Cycling in Australia

Australia is a classic car country. Due to the distances, the car (or truck) is undefeated the # 1 mean of transport. Public transport, especially outside major cities, is far from reaching the density and frequency of many other industrialized countries. Due to the vast extent of large cities, it is certainly not always worthwhile to provide extensive public transport.

Public transport is often no alternative

If I intend to use public transport at 7 a.m. from our home to Southport (about 15 km away) I need about 1 hour and 5 minutes (according to the Journey Planner of Translink). By car, I would do it in just over a third of the time. If I would like to cover the same distance at 7 p.m., Translink gives me travel time of 1 hour and 42 minutes. By car that would take only 20 minutes in the evening.

Certainly a healthy and sporty alternative to the car would certainly be the bicycle. My wife and I are well-equipped with bicycles, and we are used to covering long distances by bike every day from our time in Munich. But the conditions here in Australia are a bit different.

Another reason not to use the bike, are the high temperatures accompanied by high humidity in summer. The result is that you need a good shower with almost the same probability as the height of the relative humidity after a bike tour (100% humidity = 100% shower need). And if then at your destination (job, restaurant, invitation to friends …) no shower is available, you’ve got a problem. Although an invitation to friends in the summer months is usually associated with being in the open air (e.g. for a barbecue), it would be advantageous in this situation …

A further even more important consideration for not using a bicycle is that cyclists have not yet established themselves in the minds of motorists as equal partners. Not just a few motorists see cyclists more as an obstacle to traffic and take pleasure in expressing this with their driving style.

One in five Australian drivers admits to cyclist road rage, survey finds

A recent article in “The Guardian” of 2nd November 2018 refers to a survey, released by Ford Australia, which found that road rage was highest among people aged between 18 and 34 – 23% of whom admitted to swearing, honking their horn or making hand gestures when passing a cyclist. Examples of such a behaviour have happened to my wife and me more than once in just our first few months here.

Furthermore, we have experienced that motorists – in our perception – deliberately came quite close to us to frighten us. The Guardian also published a video of a violent road rage incident in Melbourne, released by the Australian Cycling Alliance. A dash cam video shows a cyclist travelling along a road on a bike path before a four-wheel-drive swerves into him and knocks him off his bike onto the footpath. The driver then gets out and grabs the bike, throwing it into nearby bushes, and verbally abuses the cyclist.

This is also one reason why we don’t see cyclists more often in daily traffic. And rather in the major cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane) than in the smaller communities. Here on the Gold Coast, despite a population of approximately 650,000, the cyclists are few and far between.

Governments are improving bicycle infrastructure

Nevertheless, both the state governments and the local communities are trying to promote cycling. More and more bike paths are being created. Yellow bicycle signs on the roads indicate that cyclists are sharing the road. Traffic laws have been adjusted (e.g. a motorist has to leave a safe distance of 1 to 1.5 metres between his vehicle and a cyclist when passing or overtaking). Furthermore, there is already a pretty good offer for cyclists online (example Gold Coast). Though it is always a little adventure, if you want to go longer distances by bike.

Often e.g. bike paths end out of the blue and you are back on a busy road. The bike paths or bike ways are usually also more a patchwork of very short and medium long sections. Likewise, the markings for cyclists often make little sense. Furthermore, one must have quite iron nerves, if the cars or even huge trucks tailgate you about 1 meter away…

But still, here too, it is a serious alternative to the car, especially in the “winter months”, with wonderful cycling weather. And the more people ride a bike, the more the conditions for cycling will improve.