Cycling attitudes in Sydney

I used to cycle to work every day from Newtown to Paddington and never really had any trouble on the Sydney roads but the drivers are less accommodating to cyclists for sure.

When I was living there, which was only 2 years ago, it was rare for people to cycle to work. I only knew a few people that did and people generally thought I was crazy for riding on the roads, but once you get past the initial fear its all down hill.

The problem with Sydney is its just too spread out and hilly. For most people cycling to work wouldn't be an option as for a lot of people you'd be looking at least 11 miles of cycling, whilst in London you'd be looking at 11 miles at the most.

If you can live in the inner city it's easy enough but rents and house prices in those areas can even put London to shame as there is a rental shortage at the moment.

Who gives a fuck about riding in Sydney, we're in London!? :-$

http://www.thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=776

Sales of Australian-made cars collapsed from almost 250,000 in 2005 to just 201,623 last year — a drop of almost 20 per cent, according to preliminary figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

*For those in the bike business, however, it's a different story, with bicycle sales out-stripping vehicle sales for the seventh consecutive year last year, according to the Cycling Promotion Fund. *
Australian bike sales extended their lead over cars for 2006, with almost 1.3 million sold.

Quoting your own site?

Anyway, my question was more one of, what the fuck are they doing with all these bikes if no fucker's riding?

Read it. Quoting an article I'd linked to moons ago..

They are riding them once and then leaving them sit in sheds, selling them on 10 years later in a garage sale.

Who gives a fuck about riding in Sydney, we're in London!? :-$

Who gives a fuck about football, this is a bike forum?!?! :-$

That was a really shitty article but it does give a fairly accurate portrayal of the attitudes of many australian drivers, it was quite a shock to come to london and find how polite most drivers are - they definitely give you much more room when passing and I have a much shorter list off stuff that has been thrown at me while commuting.

#bump
I've been following the development of Sydney as a cycling friendly place, thanks to Sydney's independent Mayor Clover Moore, fighting to make Sydney cycle-able despite massive opposition from the motoring lobby right.

Here is an example of what she's been up against.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/09/22/the-liberal-alan-jones-associate-behind-a-grassroots-anti-bike-lane-campaign/

I like the concept of 'astro-turfing' asopposed to a real-grassroots movement

The City of Sydney council and Mayor run the central business area and inner south suburbs, its about the same size as City of London + Islington. It is one of about 38 local councils in Sydney.
The campaign against the new segregated bike lane is more sophisticated than the previous version (also supported by Alan Jones). That time there were over one hundred written objections from businesses - almost all of them fictional, many of the companies named actually supported the route.

There is something similar happening in London just now over the consultations on the Mayor's east-west and north-south cycle superhighways. The evening standard has been headlining strong business opposition, it mostly comes from one or two companies.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/24/sydney-australia-war-cyclists-fines

I imagine @Charlie_L is already in the thick of it. :)

Very odd authorities make such a drastic effort to stop people cycling, despite all the evidence that points towards more cyclists is better for society: healthier people, less congestion on the roads, less pollution in the air. Seems to weird to fly in the face of progress made elsewhere in the world. But then Australia

Apparently it's become very much a left vs right issue in Australia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UULT4iNWfrg