Bicycle Barometers
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A number of bicycle friendly cities around the world have installed 'Bicycle Barometers' to help promote bike riding.
A new form of promotion that Bicycle Victoria would like to see is public bicycle counters that count all bicycles that pass a certain point each day. These would make passing drivers realise how many riders are using the route and will assist in promoting bike riding as an everyday means of transport.
Cities where these bicycle counters have been installed include Stockholm, Malmo (Sweden), Christianson (Norway), Bolzano (Italy) and Odense (Denmark) while BikePortland (USA) are campaigning for one to be installed.
The Malmo bike counter is reset each day while there is a second column showing the sum of bike riders that have passed for the year. You can even refill your tires next to the bike counter!
Melbourne will have a challenge on it's hands if it is to compete with the likes of Malmo for bike riding numbers. The bicycle counter clocked 1,000,000 riders within 6 months of being installed. This is even more amazing considering Malmo has a population of only 270,000 people!
We would like to see at least one counter installed on a major bicycle route in Melbourne. The location needs to be on a route that both bike riders and non-bike riders use. This will help to make passersby aware of how many riders are using the route and will assist in promoting bike riding as an everyday means of transport.
Paths that we believe would be suitable are:
