Picture of “problematic” Sydney traffic sparks debate about the good of bike lanes in the CBD

A woman has sparked an online debate about Sydney’s bike lanes, after posting a picture of an empty lane in peak hour.

A woman has sparked an online debate about Sydney’s bike lanes, after posting a picture of an empty strip in peak hour.

Former journalist and GT Communications founder Gemma Tognini posted pictures of the green bike lane running through Pitt Street in peak hour on Thursday.

While the bike lane is empty – except for one cyclist pedalling towards the camera – the traffic running alongside it is almost bumper-to-bumper.

“Pitt St bike lane. Peak hour. Meanwhile, traffic is … problematic,” Ms Tognini captioned the photos.

Pitt St bike lane.
Peak hour. Meanwhile, traffic is ...problematic.
LOL#sydneypic.twitter.com/OkH9YKiHVY

— GemmaTognini (@GemmaTognini) March 8, 2023

People were quick to fire back at the tweet, many on the side of the bike lanes and others questioning what point Ms Tognini was trying to make with her comments.

“One image, a small slice in time. What‘s the data to back up any point you’re emptily trying to make?” one user wrote.

And some took aim at her directly for criticising cyclists “sooking” about the congestion – which one man said is what cyclists believe “proves their point” for having bike lanes.

The sooking is NEXT LEVEL 😄

— GemmaTognini (@GemmaTognini) March 9, 2023

“Gemma, you‘re literally the one sooking about the existence of a bike lane,” one person replied.

The sooking is NEXT LEVEL 😄

— GemmaTognini (@GemmaTognini) March 9, 2023

“Traffic doesn‘t look very problematic in the first photo,” wrote another.

“In other news, CBD intersections have traffic lights … sometimes they’re red … wait for it, this results in traffic having to stop. OMG, I know … it’s crazy!”

“This is one thing that’s great about bike lanes,” another replied. “Nil congestion.”

Many more echoed that sentiment, that the pictures showed bike lanes were “more efficient than car lanes”, and that the pedestrianisation of the CBD – specifically George Street – has been “magnificent”.

This is one thing that’s great about bike lanes. Nil congestion.

— Julian O'Shea (@julianoshea) March 9, 2023

the pedestrianisation of george street has been magnificent

— The Ishin Choc (@noreasonspec) March 8, 2023

Can't believe we have all that road to move only one van pic.twitter.com/qnpyoWaS9v

— fake matt camp (@mattiecamp) March 8, 2023

This is not the first time Ms Tognini has taken issue with the Sydney CBD’s bike lanes.

In December the PR expert posted two selfies in the Pitt Street bike lane again, commenting on how “busy” it was.

That tweet also drew fierce criticism, with most asking questioning why the bike lanes were on her “hate list”.

V busy in the bike lane in Pitt St. Both directions 😄 pic.twitter.com/SyH6nXjXLw

— GemmaTognini (@GemmaTognini) December 2, 2022

“Questioning the efficacy of something isn’t hating it,” Ms Tognini replied.

“I ride my bike as a form of transport, all the time. I am simply curious to understand if this particular project is fit for purpose or not. It’s called nuance, it’s not hate.”

She insisted she was “genuinely curious” whether people used this particular Pitt Street bike lane that she has never seen busy, despite working two blocks away.

“(I) just question if this particular bike lane is fit for purpose or creates more of a problem in the CBD, broadly,” she said in another reply.

Bike lanes are growing in popularity across Sydney. Picture: Toby Zerna

Bicycle NSW chief executive Peter McLean hit back at Ms Tognini’s criticism and encouraged her to join him for a tour of the bike lanes around the CBD.

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr McLean revealed more than 2,000 riders use cycle ways in Sydney every day.

He said the benefits of bike lanes for individuals’ health and wellbeing, the city, the environment, and the economy far outweighs any perceived negatives, and noted that traffic congestion in Sydney was “not a new issue”.

“Last time I checked years ago it was pretty crazy traffic already in the city,” Mr McLean said, adding that most vehicle traffic is done for “very short distances”.

“Around two million trips just in Greater Sydney that are less than 2km in length. If we’re driving less than 2km, I reckon we could walk or ride our bikes to get there,” he said.

“And if we were largely to address that alone, there would be less traffic, less vehicle movements and people could be enjoying the amazing pleasure of cycling.”

He said a significant role of bike lanes is the enhanced safety and assurance they give cyclists – new and old.

“Around 60 per cent of all bicycle users say safety is a major barrier, and separated bike lanes created a much safer way of getting around the city,” Mr McLean said.

“I encourage this person to step outside their comfort zone and maybe they’ll challenge people to also think outside the box and ride around the city.”

Picture: Toby Zerna

In the year to July 2022, there were 37 road fatalities involving cyclists, five more than the previous year, according to national statistics.

And according to data from the NSW government, three cyclists have died on the state’s roads since the start of 2023. In Australia, drivers are to blame for at least 79 per cent of accidents with cyclists and roughly 85 per cent of reported cyclist casualty crashes involve another vehicle.

These worrying stats come as more people opt to ride bikes around Sydney – the latest City of Sydney bicycle count data has recorded an average 566 bicycle trips a day in October 2022, up from 498 in October 2021 – and cycleways become more prominent features of the cityscape.

Thousands of people ride bikes every day.

But Ms Tognini is not against road safety, she penned an opinion piece for The West Australian in 2017 calling for an end to the “war being waged by Perth drivers against cyclists on our roads”.

“All drivers? Probably not. A lot of them? Very definitely. To be clear, I’m not a cyclist. Years ago, I bought an expensive bike, rode it twice, fell off it once then sold it at a hefty loss,” she wrote in the 2017 piece.

In that piece she said those who did not believe the animosity toward two-wheel pedallers should read comments on “any social media forum” about the issue of cyclists and cars coexisting on the roads, saying the commentary was “terrifying”.

She said “nobody seems to be hiding the fact that there’s a cohort of drivers who not only think this behaviour is justified, they think the majority of cyclists are ‘getting what they deserve’.”