Bumpy start to bike campaign
City of Vincent mayor John Carey wants Perth's road and transport authorities to drop their "can't-do" attitude and embrace Vancouver's "can-do" approach to new bike paths and bike infrastructure.
Mr Carey said there needed to be a total change of thinking - particularly in Main Roads and in some local governments - towards cycling.
His call comes after a recent holiday in Vancouver that was prompted by _The West Australian' _ s series that compared the transport systems of the Canadian city with Perth.
"If I needed any convincing about the benefits of cycling, my visit to Vancouver did it," Mr Carey said. "It's just so easy to ride your bike around that city. Easy and safe.
"And yet it is so hard in Perth - a very similar city to Vancouver in many respects."
Mr Carey said he planned to invite Vancouver bike advocates to Perth for a forum of Perth mayors, shire presidents and chief executives.
"What Vancouver showed me is that we don't have to re-invent the wheel here," Mr Carey said. "It's been done in Vancouver. It can be done in Perth.
"If we can show the relevant people how easy it can be - and the huge benefits in terms of health, congestion, the environment - then we might be able to get more done."
Vancouver's civic leaders have committed the city to a major expansion of its bike network. Within 40 years, they want more city journeys to be completed on foot or on a bike than in a car.
It is an objective that has already prompted drastic action.
Lanes of the Burrard Bridge, a key river crossing in the city's south, have been converted to bike lanes. And separated bike lanes have been introduced on busy inner-city streets.
Vancouver cycling advocacy group HUB executive director Erin O'Melinn said the changes had resulted in a 36 per cent increase in bike trips.
"Changing the thinking of communities about bike riding is not easy, but it certainly brings rewards," she said. "The benefits can be enormous."
While in Vancouver, Mr Carey met members of HUB and rode with a courier company that uses tricycles to make deliveries.
Mr Carey said the City of Vincent had increased spending on bikes from $70,000 to $2.5 million in a couple of years - money that was being spent on more dedicated bike paths and a bike library.
But he said the city had already been struck by the inflexibility of Main Roads.
"We wanted to put in green bike paths like other cities around the world and Main Roads would not entertain this," Mr Carey said. "We wanted to put in cycle signals at an intersection but Main Roads said we had to upgrade the whole intersection.
"Its all about what we can't do - not what we can do."
