/iix3XZoufdI/w-d-xo.html
I definitely think City of Sydney is the outlier when it comes to implementing cycling strategies, which is unfortunately. I loved Geelong when I visited - the foreshore is incredible - but the congestion around the beach was insane and the noise from the cars really impacted the serenity. If Geelong embraced active transport more it could be an even better city than it currently is!
The Bourke Rd cycleway is terrible. I wouldn't ride my motorcycle on that thing, let alone a bicycle. Bayside council have done a great job on their side of the Gardiners Rd but once you get past Campbell Rd it just falls apart. There's too many intersections & driveways with limited visibility on the route. Almost every time I travel down Bourke Rd in the middle of the day I see a near miss with a cyclist. I'd hate to think how bad it is during peak hour.
I don't ride there often but I didn't realise it was that bad! Whereabouts do you tend to see the near misses?
I'm not sure if I'd describe anywhere on Gardeners Rd as good. I've cycled and driven there and hated every moment of it
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Sorry, I was trying to say Bayside's cycleway on Bourke up to Gardiners. Gardiners Rd itself is terrible for anyone not in a SUV or tank.
As for Bourke Rd, the section between Doody St & Maddox St is where I've seen plenty of near misses. You have big factory buildings built right up to the edge of the property line & busy driveways that cross the cycleway. And on top of that you have tree lined streets that create shadows on the road. Unless you're wearing neon & slow down at every driveway it's too easy to get into trouble. Less attentive drivers (so most of them) either can't see you coming due to the buildings obstructing their view, or because the shadows camouflage your approach.
Oh yeah that section is terrible. I think they should have done what they did for parts of Kent St in the city, where drivers have to go up a ramp onto the cycleway and then another onto the footpath level when they use a driveway. That way they have to slow down and are more likely to give way
Well funny I should catch your great video after watching just last night the disappointment of a chap who like me thought it would be easy to hook up from Olympic Park Cycleway to the start of the Cook river Cycleway to mascot.
What a joke they should be ashamed of themselves oh sure we should think ourselves lucky that there's any infrastructure whatsoever but alas it's the government who have supplied a band-aid solution to take ourselves and our family along for a safe ride around Sydney without being threatened by the mostly unskilled drivers who traverse Sydney Metro on a daily basis not to mention the poor old truckers who have to navigate a poor infrastructure for a living.
Boy would I like to give it too the minister in charge of cycling infrastructure obviously the liberals didn't prioritise it and it just gets blamed on the following government in power there's no easy solution to this but as you say we'll take it whatever the allocation 😊