Women are almost twice as likely to commute on an e-bike as men, according to new analysis by Bicycle Network.
E-bikes accounted for 11% of all the bike trips counted during Bicycle Network's annual Super Tuesday Count on 5 March, which recorded 135,000 total trips around the country.
Of the 32,600 riders estimated to be women, 5350 were on e-bikes (16%) and of the 102,000 riders estimated to be men, 9300 were on e-bikes (9%).
Women appear to have embraced e-bikes in great numbers in all states counted.
The proportional figure was highest in Tasmania (34% of total trips for women vs 18% for men), followed by New South Wales (26% vs 14%), WA (22% vs 11%), Victoria (15% vs 8%) and South Australia (8% vs 5%).
Research shows that e-bikes address many of the barriers that prevent people from riding bikes and promote wide participation in active transport.
They are also easy to grab and go on short local trips, and don’t require much physical fitness, nor special clothing.
E-bikes were included in Bicycle Network's Super Tuesday count for the first time in 2024. More than 1000 volunteer counters across more than 961sites around Australia collected data on active transport.
The counts include bike rider volumes, direction flow and gender.
Since 2021, the percentage of women bike riders counted on Super Tuesday has remained between 22-25% around Australia. This year women riders made up 24% of all bike riders.
But in a clear message that e-bikes are helping more women to ride bikes, the proportion of all e-bike riders estimated to be women was 36%.
“E-bikes have arrived as a powerful enabler and are rapidly unlocking a new population of active transport users,” says Bicycle Network CEO Alison McCormack.
“Every day around Australia, thousands of women are choosing e-bikes for transport, better health, their wallets and the environment.”
E-bike costs are improving as the market grows and financial incentives for e-bikes, which are now common around the world, are taking shape in Australia. E-bike rebate programs have been implemented in Tasmania and Adelaide.
Bicycle Network is advocating for more government initiatives to make e-bikes more affordable for more people.
"The time is now for more people to ditch their second vehicles for e-bikes, which are proving very capable replacements for cars," says McCormack.
Read more about our work on e-bikes on our campaign page.
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