Gear up for change! What it will take to be a truly 'bike friendly' city

What will it take for Wollongong to become a truly bike-friendly city?
By Mithra Cox, Ward 1 Greens Councillor

Earlier this year, Wollongong was awarded the coveted Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Bike Friendly City label. Not because we can truly call ourselves bike friendly yet, but because we have a 10-year plan to transform Wollongong to put bikes at the centre of our transport system.

Bike-friendly cities are a good idea for many reasons. People are fitter and healthier because they get more incidental exercise in their day. Fewer cars on the road means less air pollution and greenhouse gas pollution, and less pressure on road maintenance and parking.

But the thing that I think is most important is that when you can roll down to the beach or the shops on your bike, it makes your city a nice place to live.

Wollongong roads were designed with cars on centre stage. This was done at the expense of infrastructure that would make it safe and convenient for people to walk or ride their bikes. And this needs to change. Many of our streets are extremely wide – much wider than the streets of Amsterdam or Copenhagen, where bicycles are the most used form of transport. But all the space on our wide roads is allocated to cars – for parking, and for double lanes of traffic.

To make our roads bike friendly, we need to allocate some of that space to bikes. This can mean less parking, narrower streets or a reduction in car lanes. But remember that if more people use bikes, there will be fewer cars on the road.

When bikes and cars are moving at radically different speeds, we need separation – it is totally unreasonable to put bikes on Memorial Drive – or any road with fast speeds. They should be safely on the other side of a physical barrier – ideally a curb, some trees and maybe even a wall or earth mound. It blows my mind that the bike map for Wollongong shows Memorial Drive as the main cycleway linking Bulli and Wollongong CBD. No one in their right mind would think that is a nice place to ride a bike! Very few cyclists use it.

Where bikes and cars share the same space and there is no physical separation, the cars need to move at a slower speed so that the two uses are compatible. For many of our suburban streets this can be a good option, as slower speeds also make neighbourhood streets safer for pedestrians and kids playing – and these streets are not thoroughfares, they are only there to deliver people to their front door.

It’s always easier to do nothing than to change something. Even when that change is for the better. I hope that we can all keep our eye on the bigger picture and have the patience and flexibility to get used to the new arrangements.

In the long run, car users, cyclists and pedestrians will all benefit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mithra Cox is a Greens Councillor for Wollongong City Council, representing Ward 1. She is a musician and environmental educator who has managed innovative sustainability projects and worked in public administration. Mithra lives in Corrimal and is a mum of two young kids. She is passionate about making Wollongong a vibrant, creative, green city. Mithra plays the banjo with The Lurkers.