City commuters switch to bicycles as Fitzroy leads trend

Australia has 125,000 people who travel to and from work on bicycles.

Cassandra Smith cycles to work in Melbourne, making use of a leafy, easily accessible bike trail. ‘I would not ride if I didn’t have this trail’. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Two years ago, when Cassandra Smith moved to Melbourne’s trendy inner-city pocket of Fitzroy North, she was unaware she would soon be part of one of the biggest bike-riding communities in the country.

The PhD student, an exercise physiologist who teaches part-time, had never commuted to work by bike before. But she soon noticed a leafy, accessible bike trail — looping its way across the city — and she has ridden by bike to work almost every day since.

The 30-year-old is one of a growing group of 125,000 workers in Australia who commute to work by bicycle, with Fitzroy North in Melbourne containing one of the greatest concentrations of bike commuters in the country. Almost one in five residents — about 18 per cent — chooses to cycle to work, outdone only by Lord Howe Island 600km off the coast of Port Macquarie, NSW, where 31 per cent ride a bike.

Bernard Salt from The Demographics Group says suburbs that flank the nation’s big cities attract pockets of bike lovers.

“The bike-riding hot spots in other cities follow similar themes. This particular life form lives in the inner city and often works in the CBD or in university precincts near the CBD,” he says.

Census analysis also shows while more men choose the bike option, a growing number of women are taking up the option.

“Three out of four bicycle commuters are male although most growth is coming from the female segment,” says Mr Salt. “Male ­cyclists seem to have run out of puff because their number hasn’t altered from the 93,000 mark over the last two censuses.”

Ms Smith’s experience re­inforces the findings. “I see a good mix, a lot of men and probably not so much younger, but probably in your older demographic,” she says. “But absolutely I would encourage people to start riding more.”

Research by Victorian advocacy group The Bicycle Network has found the best pieces of bike infrastructure, which are normally trails separated from traffic, have even gender splits.

“I started riding because of the really good bike paths,” says Ms Smith, who rides to Victoria University in Footscray. “And just the fact it’s so hard to drive around in general. It seems like a lot of ­people ride as well, so you feel safer too, and the cars are a little more bicycle-aware. I would not ride if I didn’t have this trail.”