Only about 2.7% of Greater Sydney workers rode a bike or walked to work on the last Census day — and cycling alone is a sliver of that. Most Sydneysiders don’t ride to work because the trips feel too far, too hilly, or too sweaty in a business shirt. The honest answer is that our streets and our bikes were never really built for it. Change the bike — add a motor — and most of those excuses quietly disappear.
At Cyberbikes on Parramatta Road in Leichhardt, we watch it happen most weeks: someone test-rides an e-bike, realises the hill they dreaded is now flat, and starts leaving the car at home. Here’s the data behind why so few of us ride to work — and why that is about to change.
Why do so few Sydneysiders ride to work?
Australia is a nation of drivers. Over half of the working population drove to work on 2021 Census day, while active travel barely registered. In Greater Sydney, just 2.7% rode a bike or walked, according to the City of Sydney community travel-to-work profile. Even in the dense inner city, the combined bike-and-walk share only reaches about 10.8%.
Ask people why and you hear the same three reasons: distance, hills, and sweat. Sydney sprawls, its topography is relentlessly lumpy, and nobody wants to walk into a 9am meeting dripping. Add patchy, disconnected bike lanes and the car wins by default. None of those barriers are about willingness — they are about effort.
How many short Sydney trips could be bike trips?
Here is the part that should stop every transport planner in their tracks: most car trips in Sydney are short. The Committee for Sydney found that more than 6 million trips shorter than 5 km are driven across Greater Sydney every day, and over 2 million of those are under 2 km. Research presented to the Australasian Transport Research Forum similarly found roughly 58% of Sydney trips are under 5 km and nearly 30% under 2 km.
Two kilometres is a seven-minute ride. Five kilometres is a comfortable fifteen. These are not epic journeys that demand a car and a parking space — they are the school run, the station, the shops, the office across the suburb. We are using two tonnes of metal to move one person a couple of kilometres, and it is clogging our roads doing it.
Can an e-bike really remove the barriers?
Yes — an e-bike attacks all three barriers at once. Pedal-assist adds a motor to your own effort, so hills flatten, distance shrinks, and you arrive without the sweat. That is the entire point of the technology.
Take our Cyberbikes Centauro, built for exactly this: a 250W rear hub motor, a UL 2271-certified 48V 25Ah (1200Wh) Samsung battery for genuine long-range commuting, full suspension for Sydney’s rough back streets, and a welded rear rack rated to 50 kg for panniers or groceries. It is $3,999 outright, or from $99.99 a week rent-to-own if you would rather ease into it.
And it is fully legal. In NSW, a pedal-assist e-bike with a motor up to 250W that cuts assistance at 25 km/h needs no licence, no registration and no insurance — you ride it exactly like a bicycle. For the short trips that make up most of Sydney’s driving, an e-bike can close Sydney’s frustrating last-mile gap between home, transport and work.
What would change if Sydney rode to work more?
Shift even a fraction of those 6 million short car trips onto bikes and the payoff compounds. Roads clear, because a bike takes roughly a tenth of the space of a car. Transport emissions fall — a ride produces none at the tailpipe. Household budgets recover, since an e-bike costs cents to charge against the thousands a second car swallows each year. And the streets get quieter, cooler and more pleasant to be in.
None of this asks everyone to give up their car tomorrow. It just asks the short trips — the ones that really belong on an e-bike — to move. That is the easiest mode shift Sydney has available, and the technology to do it is already sitting in our Leichhardt showroom.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to ride an e-bike to work in Sydney?
Yes. In NSW a pedal-assist e-bike with a motor up to 250W that stops assisting at 25 km/h needs no licence, registration or insurance. You ride it like a normal bicycle on roads and cycleways.
How far can you realistically commute by e-bike in Sydney?
Most people comfortably ride 10 to 15 km each way with pedal assist. The Cyberbikes Centauro’s 48V 25Ah (1200Wh) Samsung battery covers typical Sydney commutes on a single charge, so range is rarely the limit.
Do you arrive sweaty when you ride an e-bike to work?
Far less than on a regular bike. The motor carries the load on hills and headwinds, so you can ride at a relaxed pace in work clothes and arrive fresh.
Swap one car commute a week for an e-bike ride and see what changes. If you are curious what going car-lighter would look like for you, come and test-ride at Cyberbikes, 281 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt — the Centauro is a good place to start.
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