Find out about cycling in City of Sydney here: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/cycling
Check out Better Streets here: https://www.betterstreets.info/
Check out Bicycle NSW: https://bicyclensw.org.au/
City of Sydney Bike Count Data: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/9e2564aba06f4cbe88baa600b06188b1
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Check out my Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/christopherurbanism
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Song: Dosi & Aisake – Cruising [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds
Free Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/Cruising
Watch: http://ncs.lnk.to/CruisingAT/youtube
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Sources:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/
https://news.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/photos/sydney-a-history-of-cycling-through-the-decades
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/29/a-bridge-too-far-can-sydney-overcome-nimbyism-to-become-a-cycling-city
https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/pyrmont_bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Bridge
https://www.google.com/maps
https://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24813&start=25
https://lsre.com.au/selling/new-sydney-cycleway-boosts-livability/
https://www.woolacotts.com.au/news/campbell-street-cycleway-opens/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Cotter_Bridge
https://www.facebook.com/clovermooresydney/posts/newtown-the-wilson-street-cycleway-is-now-open-between-ivy-and-codrington-street/2651028571601726/
https://www.facebook.com/clovermooresydney
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/sydney-light-rail-open-date-announced-by-nsw-government/11768150
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/telegraph-pole-in-the-middle-of-a-soon-to-opened-cycleway-labelled-fail-by-locals/news-story/f379cbb70d12919a30a18dcb4431105c
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/improving-streets-public-spaces/lawson-street-pedestrian-cycling-improvements
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/building-new-infrastructure/creating-pop-up-cycleways-in-sydney
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/current-projects/redfern-station-upgrade-new-southern-concourse#:~:text=Little%20Eveleigh%20Street%20shared%20zone,from%20Friday%2010%20May%202024
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/improving-streets-public-spaces/building-oxford-street-west-liverpool-street-cycleway
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/improving-streets-public-spaces/castlereagh-street-cycleway-footpath-extension
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/building-new-infrastructure/building-green-square-ashmore-connector
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2024/King-Street-cycleway_consultation-report_February-2024.pdf
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/proposed-works-maintenance/your-say-new-cycleway-wellington-street-waterloo
https://meetings.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/documents/s74086/Project%20Scope%20-%20Phillip%20Street%20to%20College%20Street%20Cycleway.pdf
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/documents/rww/projects/01documents/sydney-harbour-bridge/cycleway-access-proposals/shb-southern-cycleway-review-of-environmental-factors.pdf
https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/proposed-works-maintenance/quiet-way-rosebery
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/current-projects/sydney-harbour-bridge-cycleway-access-program
https://bicyclensw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/230526-Three-new-City-of-Sydney-cycling-connections.pdf
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0:00 Sydney’s Cycling Action Plan
2:02 Intro
2:11 1900-2008
4:06 2009
4:23 2010
5:00 2011
5:22 2012
5:42 2013
6:04 2014
6:56 2015
7:58 2016
8:25 2017
8:36 2018
8:45 2019
9:52 2020
12:22 2021
12:50 2022
13:33 2023
14:20 2024 (now)
15:14 2024 (future)
16:29 2025+
18:16 Conclusion
18:28 KoFi Thanks
in 2007 when city of Sydney Council created their cycling action plan the goal of which was to make cycling the preferred option for shorter trips that were too long for walking it must have seemed an impossible task Sydney’s City Center had been a traffic choked nightmare for a very long time and the local government had little to no support or even occasionally opposition from the state government and something that’s only really changed in the last few years city of Sydney’s local government area had almost zero bike infrastructure when the plan was made and the March 2010 Super Tuesday bike count data revealed that the average number of cyclists using an intersection on a weekday morning was only 259 the busiest spot the Pont side of peont bridge one of the city’s few carfree areas had 2,65 cyclists now that was well above average was this a sign of things to come for when more safe infrastructure was built for bikes well by the end of this video we’ll have a pretty good idea cuz what we’re going to do is we’re going to watch a map that I’ve animated that will show all of the new cycleways being built around city of Sydney’s local government area and we’ll check in with the super Tuesday bike counts to see how they’ve been changing as well as I take you through the evolution of city of Sydney’s cycleways make sure to keep your own commute in mind or even a trip to the local shops is there a trip that you usually take by car that was impossible last time you checked because of safety reasons having to mix with traffic that now you might be able to take by bike now I know that had I moved to Sydney about 5 years later than what I actually did the vast majority of my bike commutes would have had cycle ways that weren’t there when I was using them and they would have been way safer way more pleasant so maybe a commute the gave up on 5 years ago is now safe and easy welcome to footpaths and corner stores my real full name is Chris toer make sure to subscribe for a cycle way to be built on your old commute once you don’t use it anymore in 2007 city of Sydney Council created their first cycling master plan let’s have a look back to 14 years ago see what they were working with and see how much they’ve built so the first Cycle Way ever built in Sydney was built in the year 1900 it was called cyclists Avenue and I can’t confirm where it was but I’m pretty sure it was here from Anzac parade to Centennial Park and I believe it is still if not a cycle way a shared path now the next cycle way I can find being built in Sydney before the 2007 plan was the Sydney Harbor Bridge Cycle Way which was built in 1962 and it was actually made when bikes were banned from the main bridge to facilitate car traffic flow and that is the story of cycleways you know they’re only ever built when people want to cycle but they can’t because they need protection from cars in the 1980s as part of the darling Harbor Redevelopment peont Bridge was open to pedestrians it used to actually be used by cars then in 1988 the shared path in tumblong park was built and tumblong park as a whole in 1995 Anzac Bridge was built there were also a few laneways that city of Sydney were working with buckel street is a key part of their current cycle Network and of course there are well Street and red fern Lane through Red Fern as well as Turner Street there’s also the patch of shared path near the TA and near UTS along Jones Street as well as the shared path along Anzac parade the shared path through Alexandria Park and the shared path along part of Southern Cross Drive okay so this is what city of Sydney were working with when they started their cycling plan now let’s see what they built there was not a whole lot going on for a few years but then in 2009 the first separated Cycle Way since 1962 was built in city of Sydney and it was the first stage of the King Street cycle way it was a very short cycle way but the next Cycle Way was much longer that was in 2010 in March and it was the Burke Road Cycle Way which was good but not quite up to the same quality as the Burke Street Cycle Way which gets built a little bit later in September of 2010 two cycleways were built there was the College Street cycle way and the Union Street Cycle Way in Pont then the next month in October the Burke Street Cycle Way was opened all the way from cawf road to Crystal Street and to this day it is still one of Sydney’s highest quality and longest cycle ways then a year later in October of 2011 the first stage of the Kent Street Cycle Way was opened and that extended on the King Street cycle way that was built to connect to peermont bridge then 2 months later they extended that from King Street to baa Street and they also extended the other end from Napoleon Street to gas Lane the next cycle way to be built was opened in July of 2012 and that was the mandible Street and Bowden Street cycleway in OCT October of 2012 the average count had gone up to 489 and the top site had become the intersection of upper Fort Street near the Sydney Harbor Bridge cycle ramp could this have something to do with the New Kent Street cycle way things were quiet for a while after that but then in October of 2013 the first stage of the Wilson Street Cycle Way was opened now if you’re thinking of the Wilson Street cycle way you’re probably thinking of the two-way separated cycle way but this is actually just protection being being added to the contraflow Lane which was previously a painted bike lane then things were quiet for another while and in March of 2014 Jubilee Park got redone and some new shared paths opened up in March of 2014 the count had risen even higher to 601 we have now well over doubled the original count in June of that same year the George Street cycleway opened all the way from Cleveland Street to Burke Street and a month later in July a cycle way opened on Allen Street and short Street a few months later in November the Campbell Street cycleway opened I was unsure about whether or not I should include this because it is only one way it only goes uphill there’s no roundabout protection but it is a lot better than no cycle way at all and it has floating bus stops and things like that so I thought it would be worth including even though it’s not ideal then in February of 2015 the Albert Cotter Bridge opened over Anzac parade in that same month stage three of the Kent Street Cycle Way opened from baa Street to Liverpool Street in March of 2015 the count dropped to 522 and in August of that same year the goods line opened from Hay Street to George Street converted from an old tram track that was used by trams that were carrying goods but then things took a turn for the worst and in September the college Street Cycle Way was removed uh but on a positive note a month after the first stage of the Liverpool Street cycleway was built and you can see looking at this how they were really focusing on building it as a network you know trying to build cycleways that connected to the cycleways they had previously built that same month the castle Race Street Cycle Way opened from Liverpool to Hay Street and to finish off the year in December OD Avenue cycleway was opened from Amilia Street to South ding Street in March 2016 the bite count dropped to a low that it wouldn’t even reach again during Co 469 now I am genuinely at a loss as to why this might have happened then things went quiet for a while and it wasn’t until October 2016 that Liverpool Street stage 2 was built from tumblong Park to Kent Street and that was a pretty short stretch of cycle weight anyway but that was all that was built that year 2017 was another quiet year with the only cycling infrastructure opening that year being a shared path along part of darling Drive in 2018 there were no cycle WS built and I consider this a real shame because 2018 was the year that I moved to Sydney in 2019 though things got a little bit more exciting in March of 2019 we hit a new record with an average daily count of 640 we can see that building all of those cycleways even as there was a dip in the data is really starting to pay off again in May gadigal Avenue stage 1 opened up as well as a cycleway on part of OD Avenue and this was the new Street being built in the green square development and in September another new Street in the green square development opened up GS Avenue and this one had a cycle way as well and then in October part of the Wilson Street cycle way that we all know and love opened early and a month after that in November a cycle way opened on epom road although unfortunately this one is is in a state of disrepair at the moment due to construction occurring around it and it’s not really super usable then in December with the opening of the light rail cycle wave that ran parallel to the new tracks opened along Eddie Avenue Elizabeth Street and charma Street and a shared path opened parallel to the light rail tracks in wimbo park 2020 started with a bang with the Wilson Street Cycle Way fully opening up in January although there was a brief moment of confusion where a telegraph pole appeared to be left in the middle but that was removed in 2020 though due to co the numbers plummeted to 475 in April of 2020 a shared path opened along stous Creek and of course in July of 2020 came the famous Co pop-up cycle WS there was one along Sydney Park Road one along pit Street then the mo Park Road Cycle Way was built and and there was a bit of contention around this one but it’s been decided that it’ll be kept at least until 2026 when the Oxford Street cycleway is built although as we’ll find out the Oxford Street Cycle Way might be being built earlier than that and the mor Park Road Cycle Way included the Fitzroy Street cycleway which I love I think it’s so important to have that connection between Anzac Parade’s shared path and the Burke Street cyle a it really links the Eastern suburbs to the city and I’d like to think I had a part to play in the design of that cycle way because when it was a popup you had to go up onto the shared path at the intersection and cross with pedestrians but it wasn’t an ideal corner for that cuz it was a pretty pedestrian heavy area with some outdoor seating and things like that nearby so when they were making that part of the cycle way permanent I left a comment about that intersection saying that maybe a scatter light or something similar would work better and indeed we now have a iCal scatter Crossing then there was the popup Cycle Way built along Bridge Street Railway parade and Henderson Road in Kenville and finally we had the Dunning Avenue popup Cycle Way perhaps right now you’re thinking what about the Bridge Road cycle way I’m not going to put that on this map that Cycle Way is a cycle way in the same way that a worm on the end of a fish hook is a wholesome meal for a fish those merge points are dangerous the Campbell Road Cycle Way was also finished in July it was built as part of West connects not ideal but we’ll take a new cycle way then things went quiet for a bit and in November of 2020 the Lawson Street Cycle Way opened over the railway opposite Redfern station then in December stage two of the gadigal Avenue Cycle Way opened up and connected to the Burke Street cycle way and in February of 2021 the zetland Avenue Cycle Way opened and by by this point I had moved to queenan so I was missing a few new cycle ways and the one that I was saddest to miss the opening of was the saund street and Miller Street cycle way from Anzac bridge to the cycleways that had already been built to peont Bridge and the reason I was so sad to miss this opening was because that was part of my work commute then in April of 2022 we had the Portman Street cycle way as well as a new Alleyway that was a shared path between Portman Street and Joint Avenue then in July of that same year stage two of the King Street cycleway opened 12 years after the first stage and guess what it didn’t even connect to the first stage which is kind of insane but it will one day that same month a cycle way opened in zetland Avenue in green square as well and in August on McDonald Street in September of that same year a cycle way opened on Ashmore Street and Harley Street January of 2023 was a big month for cycleways in Sydney because they gone but never forgotten College Street made its return in March of 2023 we’ve reached an average daily count of 605 which means we have once again overtaken that peak in 2014 now we’ve only got the 2019 Peak to catch up on in May of 2023 the Dunning Avenue Cycle Way was removed and city of Sydney replaced it with a plan to build a quiet way along streets that run parallel to Dunning Avenue in October of 2023 we blast that 29 Peak out of the water with an average daily count of 703 the first time Sydney has cracked the 700s and now in March of 2024 that upwards trend has continued with an average daily count of 714 the top site on the map having a massive 3,194 visits and that being the intersection of Oxford Street Burke Street and flinder Street in March a cycle wave was built along Kelly Street and Maryanne Street adding to the time on a tradition of Sydney building cycleways on the route of a commute that I used to do after i’ stopped doing that commute in this case this was my commute to UTS and in May the upgrades done to little Ely Street as part of the Reds station upgrade were completed and that is now a 10 km hour shared area and that’s where we find ourselves today but let’s have a look at some of the cycle ways in Sydney’s future in July of 2024 the most major Sydney Cycle Way ever to be built in my opinion besides maybe the Harbor Bridge one will open and that is of course the Oxford Street Cycle Way including an extension to the Liverpool Street Cycle Way the Oxford Street Cycle Way has been seriously hard fought for and Oxford Street has been the road with the highest amount of bike crashes in the local government area for a long time so it’s about time that this Cycle Way gets built and I’ve been hyped for this ever since I started commuting by bike into Sydney from the Eastern suburbs which was way back in 2018 while I missed out on a few key cycle waves for my work commutes when I was doing them people in the future won’t have to it will be interesting to see what the data says in October I would not be surprised if the amount of cyclists on this intersection balloons even higher now also currently under construction is stage two of the castle Race Street Cycle Way which also comes with footpath widening and this will go from King Street to Liverpool Street and it will open in late 2024 also in late 2024 a new Street will open with a Cyca from Bowden Street to GS Avenue and and this Cycle Way has been confirmed but we don’t have a date for it it is of course the much anticipated Missing Link stage three of the King Street Cycle Way another cycle way that has been approved but does not have a date is the Wellington Street cycle way from cop Street to George Street and next year we have the mcari street and Prince Alfred roads cycleways to look forward to which will fully connect the College Street Cycle Way To The King Street cycleway and that will be coming out in June of 2025 sometime potentially in 2025 as well is the Oxford Street East cycle way and the Harbor Bridge South link which will be a separated link from the end of the Sydney Harbor Bridge cycle way all the way to the Kent Street Cycle Way which is currently a link made up of slightly too narrow shared paths in early 2025 we will get the primrose Vue and confectioners way quiet way which will replace the Dunning Street popup Cycle Way in December of 2025 we will hopefully get the Harbor Bridge North Cycle Way which will replace the current terrible stairs situation at the Northern end of the Harbor Bridge cycle way and has just like the Oxford Street Cycle Way been fought for really hard and will be wonderful when it finally arrives another cycle way that has been approved but we don’t have a date for is the o Avenue cycle way and then of course there is the entire host of cycleways that have been hinted at by city of Sydney’s cycleway map but have not yet been approved or got construction dates yet so as you can see there is a lot to look forward to and there has also been a lot achieved since that first Cycle Way action plan in 2007 thank you to everyone who watched hope you enjoyed the video and especially a big thank you to my kofu supporters Trisha sharth Taron Joe Ben Adam Lucas Stewart ARX abam and Michael
33 Comments
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.
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
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 must say I'm impressed with the work Parramatta Council has been doing with cycling infrastructure
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.
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)
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.
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.
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”.
Also the cycleway to connect the international and domestic airports is so close to completion I have wanted this for years!
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.
Keep going!
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.
Woah nice vid man
Hopefully western sydney is not forgotten.
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.
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
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.
Very well researched, thank!. These are the road cycleways, the shared pedestrian area around Barangaroo, Pyrmont opened around this time too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You have a typo in the thumbnail mate – "bult"
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
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.
Great video.. I actually did a progress update video last Friday on Oxford street, Liverpool and Castlereagh streets.
Great vid!
Clover Moore has buggared up a lot of parking for very few bikes!
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…