The administration of the Adelaide City Council is under fire from candidates for its behaviour during the election campaign, which ends tomorrow.

City councillor Ann Moran today accused the council administration of an “unwise” interjection in the Lord Mayoral race after it released new data on the controversial Frome Street bikeway.

And a spokesperson for Lord Mayoral candidate Martin Haese said he was “questioning” several decisions of council administration during the caretaker period.

These include the decision to launch the redeveloped Rundle Mall last Friday, release of data on the Frome Street bikeway and the issuing of statements concerning food trucks.

Lord Mayoral candidate Kelly Henderson told InDaily she believed the release of the Frome Street data constituted the latest of several breaches of caretaker policy by council administration.

Henderson gave the example of a meeting of council administration and “some councillors” on October 3 at the Chifley Hotel concerning the ongoing debate about the parklands dry zone. She did not attend the meeting, but says she was not notified of it in advance.

“Council is prohibited from holding any public meeting s during an election period,” she said.

“They should have directed the CEO that such a meeting could not be held.”

A spokesperson for the council said the community meeting was not in breach of caretaker provisions.

Adelaide City Council’s caretaker policy reads: “Community meetings arranged or lead by Council will not be held during an ‘election period’”.

The furore started today after the council released the results of an October survey which showed that the Frome Street bikeway had transformed the traffic mix on the street, with cyclists flocking to the protection of the separated bike lanes during peak times.

The survey shows that during the morning and afternoon peak times cyclists represent about 16 per cent of the total traffic on Frome Street. On other city streets during the peak, cyclists represent only 2-3 per cent of the total traffic.

“Up to” 1000 cyclists are using the bikeway daily – an increase of 50 per cent from before the bikeway was installed in May 2014.

The release of these facts one day before the council vote closes annoyed Moran so much she called council CEO Peter Smith to complain.

Moran, a vocal opponent of the engineering of the bike lanes, told FIVEaa this morning that it was inappropriate for the administration to release the data, given the bikeway in its current form was only supported by one of the Lord Mayoral candidates (incumbent Stephen Yarwood).

“I think to have anything about the bike lanes during the voting period is unwise,” she said. “I think it could be perceived as supporting certain candidates.”

She also said the elected councillors needed to wrest back control of the project from the administration.

“The councillors are at fault for letting the administration have the lead on this,” she said.

A council spokesperson said the “early observations of the use of the bikeway are encouraging”.

“A survey undertaken in October 2014 indicates that up to 1000 cyclists are using the bikeway daily,” the council said. “This is a 50% increase from prior to the bikeway being installed. Further increases are anticipated as we head into the warmer season, noting that the full potential of the bikeway will not be realised until it is completed and forms part of a broader, interconnected network.

“We have observed more females cycling, which is reflective of females feeling safer to cycle to the city now.”

While the statistics show a significant increase in cyclists using the road, the future of the cycleway is clouded.

The council last week released a tender for an independent evaluation of the project, which will begin later this year.

The evaluation, ordered by a vote of the council, will include a comprehensive review of the bikeway, a spokesperson said, including data collection and analysis, “with the results guiding and providing evidence for any future changes to the street”.

“The outcomes of the independent evaluation will inform the designs for the future stages of the bikeway, as well as future State Government projects such as the O-Bahn City access and tram projects.”

Moran, who favours a slimmed down version of the bike lanes with concrete kerbs removed, said today the the proposed extension of the cycleway to North Terrace would be decided by the election result.

“It depends on the make-up of the council next time,” she said.

Adelaide City Council CEO Peter Smith told InDaily in a statement that the administration’s policy was to respond to media enquiries with facts and simple statements on the council’s policy position prior to caretaker mode.

“The alternatives of providing ‘no comment to every media enquiry during caretaker’ or attempting to ‘cherry pick’ which media issue the administration responds to is not appropriate as they do not uphold either the principles of transparency or administrative neutrality during the caretaker period,” he said.

“Two media outlets (The Advertiser and InDaily) asked for an update on the use of the Frome Street Bikeway and information on the evaluation process, and we provided them with the facts.

“This is consistent with media requirements during caretaker, which is to respond factually to questions we are asked by the media by providing data and/ or statements which support the resolved Council policy position prior to caretaker.

“The claims that Council’s administration proactively released a report are incorrect, there has been no report issued on the Frome St Bikeway.

“The administration did not seek to actively promote the issue and were simply responding to media enquiries.

“I have informed the candidates that raised this issue that if they wish to make a formal complaint then I will have that complaint investigated by an independent external party.

“The candidate who initially raised the issue has accepted the explanation of media policy provided to them and has indicated that they do not wish to pursue the matter further.”

Yarwood also defended the release of the data.

“Regardless of the council elections, data collection and analysis of council projects continues and it’s important the administration provides transparency to the media,” he told InDaily.