Bike paths in Sydney

Bike paths in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia are cycling infrastructure that allows people riding bikes to cycle safely for Commuting, transportation, recreation or sport.

Safe infrastructure in Sydney has historically been fragmented, due to the view of planners that cycling is a "pleasant pastime" rather than a practical form of travel. While t has historically been hostile for cycling, with the construction of significant amounts of new infrastructure Sydney is "increasingly becoming a cycling city".

Thousands of cyclist ride to or from Sydney central business district on an average day, via the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge, Anzac Parade cycleways and other routes.

In July 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, two pop up cycleways were complete in the City of Sydney. These are part of Transport for NSW's COVID Safe Travel Plan with about 20 km of cycleways being designated in Randwick, Parramatta and Sydney CBD.

The City of Sydney is progressively building an increasing network of separated cycleways, shared paths and other infrastructure in and adjacent to the central business district.

Transport for NSW publish a cycleway finder map of cycling routes. OpenStreetMap has detailed coverage of cycleways in Sydney.

History

The Canada Bay Bike Plan 2005 proposed to widen the path between Cambridge Road and Wolseley Street and stated that this was one of five routes "formally included by RTA in BikePlan 2010 and have RTA funding and priorities allocated". This did not happen and was dropped by the Council in 2014.

The northern end of the Gladesville Bridge was identified in the NSW Bike Plan 2010 as one of 13 "major missing links" and that the "Huntleys Point pedestrian / cycle bridge" was a "priority metropolitan link". there is no indication when, if at all, work will commence on this bridge.

The Bourke Street Cycleway was the first large-scale cycling cycleway in Sydney. It's installation resulted in over five times more cycling trips along the street. The community consultation process included four meetings and more than 800 submissions. Opposition to the project included loss of trees and car parking.

, works were in progress to widen The Bay Run and segregate it from the pedestrian path in either direction from the bridge that was constructed across the Iron Cove Creek Canal earlier in the year.″Tenders called for Stage 5 of Bay Run″

Bike paths While there are many unnamed segments of cycleway in Sydney, there are a number of named bike paths in Sydney. These include The Bay Run, Cooks River cycleway, The Goods Line, Liverpool-Parramatta T-way, Parramatta Valley cycleway, Parramatta to Liverpool Rail Trail cycleway, Prospect Creek cycleway, Windsor Road cycleway, Sutherland to Cronulla active transport link, Louise Sauvage Pathway, and Western Sydney Parklands–Canal Reserve cycleway

A number of cycle paths parallel freeways, such as the Gore Hill and Epping Road cycleways, M2 cycleway, M4 cycleway, M5 cycleway, and M7 cycleway.

Bike paths across major bridges

A number of bridges in Sydney include a cycleway or shared path.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway joins the Sydney central business district with , Sydney's Northern Suburbs and the North Shore. Since 6 January 2026 cyclists no longer have to ascend 55 stairs in order to access the path, replaced by a linear bike ramp, with a three metre wide deck.

The Anzac Bridge has a shared cycle and pedestrian path on its northern side. Between 1,300 and 2,000 cyclists used the Anzac Bridge on an average weekday in the 12 months to February 2014. At the eastern end there is a spiral ramp that begins at the corner of Saunders Street and Quarry Master Drive.

Pyrmont Bridge is a shared cycle and pedestrian zone, with signs indicating a maximum speed of .

The 1995 bridge of the Iron Cove Bridge pair has a narrow shared pedestrian and cycle path on the eastern side. Between 200 and 300 cyclists used the 1955 bridge on an average weekday in the 12 months to February 2014. The 2011 duplicate bridge has a 4.3 metre wide shared pedestrian and cycle path on the western side. Between 350 and 600 cyclists used the 2011 duplicate bridge on an average weekday in the 8 months to October 2013. At the northern (Drummoyne) end the bridge is linked to the Gladesville Bridge.

Other bridges including a shared path include the eastern Ryde Bridge, Gladesville Bridge with a narrow shared path on the eastern side., the Silverwater Bridge with a narrow path on both sides of the bridge, the Captain Cook Bridge with a narrow shared cycle and pedestrian path in both directions., the Old Como railway bridge, the now-replaced Meadowbank Railway Bridge, the Alfords Point Bridge with a shared path on the eastern side, Spit Bridge with a narrow shared path on the western side, less than 1.2 metres wide at two points., and the Woronora River Bridge with a shared path underneath the road.

Principal bicycle network

The Principal Bicycle Network (PBN) (or Co-Designed Bicycle Network Blueprint) is an unreleased proposed network of cycling infrastructure for Sydney. It was developed by the Government of New South Wales government in collaboration with all councils (at least 30) in Greater Sydney Greater Sydney along with Bicycle NSW. As the plans were not published, they have since attained a "rather mythical status" among the bicycle advocacy community.

History In 2008, the City of Sydney made a submission to the Infrastructure Australia proposing the Inner Sydney Strategic Cycle Network in partnership with the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, Roads & Traffic Authority, and 15 adjacent councils, which was published by July 2009. In 2009, AECOM prepared the Inner Sydney Regional Bicycle Network Implementation Strategy (for City of Sydney) The work commenced by the City of Sydney in 2009, which came to involve 14 other councils (or 15), became part of TfNSW's 2018 Future Transport Strategy 2056, and involved the identification of specific routes to be funded by TfNSW.

The Active transport (walking and cycling) access to Sydney CBD business case, with a proposed 284km of cycleways within 10km of the Sydney CBD , was added to the Infrastructure Australia Infrastructure Priority List in February 2016.

Schematic maps for a 2018 committed plan and 2056 were published.

Development Work on the Principal Bicycle Network began in November 2018. The PBN was intended to be a blueprint of cycleways committed to in the Transport for NSW Future Transport Strategy 2056.

By 2018, Infrastructure Australia had listed the Inner Sydney Regional Bike Network on the National Infrastructure Priority List, and Transport for NSW were developing a bike network plan for Parramatta.

The draft plan was completed by November 2019 but was never published.

The Co-Designed Bicycle Network Blueprint was co-designed in consultation with approximately 130 NSW Government and 33 local government stakeholders in late 2018. The network was built from endorsed Bike Plans of each Council. The network was developed over eight months, including an independent peer review.

In line with state priorities and Infrastructure NSW recommendations, Transport for NSW was completing a series of business cases which included investment in walking and cycling. TfNSW had completed a network plan co-designed with 33 councils in Greater Sydney for a cycling network. Transport for NSW progressed the PBN through assurance with Infrastructure NSW, and the business case received a benefit–cost ratio ratio of 5.2. (Program The COVID Dividend for cycling in cities, presentation to Australian MPs)

Proposed delivery The NSW government committed to delivering the Principal Bicycle Network in its 2019 Future Transport Strategy. It was planned to include over 5000km of cycling infrastructure across tiers 1-3.

As of April 2020, the plan was scheduled to be delivered by 2056. The Committee for Sydney called for it to be accelerated to be delivered in 3 years. The August 2020 South East Sydney Transport Strategy included delivery of the PBN within South East Sydney. and included a map of The Proposed Principal Bicycle Network by 2056 for South East Sydney.

As of November 2019, the Co-Designed Bicycle Network Blueprint was published under a password-protected Carto map. By 2021, the PBN_Active_Transport map was published on the Carto map platform. Under https://www.tfnsw.carto.com/u/transport-active-transport/

In November 2020, Jo Haylen claimed the 5,000km Principal Bike Network for Greater Sydney was stuck in limbo. In March 2021, questions regarding the Principal Bike Network completion date and cost were not answered. In May 2021, Jo Haylen asked the expected completion date and percentage of works to be built.

On 15 June 2021, the draft map was shown to Australian Member of parliament in Canberra.

Abandonment

By September 2021, the PBN had been entirely abandoned and was subsequently removed from the Infrastructure Australia priority list (Now redirecting to /evaluations/).

Cate Faehrmann called for the government to release the PBN in June 2020. On 3 June 2020, the Office of the Minister for Transport and Roads proactively released a draft map to Cate Faehrmann under the GIPA act. The map was current as of May 2020. That evening, Cate Faehrmann moved a motion to release details about the map under Standing Order 52. The motion was not opposed by the government, and it was supported by the opposition. John Graham commended Cate Faehrmann and stated it would be very helpful to any discussion on implementing the long term plan for Sydney if the plan was produced. One box of privileged and two boxes of unprivileged documents were received 24 June 2020.

In September 2021, cycling representatives told Alex Greenwich that Transport for NSW had withdrawn the Principal Bicycle Network.

In 2023, the Engineers Australia Transport Australia Society recommended completion of the principal bicycle network.

In August 2026, Bicycle NSW released the GIPA request Faehrmann received and the map (1134x756) contained within it. Bicycle NSW called on the government to release the 2020 PBN map in a machine-readable format.

Bike paths in Sydney

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