West Australians get on their bikes
WA has the highest cycling participation rate of any State and new data suggests many West Australians are now using bikes as a mode of transport to work.
The latest national participation study completed by the Australian Bicycle Council and Austroads found that 22.1 per cent of the WA population rode a bike at least once during a typical week.
About two-thirds of these people rode for leisure.
The WA rate is well above the national average of 17.8 per cent and second only to the Northern Territory's 26 per cent.
The national survey found that children had the highest level of cycling participation, including half of all two to four-year-olds, two-thirds of all five to nine-year-olds and one-third of all 10 to 17-year-olds.
All States and Territories recorded a dramatic decrease in participation rates as people got older, particularly in the over-40s group.
The WA Department of Transport has permanent counters placed around the CBD to record the number of bike movements all day every day.
Based on a comparison between the first half of 2012 and the first half of 2011, the number of bike journeys in and out of the city has jumped more than 13 per cent - from 1,683,936 to 1,907,351. This would suggest more people are opting to ride their bikes to work.
The Kwinana Freeway, the most popular path into the city for cyclists, showed an 11.19 per cent increase over the same period.
A spokeswoman for the department said there was no doubt WA was experiencing strong growth in cycling participation, beyond normal population growth.
When numbers began to increase last year, Bicycle Transportation Alliance spokesman Heinrich Benz welcomed the trend but said the total number of people riding to work was still low compared with other cities.
And when _The West Australian _ spoke to city cyclists earlier this year, they all advocated more designated bike lanes so bike riders could feel safer.
"I don't think we need a kerbed-off lane like they have in European cities, but just a line and a cycle stencil," one cyclist said. "This just makes cyclists feel safer and clearly indicates to motorists that the lane is reserved for us."
Designated bike lanes - separated from the road - have already proved popular in Perth.
For example, the recently opened Bayswater to Bassendean path along Guildford Road recorded a 61 per cent increase in cyclist usage in the first full month of operation.
Magnum9 wrote:Tell you what has increased, the late afternoon bugs! Never seen them so bad.
Mrfenejeans wrote:Magnum9 wrote:Tell you what has increased, the late afternoon bugs! Never seen them so bad.
+1, Especially the last few warm days, at one stage a few days ago my arms were just about coated in the things.
RonK wrote:Western Australian? Jeez, back when I lived in Kingsley, sandgropers would be seriously offended to hear their state or their newspaper called that.
ColinOldnCranky wrote:West Australian is the people.
Mrfenejeans wrote:ColinOldnCranky wrote:West Australian is the people.
I thought is was Westralian, pronounced Wes-tray-an
Hence the pre-existing need for "West Australian".
Pravda wrote:Not to get into semantics but the term West Australian really only came about because of the paper, pretty good marketing strategy really.
That aside, another decent piece in the paper today.
ColinOldnCranky wrote:After some time discussing this irrelevancy (what else is the internet for anyway?), I have only just noticed that the OP titled the thtread incorrectly.
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