Moore tells the Tele to get #onyerbike

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph found some statistics which it though would be helpful in its war against the bicycle and Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

The historically and hysterically anti-cycling Murdoch tabloid ran with an emotive headline, "Sydney's message to Lord Mayor Clover Moore - we're over your bikes", featuring statistics from the latest New South Wales Bureau of Transport which suggest a decline in trips taken by bicycle.

The NSW Bureau of Transport Statistic's 2013 household travel report found bike trips dropped 5.9 per cent since 2001 across the greater city. Meanwhile, car travel increased 6.2 per cent, pedestrian trips soared 15.8 per cent and public transport trips rose 19.8 per cent.

However the report was largely focused on, cars, public transport (buses and trains) and walking, and in what was a bit of a buried lead, the statistics were for "...the greater city", not just Sydney, as Moore pointed out on Twitter, diluting the impact of the article.

Of course this differs from a range of earlier cycling specific surveys which suggest an increase in cycling as a mode of transport and a corresponding demand for better infrastructure.

Even the Premiers own recently commissioned report into transport in Sydney gave cycling a big tick and validated the Lord Mayors approach for the city - an awkward moment for a State Government which came to power vowing to return the city to a motoring paradise. Surprisingly, the Premier and his transport and roads ministers accepted the fact based findings. Albeit grudgingly.

On radio on Thursday, Mr Gay said he was ''the greatest bike lane sceptic in the government". "Even the sceptics have to accept that we need a proper network that is sensibly laid out,'' he added. Mr Gay said if the government had not acted, lord mayor Clover Moore would have put bike lanes everywhere. ''You know she can't control herself on these things". I'm sure it was much to the dismay of the Daily Telegraph.

Mayor Moore is a canny political survivor and a champion for what I think is a better city, so I loved her response to the Tele's misaimed buckshot, turning to cyclists on Twitter to send the tabloid a message.

If you're riding today, let the @dailytelegraph know - where you're riding & why? Use the hashtag #onyerbike— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) September 17, 2013

Here is a sample:

What do you think of the Daily Telegraph's campaign?

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