We road-test Sydney’s newest bike path

A 3.1 km  green stripe along Bourke Road in Alexandria draws a line between Sydney’s car-crazy congested present and a cleaner transport-efficient future. The new bike path is only a baby step compared to progress already made in world cities from Beijing to Paris, Hong Kong to Toronto, where the percentage of commuter journeys made by public transport or on bikes is many times that of Sydney’s.

But all baby steps are unsteady, and a road test of the new cycleway shows we have a lot to learn about on-road behaviour and cycleway design.

I twice rode from Woolloomooloo to Gardeners Road, Mascot and back along the Bourke Street route during the morning peak, and I was twice nearly killed by a rampaging car.

Each time I had to lock into a skid to avoid the car. The first time I was riding south along the new green path on Bourke Road at Maddox Street. The incident showed why two-way cycleways are intrinsically flawed and are not recommended by the RTA. Driver decisions at intersections are made far more complex because cars crossing the cycleway from side streets need to look left and right twice, once for bikes and then for cars and trucks. Naturally they look harder for the latter because they are an immediate threat of death or damage. They are also far more visible than bikes.

In my case it was a southbound car turning right off Bourke Road, across a gap in the oncoming lane of traffic and then two cycle lanes. The driver either didn’t see me or ignored me and I would have T-boned the car had I not slid to a stop, centimetres from the driver’s door as he sped into Maddox Street.

The second close shave was on Bourke Street in Surry Hills, which still sports its old car-door ‘death lane’ painted next to parked cars. A small car travelling from the opposite direction made a fast three-point turn right across my bows, simply ignoring my existence. I have a freeze-frame memory of the old lady in the passenger seat looking sideways at me in alarm as I slid to a stop, again centimetres from her door.

The Bourke Road route will eventually run in some form all the way to the Woolloomooloo foreshore but only the southern section is built, so cyclists still have to mix it with tradies, trucks, taxis, and traffic the rest of the way.

Nevertheless the City of Sydney said research has revealed a 36 per cent increase in cyclists at the intersections of Bourke and Bowden Streets, and a 26 per cent increase at Bourke and Doody Streets during morning and evening peak times over past weeks. But the raw numbers are still low, averaging just over one cyclist every two minutes.

Despite my near-death experiences and the several design problems with the cycleway, I enjoyed the relative safety and relaxation of using a separated path. As the path network spreads, drivers and riders will get more used to them and they will therefore become safer. There will also be a lot fewer cars to deal with, because more drivers will be riding.

My lesson was to slow down more at intersections and look for traffic turning right from the far side of the road. Drivers need to become far more aware of cyclists as they cross contraflow bike lanes.

I overtook one guy pedalling along the green path with his small son perched between his knees on the crossbar, something you would never have imagined in the traffic maelstrom of peak-hour Bourke Road. I thought it represented a safer, cleaner, more relaxed future.This was one child who would grow up assuming that cycleways are a natural part of Sydney’s roads.

The City is determined to continue its two-way separated cycleway format, arguing that there is no room for a separated one-way bike path on each side of most roads, but that separation from traffic is still the best way to make people feel safe enough to take up cycle commuting. And the pain they are copping from angry businesses and residents who have lost parking space on only one side of the road is bad enough without imposing it on both sides.

But when the missing links in the bike network are connected and the hordes have got on their bikes, the narrow lanes and complex intersections may prove inadequate and other solutions would have to be considered. Meanwhile the City says it is listening to feedback from drivers and riders and is prepared to modify details where possible.

by Michael Gormly