Bicycles in AustraliaAustralian love to cycle and they are purchasing new bicycles more than ever before. In 2007, over 1.47 million bicycles were sold, outnumbering cars for the eight consecutive year.
Bicycle use is growing across the board, but adults are taking up cycling most rapidly. For every four bikes sold to children and youths, seven are sold to adults.
Cycling is now the fourth most popular physical activity for adults, as demonstrated in the graph below:
It is clear from the dramatic increase in bicycle sales that Australians want to ride - for fun, health, the environment and due to high fuel prices.
Childrens participation in cycling is also growing, as shown in the graph below from the latest ABS data:
Despite the bicycle boom in Australia over recent years, only a small but growing percentage of trips are currently done by bicycle.
According the 2006 census the number of people cycling to work has increased by 22% Australia wide; in some cities with improved infrastructure such as Melbourne cycling to work has increased more than 40% since 2001. This highlights considerable potential, particularly given some 40% of car trips in our cities are under 2km (RMIT, 1999 & Austroads, 2005).
There is clear evidence that more people will ride if they have access to safe and connected on or off road cycling facilities.
Local Governments have seen increased demand for cycling facilities but many councils do not have the financial resources required to implement their cycling strategies in a timley manner. Federal government funding would provide valueable assistance to local councils to develop cycling infrastructure, providing practical choices for their local community to use their bicycles.
Improved bicycle infrastructure and targeted promotional activities will encourage more Australians to use their bicycles regularly, be it for recreation, transport, or fitness.
Australian children love to ride bicycles
- 72% of all children participate in cycling
- Children's cycling increased 9.2% between 2003 - 2006
- Cycling among girls jumped 16.1% between 2003 - 2006 (ABS 2007)
Despite this trend the number of kids cycling to school or to after school activities is very low campared to 20 years ago. The good news is that the tide is turning and schools which participate in the Ride2School program funded by the Victorian Government have seen huge increases to the number of kids riding to school.
With encouragement and improved infrastructure more Australian kids would have the opportunity to cycle to school, get some valueable physcial activity and reduce congestion around schools, improving safety for all children and local residents.
Increased investment in cycling produces results. When a combined program of bicycle friendly infrastructure development and educational initiatives are offered to communities, people choose to ride.
For more information refer to these fact sheets:
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