Cars make way for bikes as Sydney commuters saddle up to circumvent ‘crazy’ fuel costs | Cycling

BBefore the global oil crisis of the 1970s, Copenhagen city planners considered removing cycle lanes. Bicycles were considered obsolete, the car was now king, and only 10% of residents cycled regularly.

But as economic shockwaves reverberated around the world, Denmark, which relied almost entirely on imported oil, did an about-face, with citizens staging mass protests in the middle of highways to demand better cycling infrastructure.

From 1975 to 1985, Copenhagen’s cycling network grew at the fastest rate in its history and today around 60% of Copenhageners use a bicycle to travel to work or study.

As a new oil shock caused by war in the Middle East shakes the planet, the residents of Sydney take inspiration from the Danes and turn to bicycles to ease the pain in Bowser.

There were 600,000 bikeshare trips in the City of Sydney in March, a council spokesperson said, an increase of 25 per cent on the previous month. At the same time, thousands of cars disappeared from Sydney’s roads.

“Last month, several of our bike counters recorded slight increases and their highest number of trips since we installed new counters six months ago,” says the spokesperson.

“Fuel prices have gone crazy”

Central West resident Jacinta Peperkamp is part of a growing cohort of people who rely on their bikes due to sky-high fuel costs. “We haven’t used our car since fuel prices went crazy,” says the single mother of two.

With his cargo electric bike and his 11-year-old son’s electric bike, they have been able to rely on mixed transportation, taking their bikes on the train when traveling further afield.

She says that before the war in Iran, if it wasn’t “a direct and easy bike ride, I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it.” Now they’ve cycled around Western Sydney and noticed others doing the same.

“The initial motivation [to get an ebike] “It was more environmental,” she says. “But now it’s definitely a cost of living issue. I’m kicking myself for not having already bought an electric car.”

NSW Government data shows car traffic was down about 5 per cent in March compared to the previous year on Sydney’s main arterial roads, including Pennant Hills Road and Parramatta Road.

In the same month, the newly opened Oxford Street cycleway had almost 100,000 uses, according to Transport for NSW (TfNSW) figures, while the Bourke Street cycleway in Redfern had 134,254, almost triple that of the same period last year (53,928).

Cycle rides are constantly counted by Sydney’s network of automatic counters, installed by councils and TfNSW.

Last Wednesday alone, more than 4,500 cycle journeys were recorded along Oxford Street in Darlinghurst – the highest number since the new cycle route opened last July.

Looking longer term, figures provided by TfNSW show cycling rates almost doubled in the Sydney CBD last month compared to the same period last year (496,516 counts compared to 288,907) and increased in the adjacent suburbs of Paddington (26,065 compared to 17,215) and Eveleigh, where the number rose from 15,011 to 71,151.

Other areas, including Parramatta in Sydney’s west and the northern beaches, remained stable.

“Pull the trigger” and go electric

Bicycle retailers say that, like at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, business is booming.

At 99 Bikes, e-bike sales jumped 136% year-on-year over the past week, indicating a “clear shift” in consumer mentality, according to Australia and New Zealand managing director David Miller-Heidke.

“We are seeing a significant increase in sales of commuter bikes, e-bikes and scooters in recent weeks, coinciding with the recent spike in fuel prices,” he says.

“Many people who previously considered getting an e-bike have now pulled the trigger, seeing it as a long-term solution to the cost of living.”

Owner and manager of Sydney bike shop Omafiets, Chris Moore, says his customers have also flocked to entry-level e-bikes and cargo bikes, alongside an increase in people dusting off their old pedal bikes to have them serviced.

He says Sydneysiders have come into his store and “explicitly stated that high gas prices are the reason they are buying a bike or e-bike”.

According to data from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), in the last quarter of 2025, the average Australian household spent approximately $453 per week on car maintenance costs, including loan repayments ($214) and fuel ($94).

Figures for the first quarter of 2026 have not been released, but since then unleaded gasoline prices have peaked, rising from around 170 cents per liter last year to almost 260 cents per liter in April, an increase of almost 50%.

“There’s a lot of interest in family electric bikes and commuter bikes, which for many people can replace a lot of car travel in their daily lives,” says Moore.

“We’ve seen an increase in inquiries from people who haven’t cycled for a while. High petrol prices are making people reconsider how much car they need, particularly in the dense inner suburbs of Sydney.”

Mid-west resident Violette Kirton is one of them. She is looking to sell her car and rely entirely on her bike due to the cost of living.

Kirton bought his first home last year as interest rates were rising, and says rising gas prices “really put things into perspective.”

“What once seemed manageable suddenly doesn’t make as much sense,” she says. “Living and working in the inner west, I started cycling more and realized I didn’t need a car every day. »

An opportunity for a green revolution?

Bicycle NSW CEO Peter McLean says it is a “shame” that governments continue to rely on short-term fuel excise duties to ease pressures rather than capitalizing on the cycling bonanza by investing heavily in active transport.

“It’s cheaper – even to have a very high-quality, expensive e-bike – than to maintain a car,” he says.

“It’s not just fuel costs, it’s insurance costs, maintenance costs and registration costs that have all gone up and gotten worse.

“But of course you need to be in an area with very good access to safe infrastructure, particularly if you’re just starting out.”

McLean points to the success of the Oxford Street cycleway as an indication of the demand that exists to expand cycle “greenways” in our cities.

“Some commentators and politicians have all said: ‘You need to cut road taxes and fuel excise duties’, which I agree with, but no one has said we need to double subsidies for e-bikes,” he says.

McLean described the Albanian government’s halving of fuel excise duties as a “sugar hit” that failed to deliver better public, community and social health outcomes in the same way as cycling.

“Governments need to know that in times of crisis they can use other levers to have a long-term positive impact. »