Bikeability Toolkit
The Bikeability Toolkit includes checklists and resource materials that will help create physical and social environments to encourage cycling.
How do I use this Toolkit?
How you use this Toolkit will depend on your particular situation.
- If you are doing a full review of your LGA’s bike plan or preparing a new bike plan
- you may wish to start with the Detailed LGA Checklist, then
- to assess key links in your route network, use the Route Based Checklist.
- If you want a quick assessment of your local area, you can use the Brief LGA Checklist.
- If you simply want to assess a particular route you can go straight to the Route Based Checklist.
Downloads
The Excel checklists contain macros. You will need to enable macros to use the interactive features of the checklists.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view these files - PDF help
The Bikeability Toolkit is available for downloading in two formats - as interactive Microsoft Excel files, and as PDF files that can be printed and filled in offline.
Brief LGA Checklist
The Brief LGA Checklist is designed to provide a basic review of cycling within a municipality. It allows individual cyclists or various groups from BUGs through to Local Government, to identify areas where improvement can be made to encourage and promote cycling.
- Download the Brief LGA Checklist as an Excel file - updated September 2006
(briefchecklist.xls - 365KB) - Download the Brief LGA Checklist as a PDF file (briefchecklist.pdf - 59KB)
Detailed LGA Checklist
The Detailed LGA Checklist is designed to provide an extensive review of cycling within a municipality. It will allow local governments or other organisations to assess their strengths and identify areas where improvement can be made to encourage and promote cycling. The checklist will ask questions, provide information to assist in answering these questions and downloadable resources are available for further information.
- Download the Detailed LGA Checklist as an Excel file - updated September 2006
(detailedchecklist.xls - 408KB) - Download the Detailed LGA Checklist as a PDF file (detailedchecklist.pdf - 114KB)
Route Based Checklist
The Route Based checklist is designed to review a specific route within a municipality. It will allow local government or other organisations to identify any issues that may exist and highlight where improvement can be made for different categories of cyclists. It is recommended that you review this checklist, ride the route (‘saddle survey’), then complete the checklist.
- Download the Route Based Checklist as an Excel file (routebasedchecklist.xls - 747KB)
- Download the Route Based Checklist as a PDF file (routebasedchecklist.pdf - 84KB)
Resources
Resources with numbers are those referred to in the Detailed LGA Checklist. Other resources listed contain useful links and information to provide further guidance and assistance.
- Major resources - updated September 2006
- Additional resources - updated September 2006
- Glossary - updated September 2006
By completing the checklists you will identify issues to be addressed. You can then use the resources to suggest possible improvements. Carrying out these improvements will involve sourcing funding and prioritising expenditure.
About the Bikeability Toolkit
The Bikeability Toolkit includes checklists and resource materials that will help create physical and social environments to encourage cycling. The resource materials include references, guidelines and other resources to assist in the implementation of local bikeability audits and actions.
Local Government is a vital stakeholder in providing supportive environments for cycling. The Bikeability Toolkit will provide guidance, information and help communities and local government to assess the bikeability of their community. They will be able to develop better integrated cycle planning, policies and implementation strategies.
This will result in safety improvements, enhanced access to cycling, changes in modal share of short trips from car to bicycle, improved liveability and increased physical activity through active transport.
Aims of the Bikeability Toolkit
- To provide a simple, easy to use checklist that identifies barriers and opportunities to create physical environments which encourage cycling, and provides further resources
- To allow local government to assess its strengths and identify areas where improvement can be made to encourage and promote cycling
- To provide ideas and ‘easy to access’ resources for further information
Who should use the Bikeability Toolkit?
| Local Government | Traffic engineers, planners, councillors, sustainability officers |
|---|---|
| State Government | Infrastructure planners, road authorities, education authorities, bodies funding TravelSmart programs, greenhouse offices |
| Developers | Town planners, urban designers, traffic engineers, property developers |
| Community | Local BUG groups, community groups, concerned residents – to provide input to Councils |
Why cycle?
Cycling, whether for transportation or recreation, is a great way to get some exercise.
It’s good for the environment, and saves money.
| Particular benefits include: | |
|---|---|
| Reduced traffic congestion | Energy conservation |
| Reduced parking problems | More liveable communities |
| Road and parking facility cost savings | Increased health and fitness |
| Reduced crash risk to other road users | Consumer cost savings |
| Improved mobility options for non-drivers | Improved public spaces where people interact |
| Support for local area sustainability objectives | Air and noise pollution reductions |
For further details about the benefits of cycling refer to:
http://www.austroads.com.au/abc/
Acknowledgements
This toolkit was prepared by the Bicycle Federation of Australia (BFA) for the Australian Greenhouse Office in the Department of the Environment and Heritage, with the endorsement of the Australian Bicycle Council.
The BFA acknowledges significant contributions by Suellen Paton to the design of the toolkit, and Effect Media for the design of the interactive checklists.