Melbourne Cyclist Ends Lobbying Effort After Years of Limited Progress

Hayden Lavigne, 27, announced on April 7 that he was shutting down a community group he started to advocate for improved walking and cycling conditions near his home 14 km from Melbourne's central business district. Lavigne said repeated requests to local council for connected bike lanes and safer crossings had produced no results.

He wrote that politicians appeared unwilling to reduce on-street parking despite existing active-transport strategies.

Lavigne grew up in Melbourne's south-east where most trips require a car. He never obtained a driver's licence and has chosen not to drive in order to lower his transport-related emissions. He observed gaps in footpaths, abrupt ends to bike lanes, and missing connections that made short trips difficult without a vehicle.

On a Friday night in April, participants in the monthly Critical Mass ride in Melbourne called for protected bike lanes on Sydney Road ahead of an upcoming rail project that will close an existing bike path. A 2019 council request to the Victorian Department of Transport for a trial of protected lanes and removal of parking spaces on a section of the road has not been answered.

The Victorian government released an active-transport plan this year that sets a target of 25 percent of all trips to be walked or cycled by 2030. The current share of active-transport trips is about 18 percent. The state budget allocated $7.5 million for active-transport infrastructure.

Infrastructure Victoria estimates that completing 16 priority segments of the strategic cycling corridor network would cost between $520 million and $660 million over ten years. A Department of Transport spokesperson stated that hundreds of kilometres of new and upgraded paths have been delivered, with additional projects planned through 2035.

Last year, 49 cyclists died on Australian roads, above the average of about 38 deaths per year recorded between 2012 and 2023.