Advocacy Tools

Creating a better environment for cycling

Infrastructure & Funding:

NSW Road Traffic Authority (RTA) Visit Site

The NSW RTA funds a full range of cycling infrastructure and initiatives through the following:

• Major works program
  Infrastructure for cycling is considered in all major works programs.
• RTA-Council Co-Funding Programs (Grants program)
  
  These are outlined in Council Projects Funded by the RTA Memorandum of Understanding (RTA Regional Operations & Engineering Services, Updated February 2007)

NSW Department of Planning Visit Site

Relevant programs include:

• NSW Coastline Cycleway Grants Program (Grants program)
  The NSW Coastline Cycleway Grant Program provides funding to non-metropolitan councils in NSW to progress the implementation of the Coastline Cycleway.

• Metropolitan Greenspace Program: Building Sydney's Recreation Trails (Grants program)

• Sharing Sydney Harbour Access Program (Grants program)

NSW Ministry of Transport Visit Site

Relevant programs include:

• Parking Space Levy (PSL) Visit Site
  
  The Parking Space Levy (PSL) applies to commercial parking spaces in Sydney and aims to discourage car use in major commercial centres, encourage use of public transport and to improve air quality. It funds construction and maintenance of bicycle lockers for the Secure Bicycle Locker Program.

Cycling Initiatives:

NSW Road Traffic Authority (RTA) Visit Site

The NSW RTA funding of cycling initiatives includes:

• Bike Week Funding (Grants program) Visit Site
  This web page provides guidelines on applying for NSW Bike Week funding from the NSW RTA. Funding is not for a fixed amount and is only provided for the promotion and advertising component of an event's budget.
• Bicycle User Support (Grants program)
  As outlined in Council Projects Funded by the RTA Memorandum of Understanding

NSW Health Visit Site

NSW Health has a variety of capacity building and other grant programs.

• Active Living by DesignHYPERLINK "http://www.cooltheglobe.com/coolit/petition/index.php" \t "_blank" Cool The Globe
• Go for your life

NSW Sport and Recreation Visit Site

NSW Sport and Recreation has a variety of relevant resources on running clubs, training and grants.

NSW Premiers Council on Active Living (PCAL) Visit Site

The Premier's Council for Active Living (PCAL) aims to build and strengthen the physical and social environments in which communities engage in active living. It is, however, yet to release its work program.

Government & Local Council

• NSW Government Directory
• NSW Government Directory of Agencies
• NSW Department of Local Government - directory for Local Council

 Environment

• The Economic Benefits of Walkable Communities
• Recycling Near You
• Australian Conservation Foundation
• Vote Climate

Cycling behaviour

Sydney South West Area Health Service has conducted numerous studies and analyses looking at cycling behaviour. Some of these can be found below:

• View PDF 
• View PDF   
• Bowles, H.R., Rissel, C., Bauman, A., 2006, Mass community cycling events: who participates and is their behaviour influenced by participation?, The International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, Vol. 2, Issue 39.
  Visit Site
  
  This research paper investigates the type of people participating in mass cycling events and the subsequent effect on cycling behaviour.

Health

The health benefits of cycling have been shown to be a primary reason why many people choose to cycle. A significant proportion of the population do not participate in the necessary levels of physical activity to protect against sedentary lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Cycling has been shown to significantly reduce the chance of developing these and other types of disease. Integrating cycling into everyday life, by using the bike as a form of transport has been shown to be a very sustainable method of regular physical activity.

Australia:

• Bauman, A. Rissel, C. Garrard, J. Ker, I. Speidel, R. and Fishman, E. (2008) Cycling: Getting Australia Moving: Barriers, facilitators and interventions to get more Australians physically active through cycling, Cycling Promotion Fund, Melbourne
  View PDFFull Report (3.1 Mb) andView PDF Executive Summary (1.7 Mb)
  
  In August 2007, the Cycling Promotion Fund was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing to develop a report on bicycle participation by Australian adults.
  The Cycling Promotion Fund was specifically asked to investigate the contribution cycling can make to the health of adult Australians, what barriers exist to increasing participation and what can be done to overcome these hurdles.
  The Cycling Promotion Fund engaged four notable academics/practitioners from the fields of health, transport and economics to address these questions.

Safety: Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)
Visit Site

Relevant publications or resources include the following:

• 2006, Deaths of cyclists due to road crashes: ATSB Road Safety Report, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra
  View PDF
  
  The report gives an overview of the circumstances of road crashes in which cyclists died in the period 1991 to 2005 and provides more detail for 1996 to 2004, the latest period for which detailed data were available. It examines the incidence of helmet wearing among cyclist deaths, the major factors in fatal crashes involving cyclists and the main crash types. Age and gender distributions, day of week, time of day and speed limit at the crash site are also examined.
• Berry, J.G. & Harrison, J.E. 2007, Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia, 2003-04: ATSB, Aust. Institute of Health & Welfare, Commonwealth of Australia, Flinders University, AIHW Injury Research and Statistics Series No. 38
  View PDF
  
  This report looks at serious injury in Australia due to land transport accidents (including cyclists) in the period 2003-04. Serious injury is defined for this report as an injury which results in the person being admitted to hospital, and subsequently discharged alive either on the same day or after one or more nights stay in a hospital bed (i.e. deaths are excluded).
• Berry, J.G. & Harrison, J.E. 2008, Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia, 2005-06: Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Develpment and Local Government, Aust. Institute of Health & Welfare, Commonwealth of Australia, Flinders University, AIHW Injury Research and Statistics Series No. 42 View PDF
  
  This report looks at serious injury in Australia due to land transport accidents (including cyclists) in the period 2005-06. Serious injury is defined for this report as an injury which results in the person being admitted to hospital, and subsequently discharged alive either on the same day or after one or more nights stay in a hospital bed (i.e. deaths are excluded).
• 2004, Monograph 17 - Cycle Safety: A national perspective, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra
  Visit Site
  
  His monograph provides a statistical overview of the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on the public road system and a discussion of the available national activity data. It does not include data on cyclists killed and seriously injured in areas outside the public road system.