Cycle Action Auckland - a voice for cyclists

Stay on your bike this winter! – AT’s Winter Cycling Campaign

Max — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:31 +0000

It’s great to see more cyclists sticking with their new transport mode when it gets chillier. In most European countries, cycling remains popular in winter – and Copenhageners aren’t even bothered too much by deep snow: the cycleways get swept just as much as the car lanes (video)!

But Auckland, even without snow, still “loses” about a third of our cyclists in the cold months.

Auckland Transport have now created a winter cycling campaign that aims to keep you safe, warm – and out and about. Some highlights for the coming months:

Bike workshops all around Auckland on how to make your bike and yourself ready for winter
Light stops – Auckland Transport will be handing out free bike lights to cyclists on various cycleways during late May and June!
Coffee stops – Check in with your helmet at one of the participating cafes on these days, and get a free coffee to warm hands and belly…

The whole programme is online at Auckland Transport’s Winter Cycling page.

Mail [Len Brown] to Get Across!

Max — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:00:22 +0000

Guest post by the AHB Pathway Trust

Earlier this month, we reported that Council’s Transport Committee would decide on Council support for the Auckland Harbour Bridge Pathway.

This now won’t be the case, as Auckland Transport haven’t completed their Pathway report that was due to be presented to the Transport Committee tomorrow. We’re concerned that Council’s funding through the LTP could be in question.

The very last chance to get the Pathway in the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP) will be at the Council Strategy and Finance Committee meeting on May 23. It’s critical for Council to support the Pathway as a self-funding transformational project which can be achieved at very small cost to ratepayers.

There is huge support for the Pathway – over 60% of submissions to the Council Draft LTP on the subject of walking and cycling specifically mentioned the Pathway (that’s more than 300 of you who submitted in support). We believe Council should take public desire seriously by allocating funds to make sure the Pathway is investigated and progress is made towards making it a reality.

Here are some key points:

It’s our goal to provide the Pathway at no cost to ratepayers (in fact we believe the project will be a revenue earner for Council)
The $1.3 million seed funding requested for the LTP can be capitalised and reimbursed.
The Pathway project is now at detailed design stage.

The Pathway is now on strong foundations as a revenue-producing proposal that can be achieved quickly at minimal cost to ratepayers. Recent agreement on the structural feasibility from NZTA has been major step forward, and private investment has been identified. But we need Council onboard as an active partner, looking at the best options in terms of development funding and a potential partial underwrite and its own investigation of the PPP’s feasibility.

We’re working hard to get the Pathway included in the LTP. You can help by emailing the mayor’s office explaining why you want the Pathway: len.brown@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

You can also email Penny Webster (Chairperson) and Des Morrison (Deputy chaiperson) of the finance committee.

With your support, this project has come too far for Council to ignore.

City centre shared spaces working well

Max — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:00:27 +0000

Earlier this year, CAA attended a workshop of Auckland Council on the impacts of the shared space areas in the City Centre. These streets remove the traditional kerb boundary between “road” and “footpath” and encourage everyone to mingle in one common, shared space – including car drivers and cyclists. The design and the road rules encourage slow traffic, and vehicles have to give way. Putting people first in the road is a very new concept for our car-focused city, but is really a very ancient one too – many historical cities have no defined boundary between the carriageway and the footpath in their (usually quite old) inner cities, and work well for people, without needing to exclude cars altogether.

The Council workshop we attended focused particularly on Fort Street, as only part (the westernmost block) of the street was changed to shared space ahead of the RWC – and the design for the centre and eastern thirds would be subject to a design review to decide whether shared space would be used there as well.

The good news is that the eastern third will now also become shared space (yay!), based on monitoring results and public feedback that generally supported the concept. Most businesses were also happy that the upgrade was working for the area, and supported further shared space area for the eastern block.

Meanwhile, the centre block will remain a more traditional design, with a “u-loop” street environment from Customs Street East, accessing via Commerce and Gore Streets – though even the middle block will see significant improvements, such as much wider footpaths.

Some interesting results that the monitoring and review research found was:

Significantly lowered vehicle speeds in the shared space zones (the exact level of speed reduction was mentioned, but we have to apologise, as we didn’t note it down…)
While people still drive TO the shared spaces roughly as much as they used to, motorists just driving THROUGH were reduced by about 25%
Existing on-street parking was mostly used not by “locals” but instead by people parking there and then going to other parts of the city centre

One item that sadly was not covered all that deeply in the monitoring was cycling – so what are your opinions? Is shared space in the city centre working for people on bikes?

Triangle Road – now open for cyclists (again)!

Max — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:00:42 +0000

The Triangle Road cycle lanes have finally been upgraded – and one of the most frustrating experiences for local Auckland cyclists is over!

As many of our readers will know from blog posts on here, articles elsewhere in the cycling world, or from personal experience – riding the Triangle Road cycle lanes in West Auckland during peak hours was a quite aggravating experience.

If you weren’t being endangered by some ruthless driver entering the cycle lane (we heard of at least two such crashes) then you normally found the lane blocked by cars – often dozens of them, stretching for hundreds of meters before the Lincoln Road intersection. Larger signs? Didn’t work against drivers determined to get onto the motorway any way they could. Police enforcement? Not enough staffing resources to make a dent in driver behaviour.

A year or so after the problem really became public, the advocacy work from Cycle Action Auckland and individual users, and the design and construction efforts from Auckland Transport, have now finally born fruit. Since this week the cycle lane is divided off from car traffic by solid rubber kerbs, further emphasised by flexible bollards. Auckland Transport also undertook some road widening and car park relocation (which is why the project ended up longer and more costly than just adding the dividers) to reduce the temptation for drivers to feel that they “needed” to enter the cycle lane.

We are already getting a lot of excitement from cyclists like “It’s heaps better. Cycling up there is almost fun with no cars in your way. Auckland Transport deserves praise.“

It was a long one coming, and an at times frustrating project – but it’s great to know we have a permanent solution which seems to work just as intended. Cyclists now have a free route again, and we have an example project for other locations.

Welcome to what possibly is the first “protected cycle lane” in Auckland.

University of Auckland: Get just 5% of NZ cycling – save 117 lives / year

Max — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:59 +0000

The University of Auckland, back in 2010, researched the health benefits from shifting just 5% of NZ’s vehicle kilometres currently travelled by car onto bikes (an eminently achievable goal which is being exceeded in much of the first world, especially Europe and Asia).

As noted, that research is from 2010, but the use of the statistics by a group of health professionals advocating for more cycling funding for Auckland made me look it up again, and the health benefits are, to say it bluntly, staggering.

116 deaths avoided annually in New Zealand among those people who now cycle, or cycle more. 6 deaths avoided annually from reduced air pollution. On the downside, 5 more deaths through cyclist fatalities. However this number already incorporates the effect that extra cyclists increase the “per person” safety of all cyclists – so this is not a “trade-off”, but actually also represents a safety as well as a health improvement.

This research is not, as such, ground-breaking. It follows in the footsteps of well-documented research and statistics from all over the world. The key is that it documents, right here and now, what this would mean for Auckland and New Zealand. The economic benefits of the 117 combined deaths avoided alone is $200 million, and that does not yet include all the other benefits, tangible and intangible, such as reduced congestion, and less need for costly transport infrastructure.

Moving urban trips from cars to bicycles: impact on health and emissions

Graeme Lindsay, Alexandra Macmillan, Alistair Woodward

School of Population Health, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the effects on health, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions if short trips (?7 km) were undertaken by bicycle rather than motor car.

Method: Existing data sources were used to model effects, in the urban setting in New Zealand, of varying the proportion of vehicle kilometres travelled by bicycle instead of light motor vehicle.

Results: Shifting 5% of vehicle kilometres to cycling would reduce vehicle travel by approximately 223 million kilometres each year, save about 22 million litres of fuel and reduce transport-related greenhouse emissions by 0.4%. The health effects would include about 116 deaths avoided annually as a result of increased physical activity, six fewer deaths due to local air pollution from vehicle emissions, and an additional five cyclist fatalities from road crashes. In economic terms, including only fatalities and using the NZ Ministry of Transport Value of a Statistical Life, the health effects of a 5% shift represent net savings of about $200 million per year.

Conclusion: The health benefits of moving from cars to bikes heavily outweigh the costs of injury from road crashes.

Implications: Transport policies that encourage bicycle use will help to reduce air pollution and greenhouse emissions and improve public health.

Key words: Air pollution, bicycles, climate change, environmental health, greenhouse gases, injury, mortality, physical activity, transport.

Aust NZ J Public Health. 2010; 54-60 doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00621.x

The CAA tag cloud and you!

Max — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:00:02 +0000

If you have been here on the CAA website regularly, you will have noticed the gradual change in the website.

If you haven’t been here for a while, we certainly hope the change struck you quite clearly, what with us updating a wee bit more often these days!

Either way, there may be one thing that you haven’t noticed – all our blog articles (almost 200 now) have been indexed with “categories” and “tags”. This means that they are all sorted according to topics.

They might be something like the New Zealand Cycle Trail Category or something like a suburb category for Onehunga. They are best used for when you want to check on what we have written in the past on a subject that might interest you. Browse and enjoy – we aren’t cycling’s Wikipedia by a long stretch, but there’s a bit in the archives by now.

You will find these at the bottom of each article and also at the lower left of the website. Categories and Tags work the same general way, and each article should have the same identical categories and tags. The difference is that:

The Categories list ALL articles. Just use the drop-down menu, and see all the articles you can read on our websiste, sorted by alphabet and topic type.
The Tag Cloud shows only the ~40 most popular types of tags – so you can see what we write about most. They are a sort of “best of CAA” (or maybe a “most of”).

So we hope you like these features, and maybe have a read up on some of the tings that happened before the last time you visited the page.

Short post: Aucklanders are asking Council for more cycleways

Max — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:03:12 +0000

Auckland Council has just released a summary document about the submissions to the Long Term Plan and the Regional Land Transport Program. Pages 28 and 53 are especially interesting.

The Council’s rail plans got a good bit of criticism (mainly because of the price tag – which I personally feel is crazy when you think that in the same time period we will be spending several times that amount on new motorways alone, and few complain about the debt we are taking on for those – but I digress…).

The good thing is that cycling featured very strongly and favourably in the submissions, wth particular support for a Harbour Bridge Cycleway (very timely) and the need for more emphasis on protected, safe cycle facilities (i.e. more than paint). Our concern that only a pitiful 0.8% of the budget is being spent on walking & cycling was also picked up by a lot of submitters. All in all, a great response by Auckland for cycling. Let’s hope it moves some votes when it comes to finalising the funding for the next years.

Clear out your garage – and give those old bikes to someone in need

Max — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:00:32 +0000

Most people really into bikes – this probably means you – have more than one bike. Since unlike cars, they don’t really cost money sitting around, you may even have three, four, or in some cases seven bikes (you know who you are!).

However, bikes DO take up space, and maybe you have one or two bikes which you could – with some tears in your eye – part with. So if they are still in more or less working condition, why not give them to someone who could really profit from having a cheap, flexible way to get around. Someone like a refugee trying to settle in in car-crazy Auckland?

To do that, Contact RASNZ (Refugees as Survivors New Zealand)

Telephone: (09) 270 0870
Email: recyclingbicycles4refugees@gmail.com

They are based in Mangere, and will be happy to take any useable bikes you want to donate.

‘The Good Bunch’ Changing Minds on Tamaki Drive

BarbC — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:58:05 +0000

A quiet revolution is underway on Tamaki Drive – fuelled by goodwill and understanding. Sorry to sound like a ‘born again’ rave, but this is about changing hearts and minds. It was started by Mark Taylor, owner of Mt Eden Cycles. He’s an unlikely saviour, but we may see him as one when we look back in a few years. In June last year he was leading large groups of 100 or more cyclists on early morning bunch rides along Tamaki Drive. He knew random cyclists joined to draft along in the wake of his bunches, so could never be sure how big the bunches were – or how safe. Mark contacted Cycle Action to ask if we could help him make bunch riding practices safer and more engaged with other road users – starting with his own groups.

Flash forward to April 2012. – After 9 months of collaboration between Auckland Transport, Auckland Police, CAN & BikeNZ, Central Auckland bike shop owners and Cycle Action a new initiative for Tamaki Drive is launched called ‘The Good Bunch’ – a voluntary riding protocol. The key features are listed on a small card, shown here, and available from Cycle Action Auckland and participating bike shops, including Mt. Eden Cycles

More work is underway. The Orakei Local Board has appointed a representative to work with our Tamaki Drive working group, as the road is mostly in the Board’s area. We are now collaborating with Auckland Transport and Bike NZ on a new Rde Leader Training programme to spread the word on safer, consistent riding practices.

The Good Bunch’s bottom line is that we are all safer (road, commuter, everyday and recreation cyclists) when our riding is predictable and considerate to other road users. And before I am hit by a howl of indignation -“What about motorists?” – Rest assured, work is also being done with AA to engage with motorists. We’ll update you on that as we progress. Meanwhile, email me if you want to know more, or can help spread the word across the cycling community- cuthash@worldnet.co.nz

Greenways bridges and paths growing in Puketapapa

Max — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:00:10 +0000

Having recently read on this blog about the Greenways network in Puketapapa, you will be keen to hear (if you hadn’t known long since!) that these projects are far from paper exercises. They aren’t something that might or might not happen in a few years (the story of too many good cycling projects).

No, this part of the southern central isthmus already has a good variety of walking and cycling paths (click through twice to the images on the right – showing some paths along the upper reaches of Oakley Creek – if you like to see some of what they have already done).

Now the next step is linking these paths together by closing the gaps, and encourage people to use them for cycling for transport, as well as for short leisure rides!

And linking up is what the works planned next for Puketapapa are all about. Two key projects are about to start:

In the next weeks, upgrading of the walkways in War Memorial Park to walk- and cycleways (widening and other tweaks) – As you can see from the link, these walkways are currently quite narrow, not wide enough for walkers and pedestrians to coexist without some mutual irritations. Further, there are a few spots in the park which simply don’t yet work well for cyclists, like one small creek bridge having stairs – of only about two steps, but that’s of course enough to be a real nuisance for cyclists.

These upgraded paths in War Memorial Park will also tie in nicely with the very nice walk- and cycleway built in Underwood Park and Walmsley Park to the west shown in the photos above (and from there to the SH20 / Waterview cycleway – and with the future Greenways links discussed in the Local Board’s earlier Greenways presentation.

In the next months, construction of a new walking and cycling bridge over the small Oakley Creek tributiary, between Owaraika Park and Underwood Park (Google Maps Aerial). This will link the local cycleway across the barrier of the stream, into the neighbouring Albert-Eden Local Board area. Another obvious link – at least once somebody pointed it out and people like your Local Boards successfully take it up.

When you hear about projects like these, the best phrase that comes to mind would be “puzzle pieces falling into place”. Now we only need to replicate these small successes all over the city, and we’ll be there! Easy.