Before the 1970s global oil crisis, city planners in Copenhagen were considering removing bike lanes. Bicycles were considered outdated now car was king, and just 10% of locals were cycling regularly.<\/p>\n
But as economic shock waves reverberated around the world, Denmark, which almost entirely relied on imported oil, took a dramatic U-turn, with citizens staging mass protests in the middle of highways demanding better cycling infrastructure.<\/p>\n
From 1975 until 1985, Copenhagen\u2019s bicycle network expanded at the fastest rate in its history, and today, around 60% of Copenhageners use a bike to commute to work or study.<\/p>\n
As another oil shock caused by war in the Middle East<\/a> rattles the globe, Sydneysiders are taking inspiration from the Danes and turning to bicycles<\/a> to alleviate pain at the bowser.<\/p>\n There were 600,000 bike-sharing trips in the City of Sydney<\/a> in March, a council spokesperson says \u2013 a 25% increase on the previous month. At the same time, thousands of cars have disappeared from Sydney\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n \u201cLast month, many of our bike counters recorded slight increases and their highest numbers of trips since we installed new counters six months ago,\u201d the spokesperson says.<\/p>\n \u2018Fuel prices went crazy\u2019<\/p>\n Inner-west resident Jacinta Peperkamp is among a growing cohort of people who are relying on their bike due to eye-watering fuel costs. \u201cWe haven\u2019t used our car since fuel prices went crazy,\u201d the single mother of two says.<\/p>\n With her cargo ebike and her 11-year-old son\u2019s electric bike, they\u2019ve been able to rely on mixed transport, taking their bikes on the train when travelling further afield.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m kicking myself for having not bought an electric car already,\u2019 says Peperkamp. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n She says before the war in Iran, if it wasn\u2019t a \u201cdirect easy bike ride, I wouldn\u2019t have dreamed of doing it\u201d. Now, they\u2019ve been transiting as far as western Sydney on their bikes, and noticed others doing the same.<\/p>\n \u201cThe initial motivation [to get an ebike] was more environmental,\u201d she says. \u201cBut now it\u2019s definitely a cost-of-living thing. I\u2019m kicking myself for having not bought an electric car already.\u201d<\/p>\n New South Wales government data shows car traffic fell by around 5% in March compared with the previous year on major arterial roads in Sydney, including Pennant Hills Road and Parramatta Road.<\/p>\n The same month, the newly opened Oxford Street cycleway had almost 100,000 uses, according to Transport<\/a> for NSW (TfNSW) figures, while the Bourke Street cycleway in Redfern had 134,254 \u2013 almost triple that of the same time last year (53,928).<\/p>\n Bike rides are constantly tallied by Sydney\u2019s network of automatic counters<\/a>, which were installed by councils and TfNSW.<\/p>\n Last Wednesday alone, more than 4,500 bike trips were recorded along Darlinghurst\u2019s Oxford Street \u2013 the highest count since the new cycleway opened last July.<\/p>\n Longer term, figures provided by TfNSW show cycling rates almost doubled in the Sydney CBD last month compared with the same time last year (496,516 counts compared with 288,907) and rose in the adjacent suburbs of Paddington (26,065 compared with 17,215) and Eveleigh, where the count leapt from 15,011 to 71,151.<\/p>\n Other areas, including Parramatta in western Sydney, and the northern beaches, remained stable.<\/p>\n Table showing the most popular cycling paths in Sydney in March 2026. Illustration: Transport for NSW\u2018Pulling the trigger\u2019 and going electric<\/p>\n Bike retailers say much like during the start of the coronavirus pandemic<\/a>, business has been booming.<\/p>\n At 99 Bikes, ebike sales surged by 136% year on year in the past week, indicating a \u201cclear shift\u201d in consumer mindsets, according to Australia and New Zealand\u2019s general manager, David Miller-Heidke.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing a significant sales uplift for commuter bikes, ebikes and escooters over the past few weeks, coinciding with the recent spike in fuel prices,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people who were previously considering an ebike have now pulled the trigger, viewing it as a long-term cost-of-living fix.\u201d<\/p>\n The owner and manager of bike shop Omafiets in Sydney, Chris Moore, says his customers have also been flocking to entry-level ebikes and cargo bikes, alongside an uptick in people dusting off their old pedal bikes to be serviced.<\/p>\n double quotation markHigh petrol prices are a nudge for people to reconsider how much they need to be driving, especially in the dense inner-Sydney suburbsChris Moore<\/p>\n He says Sydneysiders have been coming into his store who\u2019ve \u201cexplicitly said that high petrol prices are the reason they\u2019re purchasing a bicycle or ebike\u201d.<\/p>\n According to Australian Automobile Association (AAA) data<\/a>, in the last quarter of 2025, the average Australian household spent about $453 per week on car-running costs, including loan repayments ($214) and fuel ($94).<\/p>\n