Melbourne City Council expanded bike lanes without using traffic modelling

Melbourne city’s bike lanes were rapidly expanded in the height of the pandemic without traffic modelling — meaning the impacts of lockdown on the CBD weren’t considered.

Melbourne City Council has ripped out hundreds of carparking spaces and installed kilometres of bike lanes without undertaking any traffic modelling.

The Herald Sun can reveal 15 kilometres of protected bike lanes have been built in the municipality since June last year – but an analysis on the impact was only done on five kilometres of it.

At the same time 360 carparking spaces have been removed.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the work was “accelerated” during the pandemic. Pre-Covid modelling wasn’t available, the council said, so it did not know how traffic would be affected in the long-term.

But Ms Capp said a transport review would be completed by Deloitte after works had been completed.

“The review will consider all modes of transport including public transport, walking, cars and delivery vehicles, commercial taxis and ride-share vehicles, bicycles and micro-mobility,” she said.

“It will also look at bike lanes, on and off-street carparking, feedback from the community and business owners, as well as a variety of economic indicators.”

Car lanes have been removed to make way for bike lanes along Exhibition Street making parking and impacting shops. Picture: Jason Edwards

The new bike lanes – part of the council’s Transport Strategy 2030 plan which was launched in 2019 – has angered businesses in the city.

Collins St designer store owner Sener Besim said traders were “extremely frustrated” and claimed they hadn’t been consulted.

”They are deterring people coming into the city, they are deterring my customers who are saying it’s too hard, I used to be able to park,” he said.

“Why are they (council) making it so hard for people to come in and shop.”

Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang said the bike lanes needed to be “ripped up straight away” with the city “on its knees”.

“The bike lanes are like cholesterol to the flow of small business activity in the city,” he said.

“It’s like building a great wall to keep car drivers out of the city which means they’re less likely to come and visit.”

Mr Lang said the forfeited road space left less pick up or drop off areas for taxi or rideshare drivers, and had driven up costs by 15 per cent for traders who were paying more to transport companies for earlier deliveries.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp.

The council said 360 car parks have been removed since June last year to make way for the new bike lanes.

“As a result of COVID-19, we know the rhythm of our city has changed,” Ms Capp said.

“We also know it is critical for our transport systems to work efficiently to support our recovery and ensure we have a thriving city in the future.”

Modifications to the bike lanes have already been made on Exhibition St, Rathdowne St and Swanston St.

Bicycle Network chief executive Craig Richards said “the new bike lanes are positioning Melbourne as an inclusive city of the future”.

Events management freelancer Mat Klock, who works across the city, has raised concerns about the bike lanes to council on multiple occasions.

“They have caused massive congestion, stopped the flow of traffic throughout the city and impacted my business,” he said.