Riding in the Land Down Under
How biking in Australia shifted a Bike Fed staff member's perspective on transportation infrastructure
As a young person who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, bike commuting is part of my everyday life. I ride my bike everywhere and have become accustomed to the incredible bike infrastructure that Madison has to offer. When I decided to study abroad in Sydney, Australia, I knew that I wanted to continue bike commuting. However, I quickly found that biking around Sydney is much different than biking in Madison.
When I arrived in Sydney in early September, I promptly got to work finding a new ride. I discovered a local bike shop named Revolve Recycling and bought an old used Trek. They cut me a great deal for promising to donate it back to their cause when I left Sydney, and I even helped the owner brainstorm a long term rental program for students in the same boat as me. As I rolled out of the parking lot with my new bike and trail map, I immediately turned down the wrong side of the street into oncoming traffic – a humbling experience to say the least.
The first thing I noticed when riding back to my apartment were the hills. Situated right on the East Coast of Australia, Sydney is an extremely hilly city, making cycling in 90 degree heat difficult. The second thing I noticed was the sporadic nature of the bike infrastructure there. Occasionally, I would find myself on the most beautiful protected bike lane, only to have it abruptly end at a busy intersection. The third thing: cars. Drivers were not happy to see cyclists on the road and would rev their engines, swerve, and sometimes even yell at you for riding on the side of the street.
While there were “shared paths” throughout the city that cyclists were allowed to ride on, the paths felt like a band aid fix at best. In many areas that desperately needed safer bike infrastructure, the city had simply painted a blue line on the sidewalk to indicate that the area was welcome to bicycles as well as pedestrians. While their intentions were good, the sidewalks were too small for cyclists to pass one another, and often pedestrians did not anticipating seeing cyclists riding on the sidewalk.
There was also no sense of “safety in numbers”. For such a large city that is notorious for having an active population, Sydney is home to a shockingly small number of bicycles. According to a 2024 research article, only about 42% of Sydney residents own a bicycle, compared to 88% of Madison residents. All of these factors created an environment where, for the first time in my life, cycling was not my preferred choice of transportation.
So how do you get around in Sydney?
While cycling may not be as popular, the public transit system in Sydney is extremely well developed. They have buses, a subway system, the light rail, and various ferries to get you anywhere you need to go. I was absolutely amazed by the train system, which can take you to multiple national parks around Sydney within a few hours. It connects you to all of the surrounding cities, and you can get on and off by tapping your credit card at the station – no tickets or advance booking necessary. The best part? Traveling a few hours away and back only costs around $10 USD.
After a few weeks, I found that the best way to bike in Sydney was to embrace the multimodal transportation culture by incorporating trains and ferries into your route. One of my all time favorite rides was from Randwick to Manly, with a ferry ride to cross the bay in the middle. Ferries are an essential part of transportation in Sydney, some people even use them to commute to work every day. The ferry that I would take to Manly had a bike parking area in the back that you could hang your bike in while you enjoyed the scenic trip across the bay with views of the Sydney Opera House.
Another favorite experience was when a few friends and I took the train to Hunter Valley, one of the most famous wine regions in Australia. There, we rented bikes and spent the weekend riding around the vineyards, stopping for wine tastings along the way. I will never forget looking off to the side of the road while riding and seeing kangaroos jumping around the forest.
At times in the past, I have been somewhat narrow minded in thinking that cycling is the best form of transportation in any scenario. While I still think that bike commuting is awesome, living in Sydney opened my eyes to all of the different ways people can get around and showed me that the answer to more equitable, sustainable transportation is not always just building more bike lanes. What works for one city may not work for another, and while I do hope Sydney develops their bike infrastructure more in the future, I have a newfound appreciation for other forms of transportation and how different cities can create safe, accessible, and sustainable transportation options for their citizens.