Even so, as The Sydney Morning Herald has noted, the Minister for Roads, Duncan Gay, seems to have found plenty not to like about cycling and cyclists over the years. We have gone so far as to remind him that people who ride bicycles have real and legitimate needs. They can't be treated as if they were an eternal loony fringe group for the amusement of right wing entertainers and their audiences.

There has been progress. In 2013 the minister acknowledged that the number of people riding to work in metropolitan Sydney had increased by 50 per cent since 2006. The state government reported that 70 per cent of NSW residents said they would like to ride a bike more for everyday transport, and would do so if it was made safer and more convenient.

The government has been investing in separated cycleways and other cycling infrastructure: $39 million this financial year, and another $80 million announced in the June budget to deliver priority projects over the next four years, including a bike ramp up to the northern end of the Harbour Bridge. In the two years from 2015, some 228 kilometres of on- and off-road cycleways are due to be added in NSW.

Cycling for everyday transport is beyond ready to go mainstream, so what's holding it back? The construction of cycling lanes has stalled, and last September the government abandoned its target of doubling the number of trips made by bicycle in Sydney. A target is embarrassing if it's clear you're not going to meet it, or perhaps the government was concerned about cyclists' safety.

That, at least, is the rationale for the heavy increase in fines for cycling offences such as riding without a helmet or running a red light which came into effect in March this year. These have proved highly effective as revenue raisers - $1.3 million so far. Mr Gay says he doesn't care about the revenue, only about improving safety. Statistics on cycling injuries due out soon will measure the success of this strategy. It's interesting, though, that so many fines have been issued to cyclists, yet so few fines have been issued to motorists for failing to pass riders at a safe distance (only 15 fined so far).