Actually a suburb can also be small. The variation is so great that some ratings for tiny subuurbs would not indicate much at all. They can be traversed in as little as five minutes on a single road. Menora in Perth covers 1.2 square km. My own suburb is 2 square kms.QuangVuong wrote:THis is something thats dynamic. A suburb is a huge area, with some streets which are good with no glass and other crap, and some which have potholes. Itll be hard to rate a suburb cause of this. Some suburbs dont have cycle lanes, but then they may have the nicest roads to ride on. Coming up with a way to rate how cycle suited a suburb will be hard to be fair.
However I agree with the OP's sentiment - a ratings system, even if not perfect, could encourage some councils to aspire to better things. And those that don't may still be shamed into action if they rated near the bottom.
I also agree with your statement that coming up with a way to rate would not be easy. But we do rate other multifaceted things - schools, crime levels, health, economies, human rights - and rating cycle-friendliness would be a lot less complex than some of those. And, as I stated earlier, it doesn't have to be perfect. Or even fair. As long as it gets attention and any real improvements are reflected in a better rating.