Sydney spending $70m on bike lanes in CBD

City of Sydney’s plan to spend almost $70m building bike lanes on some of Sydney CBD’s busiest roads is based on massively inflated numbers of how many cyclists use them, a Saturday Telegraph test found.

The City of Sydney’s plan to spend almost $70 million building bike lanes on some of the busiest roads in Sydney’s CBD appears to be based on inflated numbers of how many cyclists use them every day.

Data released last year by the City of Sydney claimed commuters were taking their bikes to work and school in “record numbers”.

However, when those numbers were put to the test this week, The Saturday Telegraph found the number of cyclists to be thousands fewer than claimed.

The intersection of Oxford, Bourke and Flinders streets was claimed by the City of Sydney to be the city’s busiest for bikes, with the 2701 cyclists apparently passing through there every day during peak hours.

However this week, an average of only 391 cyclists were counted passing through the same intersection during peak hour.

Business owners are unhappy a new bike lane is proposed on a stretch of Oxford St that is already very busy. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

A few kilometres away, the intersection of Lang Rd, Moore Park Rd, Oxford St and Queens St – just outside Centennial Park – is known for being bumper to bumper with cars during the morning peak hour.

The council claimed it was also Sydney’s second busiest intersection for cyclists, with an average 2378 peak hour trips.

Across three different days the Telegraph counted only 246 trips per day during peak hours – more than 2000 fewer than the council claimed.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore last year used council’s numbers as justification for putting aside $69m to build more bike lanes throughout the city.

Local business owners are unhappy a new bike lane is proposed on a stretch of Oxford St that is already very busy. Pictured are (L-R) Jasmine Krargiannis, Misha Dragicevic, Sue Ritchie and Mattia Dicati. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

One of those areas is Oxford St, with two separate projects planned between the state government and the council, to install permanent bike lanes all the way from Paddington to the CBD.

Paddington cafe owner Mark Duff is against the proposal, and said he had previously conducted his own personal count of bikes to compare them to the numbers relied on by the City of Sydney.

“We did a physical count (of cyclists) and there’s less than 400,” Mr Duff said. “Where’s the 2000? They’re ghost cyclists, they don’t exist.”

City of Sydney and the Lord Mayor were asked about difference in the numbers and cyclists counted by the Telegraph, and doubled down on claims that “thousands of bike trips” are made on the cycleways daily.

Paddock Pets owner Sharon McCarthy is not happy about the proposed Paddington cycle way that will be on her store’s front door. Picture: Jonathan Ng

A cyclist rides down the bike lane on Moore Park Rd, Paddington. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

The city of Sydney counted cyclists for two days in 2023 to come up with their figures. One day in March and one in October.

Wendy Sheridan is the head of a Paddington group opposing the cycle lanes and has major concerns over Oxford St – which is used by 35,000 motorists a day – being reduced to just one lane of traffic.

“There are no other roads with bus travel and that level of traffic load with bike lanes,” Ms Sheridan said.

Business owners at the Darlinghurst end of Oxford St have already had a taste of what life would be like under the proposal, with traffic in the run up to Taylor Square already reduced to a single lane of traffic.

Locals fear traffic congestion will increase with the new bike lanes. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Smalls Auctions owner and landlord on Oxford St Mark Duff is also not a fan of the new bike lanes. Picture: Jonathan Ng

They say it has led to congestion chaos – something they fear will only be worsened with the addition of a bike lane.

As he stands at the counter of the bottle shop he has run for more than three decades, Misha’s Fine Wines owner Misha Dragicevic makes reference to “that noise”.

“The traffic lights up at Taylor Square are so quick it leads to so much congestion,” Mr Dragicevic said.

Sue Ritchie, owner of The Beacham Hotel, worries about the future of many businesses, pointing to how a permanent bike lane will directly impact the ability of suppliers to get kegs of beer into her pub.

The Beacham Hotel owner Sue Ritchie is worried about the future of many businesses in the area. Picture: Jonathan Ng

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A cyclist rides their bicycle in the car lane instead of the shared path linking Centennial Park with the cycle lane on Moore Park Rd, at Paddington. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

The construction of the cycling way alone will take out a lot of the local businesses, they won’t survive it,” Ms Ritchie said.

The temporary bike lanes that go from Centennial Park along Moore Park Rd and past Allianz Stadium popped up during Covid.

“When they were announced, the council did not consult the local community, rather citing a need to “install the cycleways as fast as we can”.

Ms Moore said “record numbers of Sydneysiders were choosing to travel into the city on two wheels, with recorded bike trips in some locations up to six times higher than in 2010.”

“Oxford Street is the city’s busiest bike route, with thousands of bike trips per day,” she said. “It also has the most reported bike crashes of any street in our area so increasing safety here is critical.”

Additional reporting Robbie White, Jack Crawley and Harrison Finlay