Australia’s largest commuter rider survey gathers trends and data on commuter movements across the country, providing local government with valuable information to guide their planning and infrastructure efforts.

More than 120,000 active travel journeys were logged during Super Tuesday 2023 on 7 March, as volunteers set up at 785 sites across Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales.

Expressions of interest and site nominations are now open for Super Tuesday 2024 in these locations (all areas expect the NT and Queensland).

Interested councils can visit Bicycle Network’s Super Counts page for more info, download the brochure here or get in touch at bikefutures@bicyclenetwork.com.au.

Or become our friend and subscribe to receive our fortnightly newsletter.

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Counters around Australia will take up positions alongside paths and trails to record the volume and behaviour of bike riders, walkers, runners, dog walkers and micro-mobility users.

The data they collect on recreational active travel helps councils and planners develop transport policies and prioritise infrastructure projects that benefit their communities.

The survey runs for three hours in the morning and Super Sunday volunteers receive a $120 credit towards a Bicycle Network membership, or a donation on their behalf to a charity, school, sports club or not-for-profit organisation.

Sites are starting to fill up but there are still plenty of locations up for grabs round Australia. In particular, we have need of helping hands in the following council areas:

• Whitsunday (QLD)
• Mornington Peninsula, Campaspe, Banyule, Manningham, Whittlesea, Wyndham, Bass Coast, Port Phillip, Melbourne (VIC)
• Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Sydney -> Randwick, Sutherland, Canterbury-Bankstown, Bayside, Willoughby (NSW)
• Perth -> Belmont, Vincent (WA)
• Adelaide -> Mitcham, Marion (SA)

If you’d like to get involved as a volunteer for Super Sunday 2023, visit our interactive map here, click on an available site in blue and fill out your contact details. A count sheet and instructions will be sent to you ahead of the day.

The City of Vincent in Perth will hold its Super Sunday counts the week later, on 19 November. Register here.

Or become our friend and subscribe to receive our fortnightly newsletter.

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Super Sunday counts take place each November and record information about weekend users of off-road paths. This includes bike riders, walkers, runners, e-scooter riders and dog walkers to paint a picture of recreational trail use.

Councils from around the country are preparing for this year’s Super Sunday count on 12 November. The data collected informs councils on how their paths and trails are being used and what improvements can be made.

This informs their planning and active transport policies with the goal of developing infrastructure that encourages physical activity and sustainable ways for Australians to get around.

Super Sunday counts are conducted by Bicycle Network members and volunteers, who receive a $120 donation for their time to go towards either a club, organisation or charity of their choosing or a one-year Bicycle Network membership.

For those interested in volunteering, you can register your interest here. Bicycle Network will confirm the available sites around the country and the participating councils in October. Keep an eye on the website for more details.

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Bicycle Network’s Super Tuesday counts are annual surveys that gather data for local councils on active travel to offer insights into the mode and direction of traffic, along with the gender of road users and traffic volumes at different intervals.

Super Tuesday Top End takes place on the last Tuesday in July in Darwin, Palmerston and Katherine and spots remain available at each of these locations.

All volunteer counters receive either a $70 credit towards a Bicycle Network membership or donation towards any nominated charity, school, sports club or not-for-profit organisation.

Thousands of volunteers across the country take part in Super Tuesday counts and gather important data to help governments improve bike riding conditions in their area.

To get involved in  Super Tuesday Top End, register here.

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Bicycle Network partnered with the city to study seven key sites across the council area in late March, to better understand the demographics of bike riders, and their behavior. See the map below.

A total of 4804 riders were recorded across the seven sites, 20% were women.

The highest proportion of women riders was recorded at Wilson Street (29%), and the lowest proportion (15%) per each were recorded at O’Dea Avenue and Gadigal Avenue site and Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Food delivery riders represented over one fifth of riders at the Mary-Ann Street and Jones Street intersection and at the corner of O’Dea Avenue and Gadigal Avenue. 

The biggest numbers of e-scooters and e-skateboards (45 or 5%) were recorded at Pyrmont Bridge Road.

At the O’Dea and Gadigal Street site, 13 bikes (4%) had children on board.

Information gained from the Custom Rider Demographic Surveys allows the City of Sydney to better understand demographics of riders and determine what infrastructure changes and bike riding programs should be implemented to make riding accessible for more people.

Surveys took place on the morning peak of Tuesday 28 March and the afternoon peak of Wednesday 29 March, which were key locations nominated by active transport planners.

Data collection involves counters noting bike rider information at each site, including an estimate of the rider’s gender, where the person was riding (i.e. cycleway, road, footpath), and other characteristics such as the type of rider (share bike, e-scooter, bike with child seat, delivery rider) and whether the riders wore helmets.

The surveys provide compelling baseline data that can reveal changes in rider types as the ridership increases and the riding community continues to diversify. Recording the diversity of riders enables councils to gain better insights into where changes are needed to promote greater inclusivity and better riding conditions for everyone.

Main image; Adam Hollingworth/City of Sydney

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Bicycle Network’s AIRS (Artificial Intelligence Road Surveys) technology was deployed at a known trouble spot on Chapel Street in Windsor in July 2022 as part of a study with the City of Stonnington.

It aimed to measure the numbers and behaviour of different road users and identify any potential conflicts involving bike riders.

The AIRS technology achieves this by automatically detecting and categorising road users when they pass through an area, tracking both their speed and movement paths.

AIRS can detect potential conflicts by pinpointing the exact time a rider veers out of a bike lane and into a traffic lane, or when a vehicle turns across a bike lane and comes close to a rider.

Bicycle Network analyses footage of these incidents and determines whether they meet the criteria for a “conflict event” – where a rider or other road user has had to adjust their speed or position on the road to avoid a collision.

The survey focused on the intersection of Chapel, Union and James streets and captured a series of conflict events that paint a picture of regular risks to riders.

Chief among the identified risks to riders were south-bound, left-turning vehicles frequently crossing the path of riders in the bike lane.

Another common conflict occurred when vehicles performed reverse parallel parks, forcing riders across the tram lines and into the traffic lane. People stepping into the bike lane when exiting their vehicles and crossing the street were other common occurrences.

These findings will likely come as no surprise to those familiar with Chapel Street. The 2020 BikeSpot project revealed that Chapel Street was rated as the worst street to ride in Melbourne.

This AIRS study quantified the frequency of risks to riders at just one location on Chapel Street, offering a small but useful snapshot of road user behaviour.

Data collected through AIRS surveys is used to build reports into the actions of all road users, including turning movement volumes, path tracing and speeds of all types of road users. The type of expanded analysis carried out on Chapel Street provided important insights into how different road users were interacting and provided decision makers with a powerful tool for infrastructure planning and design.

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Although still not reaching the levels of pre-COVID commuting, riding to work is strongly on the rise.

Bicycle Network, in association with local councils, tallies bikes on key routes across Melbourne and Australia on a Tuesday in March each year.

Numbers have been sadly depressed in recent years due to the impact of work-from-home arrangements for office workers, remote education, and entertainment and dining sector impediments.

Bicycle Network has produced a rapid analysis of usually busy routes in and around city to gain some early insights into the Super Tuesday count results. Across sites sampled, the numbers were up an average 64% over last year, but are still down 34% compared to pre-COVID data.

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The annual Super Tuesday South Count was completed on 6^th of September, 2022 from 7am – 9am, with some surveys completed on following Tuesdays where required.

Over 8,000 bike riders were counted at 117 sites across five council areas in the northern parts of the state. Geraldton, Logan, Redland, Toowoomba and Townsville were the participating councils for 2022.

In Queensland, sites that have been counted in a previous Super Tuesday North survey saw an increase in riders of 5 per cent.

Overall, cycling volumes were down 5 per cent across all sites which were measured in a previous Super Tuesday count. This number is massively influenced by the results in Geraldton, where poor weather saw a large reduction in bike riders on the survey dates.

Sites in the City of Redland in Queensland showed the most promising results, with a 134 per cent increase on average compared with the previous Super Tuesday North count there in 2019.

It was estimated that 22 per cent of riders across the Super Tuesday North surveys were women, compared with the national average of 25 per cent estimated in the Super Tuesday South counts in March. The peak hour for riders was between 7:30am-8:30am, and the busiest 15-minute section between 8:15am-8:30am.

Bicycle Network has been recording commuter volumes at council-identified sites through Super Count events since 2007, making it one of the largest and most reliable active transport data surveys in the country.

The 2022 Super Tuesday South count raised nearly $10,000 through volunteer counter donations for community organisations and clubs, charities, and fundraisers.

Registrations for volunteer counters are currently open around Australia for Super Sunday 2022, which will take place on November 13.

Interested councils can get in touch about future Super Counts events, AIRS automated surveys, or other customised data collection by contacting bikefutures@bicyclenetwork.com.au

Historical Super Tuesday data can be viewed on the data dashboard, which provides an open-source portal for transport planners, researchers, media and interested bike riders to gather valuable bike data, which received a new update in June.

You can read about the national results from the Super Tuesday counts completed in March, 2022 here.

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Now in it’s 30th year, Ride2Work Day is all about normalising the idea of riding to work with a bike. It encourages people who have never ridden to work before to give it a go, and it allows regular riders to stay motivated and encourage their work mates to get involved.

This year, Bicycle Network held celebrations for National Ride2Work Day in Melbourne and Hobart.

We hosted our renowned annual breakfast on Harbour Esplanade at Docklands where thousands of city-bound commuters dropped in for coffee, muffins, and bananas. There was also live entertainment and free bike tune-ups from friendly bike mechanics.

And it wasn’t just Bicycle Network bringing the cheer! Many breakfasts were hosted across the country to celebrate and encourage the benefits of riding to work.

Riders out in big numbers

Bicycle Network’s Transport Data team were out counting riders during the mroning. A total of 2407 riders were counted across our three Melbourne Ride2Work sites this morning.

The team counted 936 bike riders along Harbour Esplanade between 7am and 9am. This is a massive increase when compared to the 430 riders counted at the intersection of Collins Street and Harbour Esplanade during Super Tuesday in March this year, a more than two-fold increase!

Canning Street was also packed with pedals. Our team counted a total of 805 riders across the two-hour period, a huge increase from the 494 riders counted at the same site during Super Tuesday  in March.

Today’s surveys suggest that commuter riding numbers may be back on the rise. 

Thank you!

Bicycle Network would like to thank everyone who rode their bikes today and made National Ride2Work Day the exciting celebration that it is!

Whether you’re a daily bike commuter, a first-time rider, or you just dropped by for a free muffin!

You’re helping to spread the good word about the benefits of riding to work and making it more accessible for people in the future.

You can also share some of your memories from the day using #Ride2Work and by tagging @Bicycle_Network.

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The surveys detect and categorise road users when they pass through the line of vision of the AIRS camera or sensor. The AIRS technology counts road users’ volume and speed, and tracks their movements along ‘trace lines’.

The project studied several key sites around the Boreham Park precinct in Avenell Heights and the Quay Street area in Central Bundaberg.

Sites in Boreham Park study aimed to understand the movement of bicycles and vehicles to and from the north of the park along streets that connect with Dunn Road.

Once the data is analysed, the study will provide insights into pedestrian movements to and from Boreham Park and a nearby café.

The Quay Street study focuses on the crossing movements of pedestrians in this precinct, while also providing insights into the bicycle and vehicle movements entering and exiting Quay Street from the connecting streets and carparks.

User path trace lines identified in the AIRS software at Quay Street and Walla Street, Bundaberg. (Yellow – Pedestrians, Pink – Bicycles, Red – Cars, Blue – Motorbikes, Brown – Large Goods Vehicle, Purple/Turquoise – Ordinary Goods Vehicle)

Bundaberg Regional Council is in the process of improving the region’s active transport network, as a part of their Active Transport Strategy 2020 – 2025, which aims to “connect people to places of importance such as the Central Business District, education facilities and sporting fields.”

This project builds upon the work Bicycle Network has already done with councils to collect data to improve active transport conditions for Australians.

A recent AIRS project completed in City of Port Phillip is providing transport planners with timely and accurate data to improve the bike riding and walking experience in the local area.

Bicycle Network have completed surveys using AIRS technology with over 20 municipalities, such as City of Yarra, City of Nillumbik, City of Darebin, and City of Maribyrnong.

These autonomous, AI-based road surveys are the newest addition to Bicycle Network’s suite of data collection services, which includes the long-established Super Tuesday commuter and Super Sunday recreational counts, and fully customised manual active transport surveys.

To find out more information about these services, or to book a free AIRS trial, visit our website and submit an enquiry.

You can also learn more about Vivacity Labs’ AI sensors here.

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