Cycling in Sydney Australia

SuperTuesday Bike Counts

Information

How many cyclists actually cycling out there? Help find out by counting bikes on Super Tuesdays in March every year, or any day, if the bike counting bug gets you.

Website: http://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/general/bike-futures/91674/
Location: Sydney
Members: 10
Latest Activity: Oct 16, 2012

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Bike Counts

See discussion on Super Tuesday bike count here.

Interested in doing some bicycle counting to get a bigger picture across Sydney? The Super Tuesday count organized by Bicyclenetwork is done in March every year, by a limited number of participating Councils, but to get a wider picture bicycle counts from a lot more suburbs are needed. Ideally should be done on the Tuesday but really, it shouldnt matter that much. Could be an ongoing project. (Note added in Jan 2010: CoS wont be involved, preferring to do their own counts, but all adjoining councils will!)

To do a count you need a clip board and a sheet of paper and some pencils. (If doing it officially with BN there are instructions to follow which differ from this) Before the day, draw up a diagram/map of a road or path or street near you that has a regular cyclist presence (maybe a bike route, or a main street, or a shopping centre), with any intersections and access points marked. Then, mark as a line on the diagram the various movements a cyclist might take- straight through (in both directions), turn right, turn left, cross at lights, duck down an alley, off road, on road, whatever is possible. Then, when ready, start counting. Add a "|" for each cyclist against the movement that the cyclist makes. Count them up at the end or, if a lot, put a stroke through every 5 marks, to tally the numbers. Summarise numbers in a box near each movement. Can add more info by using coloured pencils for Male/Female.

Tidy up, add day/date/time/location and scan the diagram or data and upload the file to Bike Counts on SC ( there is an upload button on Discussions). It may be possible to map the data on Google Maps, or some other place, if this gets going.

Other useful data could also be sent in, such as number of cyclists seen on your commute, or number of cyclists parked at a school or pool or workplace, etc, maybe over a week if you go by every day.

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Comment Wall

Comment by yogi on March 2, 2009 at 11:19pm: registered today.

Comment by Bob Moore on March 8, 2009 at 9:27pm: I got my City counting position on ST- at Bay St, Broadway. If doing the count independently elsewhere in Sydney (ie, not part of the official ST project in the City) you could still use the spreadsheet provided. The spreadsheet is at super tuesday . Choose the spreadsheet according to whether it is a 2 way, 3 way, 4 way intersection etc. This spreadsheet can be printed out and used to mark the bike movements on the day. The numbers can then be entered on the spreadsheet on your PC and the file uploaded to this Group on SC.

Places I can think of that counts would be useful are Gladesville Bridge, Iron Cove Bridge, Lilyfield Rd, Lyons Rd West (Barnwell Park), Queens Rd (Canada Bay), King St (Newtown), M2, Epping Rd, Anzac Pde, M4 cycleway, Pacific Highway, etc- only scratched the surface.

I guess I am being too optimistic that many will be able to or want to do bicycle counts, but it would be useful info.

Comment by KimR on March 9, 2009 at 9:32pm: I got a position down in Miller St. Pyrmont near the ned of the Anzac Bridge. This isn't very good for me as I cycle from Cammeray to work at North Ryde. I thought they would try and place me somewhere near my normal route, but I'm on the other edge of the city. I asked if this could be changed but heard nothing back. Anyone interested in taking my place?

Comment by Bob Moore on March 10, 2009 at 7:24pm: Kim, a little bit of your normal commute I agree. If they dont give you an alternate site maybe you could take the train from Central to Ryde or Eastwood and get there that way? Miller St is only about 5 mins from Central down past the exhhibition centre to Haymarket.

Comment by baa baa on March 10, 2009 at 7:52pm: George St, Cleveland St, Prince Alfred Park entrance- I thought this was in Melbourne??
I also asked for city north loco as I come from the Northern Beaches and work at North Sydney. No news yet. I guess a map comes in the pack??
Anyway hope its a nice dry day.
Two hours = sharp pencil + large thermos and the energy of several pinapple donuts.

Comment by Bob Moore on March 10, 2009 at 8:11pm: Prince Alfred Park is between Redfern and Central. Popular bike route into the city from Redfern. Might see Bike Saint.

Comment by baa baa on March 10, 2009 at 8:53pm: Ok found it. Also did read the email which does help.
I pulled a 4 way- lucky I grew up counting sheep running and jumping flat out in 2's, 3's and 4's at a time to get out of the sheep yards; Count the legs divide by four = # of sheep.
May need a spare pencil.......

Comment by Donna Meehan on March 10, 2009 at 8:56pm: Anyone know where Wellington St, George St is? That is the site I have been given but they didn't give a suburb. doesn't seem to be in the city which I thought was the obvioous for George St.
Have sent email but as Melbourne BV office had a 4 day weekend haven't heard back yet.

Comment by Bob Moore on March 10, 2009 at 9:41pm: Its in Redfern too. Wellington runs between Botany Rd and Elizabeth St. George St is in the middle.

Comment by yogi on March 11, 2009 at 12:40am: Dacey Ave, Anzac Pde, cycleway (next to busway), and Robertson Rd Link

so what did you guys put as your charity or organization?

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