We're taking steps over the next ten years to make our cycling network safe and accessible for people of all ages and abilities.

This New Deal for Cycling Network is a direct response to objectives in our Council Plan 2021-25 and Yarra’s Transport Strategy 2022-32 that aim to improve the safety, connectivity, and accessibility of our street network.

The New Deal for Cycling Network is a network of key routes across the City of Yarra. Each route is assessed for risk against a range of factors, including traffic volumes, speed limit and existing road conditions. Map 2 shows a ‘traffic light’ system that judges the current compliance of each route. Red routes are non-compliant and green routes are compliant. When the Transport Strategy was adopted in 2022, only 39% of the routes reach minimum safety compliance for cycling.

We will be running pilots and trials to test new road layouts, additions of bike lanes and upgrades to intersections that aim to make these routes safer and compliant. These pilots and trials will use temporary infrastructure to help us assess the effectiveness of the changes before they are made permanent.

Using pop-ups, pilots and trials can allow projects to be delivered faster and in greater number than standard permanent delivery techniques. They also provide key feedback that can support a project design process where there is room for adjustments. In contrast, when we run testing after a project has been delivered, it can be difficult to make substantive changes.

We have run these trials and pilots in the past and they have provided invaluable feedback to the development of our permanent cycling infrastructure. They have also seen tremendous improvements for people cycling through previously non-compliant routes. For example:

• Data from the Elizabeth Street protected bike lanes trial shows that the number of women and children using the upgraded bike lanes has increased significantly. These groups are underrepresented as a proportion of all cyclists in Yarra.
• Data also shows that Elizabeth Street protected bike lanes trial have slowed down traffic and reduced the risk of fatal accidents for motorists and pedestrians.

Many parts of our active transport network are outside Council’s jurisdiction and need State Government approvals or funding. Map 1 shows these projects with more detail. You can also find out more on page 55 of Yarra's Transport Strategy 2022-32.