BikeSpot 2023 Key Findings
Reports, Findings, and the Data
It is a pleasure to finally release all the results and data from the BikeSpot 2023 project. It’s been over 6 months since the BikeSpot map, which allowed people to share their safety experiences of riding a bike anywhere in Australia), closed from further submissions. A lot so has happened since then but thankfully this day has arrived.
Today’s release includes:
- BikeSpot 2023 National Report.
- BikeSpot 2023 NSW Report (comissioned by Transport for NSW).
- BikeSpot 2023 Greater Bendigo Report (comissioned by Greater Bendigo).
- The de-identified data is accessible via the ‘Data’ tab on the BikeSpot Archive Map (below).
The reports can be found on the reports page on the BikeSpot.org website.
This article highlights some of the key facts and findings from the national report. The dataset is large so there are many more insights beyond the information below (or what in contained in the reports).
Quick recap
The BikeSpot 2023 map launched on 19 October 2023 and allowed every Australian to identify and share how they feel when riding their bike. The map was open for submissions a little over 3 months and closed on 31 Jan 2024.
BikeSpot 2023 users recorded over 72,000 submissions (spots, comments and supports).
Key National Findings
1. Greater separation from vehicle traffic is crucial
Unsurprisingly, the majority of Safe Spots are located where cycling infrastructure is completely separate from motor vehicle traffic. This validates that if we want people more people to cycle, we need to create dedicated riding environments with space from motor vehicle traffic.
2. Unsafe intersections are the biggest issue across Australia
‘Dangerous intersection’ was identified as the biggest issue being experienced by riders across Australia. Interestingly, many of these intersections exist along priority cycling routes where riders often feel safe between the intersections but experience stress when their path intersects with motor vehicles.
3. Female riders experience higher levels of cycling stress
On average, female riders experience higher cycling stress levels than male riders across most issue categories. Female riders tend to be relatively younger, less experienced and therefore less confident. It is reasonable to expect female riders to be more risk-averse and ride at relatively slower speeds than male riders. The only two issues where male riders experience on average higher levels of cycling stress are associated with ‘Too much vehicle traffic’ and ‘Poor surface’… where faster travel speeds have a greater impact on the riding experience.
4. Fear of car dooring most stressful for ‘Interested but concerned’
As the level of cycling stress for an individual is likely to influence their willingness to ride, it is important to assess the differences in relative cycling stress for individuals with different levels of riding confidence.
Understandably, the least confident ‘Interested but concerned’ rider cohort has relatively darker shades almost across the set of issues. ‘Traffic speed’ and ‘Car dooring’ are equal most stressful for less confident riders’. ‘Too much vehicle traffic’, ‘No bicycle lanes’ and ‘Dangerous intersection are the next three on average most stressful experiences for less confident riders. ‘No bicycle lane’, ‘Too much vehicle traffic’ and ‘Traffic speed’ were the top three the most stressful issues for more confident riders.
5. Top Safe and Unsafe Spots
The ‘top spots’ represent a set of community priorities, where top safe spots validate the importance of safe cycling infrastructure and top Unsafe Spots highlight required improvements.
The top spots are determined by the amount of submission activity a spot receives. Spots in proximity to each other that share the same sentiment are combined. Similarly, spots with similar sentiment along a stretch of road or path are also combined.
Victoria
New South Wales
Queensland
South Australia
Western Australia
Australian Capital Territory
