Converting on-street car parking into bike racks could be a gold mine for inner suburban businesses based on an analysis by Australia’s top transport research authority.

In its two reports out this week, Austroads, the research body representing Australian road authorities including Main Roads WA, assessed dozens of case studies to identify ways to encourage more people to cycle.

It found adequate bike parking was a key way to encourage bicycle trips, particularly in heavily congested inner-urban areas.

In 2008, the City of Melbourne changed two street parking spaces in Lygon Street, Carlton, to a corral for 24 bikes at a cost of $30,500.

An evaluation several years later found it generated four times more spending at local businesses than if the space was used for cars – $4042 a day compared with $994.

The report said bicycle corrals were…