On your bike: Council’s new bike advisory committee ready to roll

06 April 2018

MEDIA RELEASE

23 March 2018

Waverley Council now has a Bike Advisory Committee to help make the area more bike-friendly.

The committee will mean greater consultation between the bike riding community and Council, with planning of bike-related capital works and cycling infrastructure, a regional cycling strategy in conjunction with neighbouring councils and cycling promotion and education in schools.

It means working closely with bike advocacy groups such as BikEast which has worked to improve cycling safety and bike access in the eastern suburbs for many years.

Councillor Dominic Wy Kanak welcomed Council’s unanimous support for this new direction in bike policy.

“Decades of poor planning and favouring private car use by Government has led to the situation we have in Sydney now, with congested roads and too few options for public and active transport,” he said.
"I hope the co-ordination of cycleway construction, identification of missing bike links and increased connection with public transport will be some of the focus of our new committee's work," Councillor Wy Kanak said. 
Waverley’s Bike Advisory Committee follows similar action by Woollahra and Randwick Councils and will make the issue of share bikes more manageable.

“Council strongly supports share bikes and this new policy direction will mean they are better integrated with privately-owned bikes,” Councillor Wy Kanak said.

Mayor John Wakefield said he was happy with recent action taken by Council rangers to clean up broken and abandoned share bikes.

“It’s clear the area looks better now,” Mayor Wakefield said.

“But we need the State Government to provide a consistent response and to help make cycling a safe and viable transport option,” he said.