On yer bike: Competitive cyclist Karlo Bozic said riding to work was the perfect way to beat the stress, beat the clock, get healthy and save some money. Picture: Gene Ramirez
A NEW report reveals Parramatta as the fifth most miserly city for bicycle expenditure.
The Bicycle Network investigated the budgets of 100 councils throughout Australia for the report.
It found that 54 councils failed to meet the threshold requirement of $5 per resident for 2012, including Parramatta, which had a BiXE rating of $1.60.
Parramatta Council contested this.
The network said the compilers reached their figure by working out how much the council spent on providing bicycle infrastructure for the community — in Parramatta's case, $280,000 — in relation to the size of the population — 174,554.
The council said the report failed to include state and federal government funding, which the report acknowledged as a possibility.
A council spokeswoman said: "In the last financial year, we received $3,732,000 in state funding that enabled us to achieve large-scale shared path link projects, such as Ermington Bay Nature Trail, Pike Road to Subiaco Creek and 1 Park Road.
"We also installed bike parking at centres throughout the Parramatta local government area."
She said the council planned to continue work on the Baludarri Wetlands and to begin work on any endorsed draft proposals, and was looking forward to completing the Liveable Cities project.
She said this had $3.75 million of federal funding associated with it for this year and next.
"These and the above projects will see a complete shared path link from Westmead to Sydney Olympic Park," the spokeswoman said.
Parramatta Cycling Club member Karlo Bozic said Parramatta should be doing more to promote cycling as a way of getting to work.
"As far as infrastructure, there's only Parramatta Park," he said.
A firefighter, Mr Bozic rides 10 kilometres from his home in Merrylands to Smithfield fire station, but used to commute to Parramatta station.
"It took me about 30 minutes," he said. "By car it was anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour.
"Aside from the health benefit, you don't have to worry about parking when you ride."
In Parramatta City, 16,481 people, or 22.2 per cent of the population, live and work in the area. Only 300 ride their bicycle to work.