PERTH City Council is pressing to have state legislation introduced to control the activities of bicycle couriers.
At council’s June 27 meeting councillors voiced their concern at the behaviour of bicycle couriers on the CBD’s footpaths.
Councillor Michael Sutherland said it was a disgrace the way bicycle couriers conducted themselves in the city.
He said he had nearly been hit by bicycle couriers on several occasions.
“We were told the police bike squad would be policing bicycle couriers but that has not occurred,” Mr Sutherland said.
“I am not too optimistic a resolution to this can be found.”
Councillor Bert Tudori said it was not council’s role to police bicycle couriers even though they needed “pulling into gear”. He said people often expected to do a job that was essentially that of the police.
Councillor Laurance Goodman said the police seemed more interested in giving people tickets for jay walking than dealing with the couriers.
Council is keen to take part in a meeting with the police, the courier companies and other city stakeholders.
It is also looking at how other Australian capital cities deal with bicycle couriers.
However, councillors do not want to ban bicycle couriers from city streets. After all, they play an important part in day to day business.
Councillor Judy McEvoy believes the couriers should be numbered for identification purposes.
“The police will tell us that a lot of bike couriers are backpackers who don’t know the rules,” Mrs McEvoy said.
“That’s not good enough.”
