Interpac Business and Migration Solutions Melbourne Australia

(July.22)

MELBOURNE is not only Australia's cycling capital, according to the Baillieu government - it's one of the top cities for riding a bicycle on the planet.

Tourism Minister Louise Asher yesterday unveiled the state's four-year plan to snare a bigger share of Australia's burgeoning international cycling tourism market, and named Melbourne the nation's first ''bike city''.

Ms Asher said the Union Cycliste Internationale - the world governing body for sports cycling - had named Melbourne as only the second nominated ''bike city'' in the world, after Copenhagen in 2007.

Russell Collett (left) and Dan Hale have both ridden with Cadel Evans. Photo: Joe Armao

The Switzerland-based union's criteria for the designation include the city's international reputation, and its plan to develop cycling.

Ms Asher said the recognition would increase participation, interest and enthusiasm for cycling at every level across Victoria.

Lord mayor Robert Doyle said Melbourne was becoming ''a true cycling city'', and a plan to redevelop Swanston Street would increase the number of cyclists in the CBD.

Melbourne will host next April the prestigious Track Cycling World Championships, the final qualifying event for London's Olympic Games. Recognition now as a bike city, Cr Doyle said, would highlight the cycle-friendliness of the city.

According to the 2006 Census, Melbourne was no ''cycling city'' half a decade ago, with 1.3 per cent of Melburnians riding to work. This has likely grown, but by how much is not clear.

Cycling groups were more wary of the Bike City recognition than Cr Doyle, with one group welcoming it but warning it should mean a speeding up of bike infrastructure funding; another dismissed it as ''spin''.

Bicycle Victoria spokesman Garry Brennan said naming Melbourne a cycling city ''creates high community expectations that the investment in bike infrastructure will be accelerated''. ''We have a long way to go to match Copenhagen,'' Mr Brennan said, though the announcement ''shows ambition.''

Nik Dow, of the Melbourne Bicycle Users Group, said Ms Asher's trumpeting of Melbourne as a bike city was ironic, because her government recently cut VicRoads' spending on bike facilities.