Riding two abreast may become a thing of the past in Perth with new guidelines Credit:iStock "As a cyclist, I don't feel a lot of love from motorists... compared to other cities, particularly Europe, there's less tolerance here." Mr Neal recalled a time when travelling through Spain when he realised the "day and night" difference between Perth and European cities. "I remember cycling in the mountains in Spain, and we were riding up this big mountain and these cars kept honking at us and I said to the guy I was with, 'do we need to get off the road?' and he said, 'you're an idiot, actually have a look at what they're doing'," he said. "When I looked around they were actually cheering us and were all happy and smiling saying, 'go, go get up there' in Spanish."

"In Perth we're a vehicle-based city – it's a bit frustrating." Mr Neal also commented on the lack of cycling options and infrastructure connectivity when travelling through the CBD, a notion fellow cyclist, Stewart Watkins agreed with. "Perth is a great place to cycle around - it's got beautiful rivers and beaches and there are a lot of paths... but I think as a commuting or sporting cycling city, it's not so great," Mr Watkins said. "We need to improve on driving behaviour and the connectiveness of the infrastructure. "I think getting mixed-mode transportation would be a great thing so people, rather than driving two kilometres to the train station parking, they ride a bike two kilometres and then get on the train.

"Promoting E-bikes (pedal-assist motorised bicycles) would also be a great way to go." The Smarter Travel article claimed Perth still had "a long way to go" as it mostly has shared paths with cyclists and pedestrians, but that it's weather and scenic pathways made cycling "very popular". "Bike commuting is becoming more popular with park and ride facilities at many train stations, bike parking areas, lockers, racks, and paths that run along transport routes," the article said. For the 600,000 Perth cyclists who ride weekly, the state of the city's cycling infrastructure was slammed in an October report by the Attorney General which described it as incomplete, lacking connectivity and having undesirable safety levels. The report was followed in March by an RAC survey that found nearly half of cyclists were afraid to share the road with cars.

But WestCycle chairman Neil Hackett said Perth's cycling infrastructure was above most other Australian capital cities, and that the number of cyclists riding regularly was steadily increasing. "There seem to be a lot of stories saying we've got a terrible infrastructure for cycling and I think they're often presented by people that haven't been to any other cities," he said. "We're definitely getting better. "The biggest burning issue is that we now, with the Northern Territory, are the only two states that don't have minimum passing legislation." Mr Hackett is lobbying for a minimum vehicle pass distance of one metre in speed zones of 60 kilometres an hour and under, and 1.5 metres in zones more than 60 kilometres an hour.

Meanwhile, a new code of conduct by the cycling body could also see restrictions on group cycling implemented. The Sunday Times reported the code has guidelines to encourage cycle group riding two abreast, to change to single file when traffic is backed up. The code would also limit the number of people cycling in a group to 30 and would support the passing rule of one to 1.5 metres depending on the speed zone. WA Greens Senator said the city was enforcing "world's worst practice" by leaving cyclists unprotected sharing the road in high speed motorised traffic, or using bike lanes that are "either poorly marked or don't exist at all". He said although featuring on the Smarter Rider best cycling cities ranking was an "encouragement award" for the city, more still needed to be done.

"The big problem that we found when we did the bike vision study, is that the network isn't a network, it's incredibly patchy, and there's places where its broken and really dangerous which is why a lot of people still don't cycle," Mr Ludlam said. In 2015, the Barnett government allocated $75 million over four years to improve safety and bike network connectivity for West Australians. The funding included $34 million for major cycling projects associated with road projects and $37 million for local government grants and principal shared paths. The Office of the Auditor General report released in October found less than half the planned cycling network for Perth had been completed and only 15 per cent of cycling infrastructure in the past 10 years had been spent on priority routes. At the time, Auditor General Colin Murphy said Perth cyclists were among the community's most vulnerable road users and that incomplete networks had led some cyclists to hang up their bikes.

"Critically, many of the gaps are on priority routes along railway lines and freeways, and within the busy CBD and as a result, cyclists must choose alternate, less safe routes, or choose not to cycle," he said. "Additionally, local roads and paths, provided and maintained by local councils, vary in design and level of maintenance, creating conflicting and less safe conditions for cycling." Under the new state government blueprint for Perth's cycling network, improvements will be made to a number of cycling areas, including lines along the Fremantle and Midland train lines, the Mitchell Freeway and Roe Highway, before 2019.