Active Travel

The National Cycling Strategy 2011-2016 sets out the objective to double participation in cycling by Australians between 2011 and 2016. To measure performance towards this objective the Australian Bicycle Council has commissioned a biennial National Cycling Participation Survey to provide estimates of cycling participation (measured in the past week, month and year) across Australia and for each state and territory.

This survey uses a similar methodology to that employed in the 2011 Australian Cycling Participation Survey, with minor adjustments to the questionnaire to improve response accuracy and to the definitions of metropolitan areas in accordance with changes made by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These changes, while improving accuracy and consistency with other surveys, mean that comparison between years should be treated with caution.

The survey indicates that 16.6% of the Australian population had ridden in the previous week and 37.4% had ridden at least once in the previous year.

Young children have the highest levels of cycling participation: 44.4% of 2 to 9 year old children had ridden in the previous week, decreasing to 32.2% of 10 to 17 year olds.

Males are more likely to participate in cycling than females: 20.9% of males and 12.4% of females had ridden in the previous week.

The average Australian household has 1.47 bicycles in working order and 55.2% of households have at least one bicycle in working order.