Decision details

2024/652093

Recommendations

It is recommended that the committee endorse the reallocation of parking on the south side of Ultimo Road, Haymarket between the points 0 metres and 10 metres west of Thomas Street as "P Bicycles Only".

Voting Members for this Item

Advice

The Committee unanimously supported the recommendation.

Background

The City supports the use of share bikes as part of a safe, sustainable and efficient urban transport system. They provide a useful opportunity for people to try riding in our area and to incorporate riding into their daily travel.

Between January and November 2024, there were over 1,500,000 share bike trips in the City's LGA, averaging over 153,000 trips per month – or 5,000 trips a day.

With the popularity of share bikes, we have also seen a significant rise in the number of share bikes deployed, drastically increasing from 328 in January 2022 to 4,500 in May 2024.

The City have no control over the number of operators in our area, or the number of bikes they deploy. Recently we have received requests that share bike parking be placed on the road, to limit their impact on footpath amenity.

At present, share bikes are often parked on the footpath and in other areas with high levels of walking activity, and sometimes highly contested public domain. To maintain sufficient footpath space for walking, it is preferable to park share bikes on the carriageway - by reallocating road space needs to free up space for the parking of share bikes (and other shared or private micro-mobility). 

Reallocation of road space for the parking of shared micromobility vehicles has been widely adopted in leading cities around the world. Most notably in London, UK where they have found that locating share bike parking in the road has led to less issues in regard to parking compliance and obstructions. Having parking on the footpath leads to more conflict and increases cycling on the footpath.

Share bike users will be directed to park appropriately through targeted share bike operator education. Share bike operators will be monitoring their bikes within the City of Sydney area. If bikes are in a dangerous place, the operators will make arrangements to move them.

Operators provide clear contact details on each share bike so that members of the public or motorists can contact them to move the bicycles out of the traffic lane or when their vehicles are damaged.

Share bike operators have 3rd party insurance and in the instance that a share bike causes damage to a parked car, the operators insurance covers these costs (on a case-by-case basis).

Comments

Between January and November 2024, over 5,000 share bike trips started or ended on this section of Ultimo Road. An additional 14,000 trips began on nearby streets including Thomas Street, Quay Street and George Street during the same period.

The high number of share bike trips made to and from this location make it a priority to have a bicycle parking area off the footpath. The installation of on-street bicycle parking will mitigate pedestrian conflicts and improve amenity by reducing congestion in the footpath area.

This section of Ultimo Road is one way travelling south-west bound, with large unobstructed sight lines and exceedingly low traffic volumes and speed. Given that the height of parked bikes is approximately 1.2 metres high, sight distance is not expected to be impacted.

The location and layout of the proposed "P Bicycles Only" area is shown in attachment 1. The kerb space on the south side of Ultimo Road, west of Thomas Street, where the changes are proposed is currently signposted as "No Stopping". The "No Stopping" distance is 20 metres long. It is proposed to reallocate 10m of this section of "No Stopping" distance to "P Bicycles Only" to encourage shared bike users to park their bikes on the road rather than the footpath. The proposed space has a width of 3.1m, allowing plenty of additional room and reducing the likelihood of bikes falling into the traffic lane. 

The City will install a precast concrete separator (1.5m x 0.8m), line marking and appropriate signage (see attachment 1) to clearly delineate and safely protect bike riders and the bikes in the bicycle parking area.

If endorsed, we will review the space 6 months after implementation to determine how effective it is. During this time we will request for Rangers to monitor the spaces regularly and contact bike share operators to move the bicycles when required.

Consultation

The City will notify the local residents and businesses before implementing the parking changes.

Financial

Funds are available in the current budget.

Sam dickinson - project officer - city of sydney