The Australian Labor Party has said they will create a $260 million bike fund to build new cycleways if they win the federal election.
Federal Member for Grayndler Anthony Albanese today announced the National Bike Paths Strategy that will aim to make it easier for more people to ride a bike, improve the health of Australians and reduce congestion.
The fund will be available for local and state governments to use for bike projects, but they will most likely have to chip in themselves.
It won't be restricted to capital cities, with the fund also having a focus on bike tourism.
A media release from Mr Albanese said that the fund will deliver "strategic projects that target missing links" and require "project proponents to use best practice as part of the design parameters".
To do this, Labor will look at producing a bike infrastructure guide that has information about best practice and design options for bike paths.
Further information about the potential guide and how it would differ from the Cycling Aspects of Austroads Guides is not available, but the media release does say it would draw on international examples of well-planned and well-used cycleways.
Thanks to these Central Coast kids who came to our National Bike Paths Strategy with @Emma4Dobell @PatConroy1 and @Anne_charlton 🚴🏽♂️ pic.twitter.com/QrUXu8MnHo
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 23, 2019
Bicycle Network CEO Craig Richards said Labor's announcement was positive for bike riders and that we look forward to more.
"It's great to see a strong commitment for bike riding and we now look forward to seeing further announcements from Labor other major parties," said Mr Richards.
"While this is a great start, we should be aiming for a $492 million annual bike fund to truly make bike riding easier for every Australian."
A $492 million annual cycling infrastructure fund is a key part of Bicycle Network's federal election policy paper. It is based on a spend of $20 per Australian, which is similar to what is spent on bike riding in Denmark, London and the Netherlands.
Bicycle Network's federal election policy paper also includes a number of other asks to protect people who ride and further normalise bike riding.
You can click the button below to see Bicycle Network's full federal election policy paper, as well as information to help you contact candidates in your electorate to find out what they're doing for bikes.
Federal Election PolicyClick here to read Anthony Albanese's media release about the National Bike Paths Strategy
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