Bayside City Council's trial on reserving the left-hand lane for cyclists, so they need not weave into traffic to avoid parked cars, will expire next month but is set to become permanent. The no-parking rule is already implemented by neighbouring Port Phillip Council, while Kingston Council has implemented the trial ban which ends next month. Beach Road Cyclist spokesman Marcel Lema, whose group first called for a parking ban in 2002, said the trial had been a huge success and proved cyclists and drivers could share the road effectively. ''The improvement has been amazing,'' he said. ''From a visual increase, there are many more women taking up riding and parents with their kids, and you just never saw that previously. ''From a safety perspective, they were two groups who were reluctant to get on the road, but now it's great to see.''

Mr Lema rides Beach Road as a cyclist, but has found he is rarely called to the area on weekends in his job as a paramedic, when previously he saw plenty of ''nasty, nasty accidents'' there. Bayside mayor Alex del Porto said he initially voted against implementing the trial because he shared residents' concerns that reduced parking and more cyclists meant ''amenities would suffer''. But Cr del Porto said the trial had been successful and that given the chance, he would support it continuing. Loading ''It looks like a success now given the residents, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers seem to be supportive of it. I don't think it's going to solve all the issues because drivers need to take more care, cyclists need to take more care,'' he said. ''It is an issue that will continue to bubble along, but at least we're tackling some of the infrastructure challenges.''

Bayside has devoted funding towards extending the off-road bike path in Beaumaris. It is also considering plans to ban all heavy vehicles from Beach Road and pushing for the speed limit to be reduced from 60km/h to 50km/h. It has asked Kingston and Port Phillip to consider the proposals.