Getting around

e know WA is a big place, so we need a lot of road to help us travel around it. WA is home to more than 20 per cent of all the roads in Australia, even though our population makes up just over 10 per cent of the entire country.

Our coastline, excluding islands, stretches more than 12,000km while Perth's metro area, at more than 120km, is one of the longest in the world.

So many roads, so many cars. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 WA's population was approximately 2.6 million. That means we have around one light vehicle - including cars, motorcycles and trailers - per person, kids included.

The average passenger vehicle in Perth travels 11,000km a year, even more than a Sydney driver (10,000km a year) according to an ABS survey, However, collectively, when you include passenger vehicles, motorbikes, commercial vehicles, trucks and buses, Sydney drivers travel further than Perth drivers at 35.2 billion km. Yes, billion. Either way, it's a lot of time spent in a car.

WA is a pretty flat place, which is something that benefits WA cyclists, whether they like to trundle, commute or race in packs. Over the past couple of years, the number of people riding a bike every week in WA has risen fast. As cycling infrastructure continues to improve and e-bikes slowly become a bigger part of the commuting landscape, that number is expected to continue heading upwards.

Sources: PTA Annual Report, Austroads, Australian infrastructure statistics yearbook 2016