When news broke earlier this year that Sydney was getting a schmick new cycle path from Taylor Square to the CBD, everyone was cheering. Every cyclist that was.
Sydney bike riders have spent years campaigning for more protection on Darlinghurst’s busy six-lane road, so they were thrilled when construction on the cycleway began earlier this year. While it’s not finished yet, the nature of the project has meant that cyclists are already putting peddle to the metal on some completed sections of the path. They may be stopped in their tracks soon, though, as some Paddington locals, including former City of Sydney councillor Kathryn Greiner, contend that the path is discriminatory to senior citizens and people with a disability – their issue is the "floating bus stops".
A floating bus stop is essentially a bus stand that’s sandwiched in between the road and a bike path, meaning pedestrians need to cross over the bike lane to get there from the footpath.
While there are zebra crossings there for pedestrians to cross the bike lanes to the bus stops, a complaint has been lodged with the Human Rights Commission arguing that the paths still aren’t safe enough, as pedestrians have had near-misses with zippy cyclists on the path. They are pleading for construction to halt.
Eighty-year-old Paddington resident Michael Waterhouse became concerned about the path when he was nearly involved in an accident with a cyclist – even though he admits he was at fault, because he was looking down at his phone at the time. He told the Sydney Morning Herald, “It was my fault. But I realised this could happen to anybody of a certain age. The more I looked into it, the more I thought, ‘This is bizarre’. I’m really concerned about it.
“The whole cycling thing is good on one level. Unfortunately there are a number of cyclists who will cause problems. The demographic of Paddington is getting older. There are a lot of people around who I think will be affected.”
The Commission hasn’t confirmed if they've explored conciliation, but Transport NSW said they had already consulted the Accessible Transport Advisory Committee to assess the safety of the bus stops before they began construction on the bike path.
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