Early data from last month's Super Sunday count show people are still riding bikes in big numbers, with previous Super Sunday records being smashed.
Super Sunday is a volunteer-led count of people going for a weekend ride or walk on roads and shared paths.
The Capital City Trail, which has been counted year-on-year since 2011, continues to experience increasingly high bike volumes. A total of 1350 bikes were counted across four hours in 2020, on par with counts made during the mid-year lockdown and a 208% growth compared to a 2019 survey.
Other popular Melbourne bike trails, including the Maribyrnong River Trail, Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail, and Gardiners Creek Trail, have revealed staggeringly high bike activity compared to 2019 data.
The incoming results suggest that Australia’s new penchant for bike riding may be far from over.
Shared path |
Site |
2019 |
2020 |
Growth |
Capital City Trail |
5621 |
438 |
1350 |
208% |
Bay Trail |
7166 |
344 |
911 |
165% |
Scotchmans Creek Trail |
6017 |
83 |
195 |
135% |
Gardiners Creek Trail |
6019 |
120 |
339 |
183% |
Anniversary Trail |
5668 |
187 |
495 |
165% |
Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail |
6003 |
150 |
658 |
339% |
Maribyrnong River Trail |
6238 |
201 |
659 |
228% |
Merri Creek Trail |
5620 |
429 |
1113 |
159% |
Moonee Ponds Creek Trail |
4469 |
204 |
603 |
196% |
Main Yarra Trail |
5657 |
709 |
1344 |
90% |
Is the bike boom here to stay?
One of the positives of the COVID period has been the significant increases in bike activity on roads and shared paths, both locally and overseas. With Australia now heading into summer and lockdown restrictions easing, is bike riding here to stay, or was this just a temporary solution for people to help them cope with the cabin fever?
Let’s start by reflecting back on the bike boom that was.
In April, a volunteer-led survey by Bicycle Network revealed that bike riding had increased by 270% on some shared paths. Similar data has also been collected using electric counters and Strava trip data.
An Australia-wide survey distributed by researchers at the University of Canberra found that two thirds of respondents had increased their bike riding activity during lockdown, and a sixth of these respondents had bought new bikes.
Interestingly, another third of respondents indicated they reduced their bike riding activity, 45% of which indicated this was because there were too many people using the shared paths. This finding suggests that the reported figures may have been even higher, had our existing infrastructure been able to accommodate them.
The Victorian Government has been quick to respond, announcing 100 kilometers of new and improved cycling routes across key inner-Melbourne suburbs. Councils are also improving their infrastructure to what could be a long term bike boom. City of Melbourne have rolled out ‘Little Streets’ a street-calming project involving speed limit reductions (20km/h) and prioritized bike rider and pedestrian space across four key shopping streets. In addition, the council has installed new pop-up bike lanes, and many other facilities are in the works across other council areas.
Are these the early signs of an active transport renaissance? Researchers around the globe are optimistic. And while it is much too early to make an informed decision, the early data looks promising.