The idea for a community bike hub came from a conversation with members of the South Fremantle Corner Pocket- the local Town Team! The group, together with other locals, addressed a lack of bike parking in the area. South Terrace is a very popular and busy place with multiple cafes, bars and restaurants. The issue was especially notable during the weekends with bikes being locked up on every available pole or piece of furniture.
Problem / Description
The group started exploring solutions for a dedicated bike parking facility. They wanted to have the bike parking infrastructure, designed and constructed in a creative way inspired by ideas from the local community.
After identifying a location - South Terrace corner near Harbour Road, outside La Cabana, and close to several other bars, restaurants and shops - the Town Team approached RAC WA via Town Team Movement with the general concept, the project was born.
The Bike Hub was officially opened on 30 October 2022 with the South Freo Bike Party activation event, with over 1,500 in attendance. The launch event saw part of South Terrace closed to traffic and created a people friendly zone where the community could safely celebrate, connect and engage.
Entire process from concept to realisation including footpath mural took almost 12 months, from March 2022 to February 2023.
- Creating a project plan, building relationships with stakeholders, liaising with funders and appointing contractors.
- Stakeholder engagement and concept design- stakeholder support was critical for this project. The outcome of the stakeholder engagement workshop was an initial brief for a designer who could then take the brief and create some design concepts.
- Community engagement and concept design approval - survey plus face-to-face community consultation using dotmocracy style, was another important element for the final design and support for the project. Community engagement took place during the PorchFest event.
- Detailed design and construction submitted to council for approval- process took longer than expected, mainly due to parklet policy and wording use in the design.
- Installation phase
- Launch event - South Freo Bike Party part of South Terrace closed to traffic with a range of activations for everyone including trishaw rides, painting colourful crossing, bubbles, bike mechanics and DJ.
- Mural design and installation - last element was a footpath mural (street mural wasn't supported by the council) that included community consultation, concept design, council approval and installation with the community taking part in.
The Bike Hub community consultation clearly indicated concerns around road safety, lack of bike parking and strong support for the bike hub idea. Moreover a lack of designated bike parking was a significant inhibitor of utilising active transport.
"What currently deters you from using active transport in South Fremantle?"
- Feeling Unsafe/Road Safety (40.5%)
- Lack of Bike Parking (29.9%)
- Risk of Bike Theft (19%)
- Other
Following the completion of the project, in February 2023 an evaluation survey was conducted with 112 responses received. Top most appreciated features of the bike hub were bike parking, bike maintenance repair kit, seating, shade, and using it as a meeting place. A surprisingly lower rated feature was scooter and eRideable parking.
Since the bike hub was installed in October 2022, staff at La Cabana have been keeping track of the usage of the Bike Hub and have noted the following:
- The Bike Hub is almost always fully utilised at busy times, with all the bike parking being occupied Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evenings
- People use it every day to park bikes
- The bike maintenance kit is used every day, sometimes at least five times a day on busy days
- People use it daily to sit and have a coffee or eat lunch, often buying food from local businesses such as the bakery and enjoy the seating and shade
- It is used as a meeting place.
This project clearly contributed to community wellbeing by encouraging active transport and connectedness, as well as benefited local economic development. The evaluation survey showed two thirds of respondents agree that it encourages them to use active transport more frequently.
Lessons Learnt
- Be prepared for delays, mainly in council approval process
- Build relationships with the council
- Ask questions, seek advice
