A touch of Copenhagen for Adelaide’s CBD

Adelaide City Council crews completed the $300,000 project in July. The lane extends half a kilometre along the northern side of Sturt Street between West Terrace and Whitmore Square in the CBD.
It is the first to be constructed in South Australia in the style common in Copenhagen, Denmark, where there is a strong cycling culture. Sturt Street’s footpaths have been widened, car parking has been retained, and traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction under the project.
Lord mayor Michael Harbison says the bike lane is a safer option for cyclists and he expects similar lanes to be built across the metropolitan area once people get used to the idea.
“We will be looking for opportunities to do this style wherever we can because the distinctive thing about this is that it separates cyclists not only from traffic but also pedestrians, so it is safer for everyone,” he adds.
Meanwhile, Adelaide City Bikes is reporting around 1000 hire-outs per month. It has 80 bicycles in the system. These are supplied seven days a week from Bicycle SA in Franklin Street, the Adelaide Travellers Inn in Hutt Street, Backpack Oz in Wakefield Street (all CBD nodes) and from Wild Thyme Caf in Melbourne Street, North Adelaide. Bikes are also supplied from the Rundle Street Market in the city on Sundays only.
Bicycle SA chief executive Christian Haag notes that Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane have now secured bike hire programs that are based on the European model, which is an automated process. 
“You swipe a card or buy a token and it releases a bike that you can drop back or at different areas in the city,” he says. “In Adelaide it is a pick up and drop off at the same location. We require photo ID, a driver’s licence or passport that we retain until the bike is returned. ”
Haag says an element of trust is involved. “We commenced in May 2005 and for the first two years only had one bike stolen. The gentleman concerned had left his driver’s licence and fell upon hard times.
“In the past 18 months there was a short spate of thefts. We have tightened how we hire out. Our mission is to get more people cycling more often and the program provides a great opportunity to support that mission.”
Haag laments that Australia is still a car-centric community whose drivers do not have the respect for cyclists that’s ingrained in European culture.
“The (Copenhagen) cycle lane is an expensive piece of infrastructure but it sends a clear message to all road users that Adelaide is moving a significant step forward,” he says. “It is obviously safer than bicycle lanes painted on the roadway.”
The Adelaide City Council sponsors Bicycle SA to manage the Adelaide City Bikes. The council has a Bicycle Action Plan 2008-2011 that undertakes to complete the primary bike lane network within the city as well as the linkages with the surrounding bike networks.
Since 2002 there has been a 50% increase in bike lanes in and around Adelaide. The state government has spent $95m on cycle-related projects. New infrastructure includes a 32km shared-use path through the Adelaide Hills from Oakbank to Mount Pleasant, and $1.2m (since 2002) on the 38km Coast to Vines from Marino to Willunga.