Trips grow 7% in a year as more people discover the best way to get around town
Bicycle NSW was very excited to join the celebrations for the opening of the Oxford Street West Cycleway in August 2025.
City of Sydney has delivered a safe place to ride for the hundreds of bike riders who use this dangerous multi-lane arterial road everyday. And Oxford Street will be much better for people walking too, with improved crossings at side streets, more separation from vehicles, new landscaping – and far fewer bike riders tempted to use the footpath.
Daily trips by bike on this section of Oxford Street are expected to double over the next few months. Separated cycleways always attract a new cohort of cyclists who are not confident to mix with heavy traffic.
But how is usage monitored, and what does the data tell us about the growth of bike riding in Sydney?
The Bicycle NSW team on a ride up the new Oxford Street West Cycleway, led by CEO Peter McLean (Image: Bicycle NSW)
City of Sydney’s biannual surveys
Twice a year, City of Sydney undertakes manual cycling counts surveys. The counts take place at 78 intersections in fair weather conditions, on a weekday in March and October, in the morning (6am to 9am) and afternoon (4pm to 7pm) peaks.
The intersections have been surveyed consistently since 2010. The data collected provides a long-term picture of cycling trends.
And hot-off-the-press figures from March 2025 reveal the highest number of trips ever recorded in the surveys.
A record 55,030 trips were counted, up 7% from March 2024 when 51,271 trips were observed. And it’s an increase of 187% since March 2010 when 19,152 trips were recorded.
Across the 78 sites, there were an average of 775 riders. The totals per intersection were highest at the intersection of Oxford, Bourke and Flinders streets with 2,684 trips counted, and the intersection of Murray and Union streets with Pyrmont Bridge at 2,395. Of the top 10 intersections, 8 have cycleways.
A graph showing the average count at each survey site highlights the rapid growth in recent years to just under 800 trips per site (Image: City of Sydney)
It is very clear that safe, separated infrastructure drives growth in cycling. For instance, the new Ngamuru connection is likely to be responsible for the 57% increase in trips at the nearby intersection of Portman Street and Geddes Avenue. And the numbers at the intersection of Goulburn and Castlereagh streets jumped 36% in the 6 months since the Castlereagh Street Cycleway was extended 4 blocks north to King Street.
The data shows another interesting change. Traditionally, there were similar number of trips recorded for both the morning and afternoon peaks. But in recent years, the afternoon trips account for 58% of the total. Some of the shift can no doubt be attributed to the popularity of share bikes and food delivery services. Cycling in Sydney is no longer primarily about commuting.
"It really is fantastic to see the figures trending up each year,” says Bicycle NSW Bike Planner Sarah Bickford.
"We know that safe and connected bike infrastructure 'rolls out the green carpet' and encourages people to ride bikes for transport.
"The City of Sydney is setting a high bar and inspiring change beyond its boundaries. Neighbouring councils are building out quality cycleways, under pressure from residents who have experienced what good looks like in the City of Sydney area."
The data can be explored in detail on the City of Sydney dashboard.
Permanent counters collecting data all day, every day
Although the biannual surveys highlight fascinating trends, the data is a snapshot in time and it is impacted by weather.
To provide more reliable figures, a network of automatic counters has been installed on cycleways across Sydney to record bike trips 24 hours a day. The data can be seen on the Transport for NSW Cycling Counts dashboard.
An example of the Transport for NSW Cycling Counts dashboard showing counts for Castlereagh Street near Goulburn Street over the last year. The rise has more to do with the extension of the Castlereagh Street Cycleway than Bicycle NSW’s move to this corner (although we all do a lot of trips on this street)! The two-month gap indicates that the counter was temporarily faulty (Image: Transport for NSW)
The City of Sydney has had challenges with maintaining some of its older counters over the last few years, leaving some unfortunate gaps in the data.
More great data coming soon!
After a lengthy procurement process, 26 high quality new units will be installed in the City of Sydney LGA over the next few months. These will all have in-pavement sensors and they will be much less susceptible to damage.
Some of the counters replace existing units and some are in new locations. Of course, all the key cycleways will be monitored, but several strategic sites have been selected - for example, locations where a new cycleway will be constructed soon to fill a gap in the network. This will allow the impact of completing missing links to be measured.
Sydney’s first ever digital display counter is also on its way. These highly visible electronic boards provide very tangible evidence of the uptake of cycling and help build community support for cycleways. Look out for the new board on the Oxford Street West Cycleway near the Burdekin Hotel.
“It is great news that the collection of data is being improved,” says Bicycle NSW CEO Peter McLean. “Reliable cycling counts and behaviour data is very important for the cycling community. It is a powerful resource for advocacy.”
“After all, governments and the community need ‘reals not feels’ to support the case for more investment in active transport.”
What other projects are in the pipeline?
The new cycleways on Castlereagh St, Liverpool Street (east) and Oxford Street (west) came hot on the heels of the Pitt Street, College Street and King Street East cycleways. The CBD is now just two short missing links away from having a connected grid of safe, separated cycleways.
And by early 2026, these links should be completed – the long awaited three blocks of King Street between Clarence and Pitt streets, and the connection from King Street East to College Street.
An extract from the City of Sydney’s Cycling Strategy Bike Network Plan shows the cycleways that have been completed since 2022 (in yellow) and the two remaining gaps in the CBD’s cycleway grid (in red) (Image: Bicycle NSW / City of Sydney)
And then there is Oxford Street East. This is a Transport for NSW-led project and progress has been very slow. Bicycle NSW hopes that Oxford Street West’s success will create new impetus to extend the cycleway up to Centennial Park and really transform the iconic shopping and entertainment strip.
The Oxford Street East project page explains why is it so important to continue our campaign to Build a Better Oxford Street.
In the meantime, there is a lot of fantastic cycling to discover in the City of Sydney
Head to our Cycling in Sydney page for links to maps of the cycleways and other tips and ideas for planning routes.
And watch this video of Bicycle NSW on tour with City of Sydney for a great taster of the separated bike infrastructure in the council area.
Before you pedal away to explore the bike network…..
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