Cycle Action Auckland

Quick Post: Stage 1 of Grafton Gully Cycleway Photo

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:00:13 +0000

For those who are curious, but haven’t been out that way recently, here are a few photos of the Grafton Gully Cycleway’s first stage (between Grafton Road, at the Business School, and Alten Road / Stanley Street).

Works to come also include cycleway changes to the Alten Road signals at the bottom. And of course, there’s 4 other stages to complete the whole route, plus AT’s Beach Road work… in the short run, Stage 1 especially may be much more popular with pedestrians than cyclists, so we have been keen to ensure it is wide enough for both.

NZTA in cooperation with CAA have in recent months also put a lot of thought into how to make the gradients as smooth as possible to ease your climb up the gully. We won’t be able to avoid steeper bits totally, but it gives us some confidence that the future rise from the sea-level to the Northwestern Cycleway at Ian McKinnon Drive will be over a much greater length than if one went the currently preferred* route of Anzac Avenue and Symonds Street. So hopefully, this will also make the ride up the hill overall less of a struggle.

*Well, preferred from a gradient point of view. Lots of people, especially those new to cycling, prefer not to ride in the heavy bus traffic on that route… – which is kinda the point of the whole Grafton Gully route!

Its exciting to see progress, but the coolest stuff is still to come, as we near Grafton Bridge and the top over the next year…

Tell us how we can be safer cycling in Bus Lanes

BarbC — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:08:02 +0000

Last Thursday Cycle Action was at the Albany Busway Station handing out flyers for our on-line survey to learn how more people can be encouraged to cycle to the Busway. It’s a real buzz watching the empty buses pull in – passengers fill them in a few minutes and buses whisk them up to the Busway, to be replaced immediately by another empty bus. Passengers say the peak hour return trip from the University precinct is hectic, as the the North Star buses can’t cope with the huge demand. I hope AT is working to fix this – but we were hugely impressed by how the slick the operation is at the start of the day.

We used any spare moments to talk to bus drivers – they were all bursting to tell us how they fear sharing bus lanes with cyclists. I told them we feel the same about sharing with buses. All of the bus drivers were well disposed towards cyclists. The simple reality is their buses are very big and drivers have limited visibility to the rear; cyclists are tiny and flighty in comparison.

All of us have stories of bus drivers who don’t treat us with respect. Here’s a rare chance to learn how bus drivers feel. It pays us to do this, as we’re often in the same road pathway - 44km of the 280km of ’completed‘ Auckland Cycle Network are on bus lanes. We’d love to change this overnight, but our shared use is the best we can do for now. In the meantime we want your ideas on what cyclists can do to improve our safety while sharing bus lanes.

The bus drivers’ describe that they are careful to locate cyclists as they approach them, so they can pass them safely. They report that cyclists who were on their left on approach, often turn up on their right when the bus stopped at the lights. One woman bus driver reported her fright on Friday in hearing a cyclist’s helmet hit her right hand mirror as he passed the bus to reach the green stop box at the front of the lane.

This story confirms the hazards of our poor cycling infrastructure. We desperately need lead- in lanes to make stop boxes effective, as well as ensuring there are no more narrow bus lanes. We’ve got a new project underway with AT to start fixing this. In the meantime we need to share ideas on how we can respond safely to the bulk and lumbering moves of buses and our city’s cycling infrastructure. If we have enough good ideas, we’ll ask AT to help us spread the word to the cycling and bus communities.

PLEASE save your complaints for another time – give us your creative ideas NOW – this is your chance to make bus lane cycling safer for you and our cycling mates.

Crowdsourcing Three Kings?

admin — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:13 +0000

Three Kings may not strike you as a cycling spot – except if you are into unsanctioned mountain biking, maybe.

But could the 3K be a nice suburb for cycling in the future – with the quarry filled in, and the town centre to its south revamped? What do you think?

Auckland Council is asking for feedback on the Three Kings Precinct Plan – and of course their plan has a variety of transport aspects. New paths around the remaining volcanic cone and the new park. Streets for a new suburb planned in the old quarry. A new town centre focus near Mt Albert Road. There’s even mention of a potential Greenways route. Lots of opportunity to get cycling right – or to instead create paths with stairs blocking all cyclists, and roads with four lanes to encourage driving to the local shops.

You can give your own response here, but we also encourage you to sound off in the comments, because we would like to source YOUR opinions on how this area could be better for cycling.

Herding bikes into a corral

admin — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:00:27 +0000

Bikes want to be free – so why would we want to corral them? Well, when we are dipping into the nearest dairy for a liter of milk, or stopping at a cafe for lunch, of course.

Auckland Transport is trialling their first “bike corral”, replacing car parking with bike parking – and it is going in on 264 Ponsonby Road from June.

Here are a few designs for how it will look. Sing out if you have any comments, as CAA will have a chance to make comments back to AT before it is installed (We won’t give you our own thoughts on tweaking it yet, as we’d like yours to start with).

Glow by bike – Queen’s Wharf

admin — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:49 +0000

Another winter cycling event – this one’s a drop-in for the CBD!

Prizes for the best lit-up bikes / cyclists, so glow away!

Also: free coffee and bike mechanic checks for everyone else.

When: 4pm-7pm, 17th May (this Friday)

Where: Queen’s Wharf (just north of Britomart).

Is cycling to the Northern Busway an Option for you?

BarbC — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:55:51 +0000

Cycle Action is doing an great little pilot project with Auckland Transport to learn what it would take to encourage more people to try cycling to the Northern Busway Stations.

A few people do it now – they’re the ones using the 20 of so bike parks at each of the Stations. But this is nothing compared with the people who use the 1,600 carparks at the Albany Station, 1,200 at the Constellation Drive Station, as well as the feeder buses and drop- off facilities at each of these.

With a new Bus Station coming for Silverdale, AT had the inspiration to team up with Cycle Action to learn how things could be done differently to help make cycling a realistic option. We know that the roads leading to the Busway Stations are no fun to ride, particularly when they are crowded with cars desperate to get on the motorway or racing for one of those coveted carparks at the Bus Stations. The project meshes perfectly with our work with AT to prioritise corridors on the Auckland Cycle Network which upgraded to be safe, pleasant and fit for purpose.

Here’s our survey on cycling to the Bus Stations. It’s not just for people who cycle to the Busway – we’re keen to hear from anyone who uses the Busway now (or may at any time in the future).

Please help by filling it in NOW – and send it to everyone you know who lives on the Shore. They just need to be a candidate to use the Busway, now or in the future. Go for it!

Another success, step by step, for the SkyPath

admin — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:00:34 +0000

From Bevan Woodward, SkyPath Trust

Council supports SkyPath:
Last week Council’s Strategy & Finance Committee voted to support Len Brown’s recommendation for Council staff to advance their work on SkyPath’s funding and delivery arrangements. This will then come back to Council for their consideration which if positive would enable SkyPath to be implemented.

Cost savings identified:
Beca Infrastructure have further analysed the bridge strengthening works required for SkyPath and, through an innovative solution, have significantly reduced the complexity and costs of this work. NZTA will now consider their financial contribution to these strengthening works.

The updated cost estimate (before NZTA’s contribution) is $30.5 million, this includes the landings at each end, special night lighting, security measures, observation decks and a contingency of $4 million.

Updated business case:
Auckland Transport has worked with Ernst & Young to update their business case. The low use/low growth patronage scenario now shows an overall surplus of circa $10 million. We are awaiting their figures for the high use/high growth patronage scenario.

Working with key stakeholders:
We have been in dialogue with the various stakeholder groups as we work on the detail of SkyPath’s landings at each end, see:
http://www.skypath.org.nz/project-status/consultation/

We have reviewed the Northcote Residents Association, St Marys Bay Association and Westhaven Marina Users Association’s submissions to Council which outlined why they are opposed to SkyPath. We believe that each of their concerns are addressed or can be resolved to enable SkyPath to proceed.

“SeaPath” to connect SkyPath to Takapuna:
Northcote Residents Association were keen for us to provide a seamless connection through to Takapuna so that there would be far fewer people using the streets of Northcote Point. Hence we developed “SeaPath” which is now with NZTA and Auckland Transport to develop, see:
http://www.skypath.org.nz/the-seapath/

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or feedback.

Ride of Silence 2013, Orewa

admin — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:45:17 +0000

Hi all – the local event of the world-wide Ride of Silence event is happening in Orewa this Wednesday like it has in previous years (maybe one of you would also like to organise a future event somewhere further south in the Super City?).

The event remembers those who have been killed or injured on bikes in the past, and to aims to raise awareness of cyclists.

Dogs, Bikes and Bagpipes out in the Sun at Bayswater

BarbC — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:45:29 +0000

Cyclists, walkers, scooting kids and all breeds of dogs came out in force in glorious sun yesterday, for our Mother’s Day celebration of the amazing progress on the Bayswater shared bridge project. The new bridge is a Auckland Council and Local Board project to replace the historic very narrow pipe bridge, which will be demolished this Friday.

Buzz and chatter drowned out birdsong as locals lined up free barbeque sausages cooked by our new Devonport Community Constable, Jackie Strickland and 3 of her road safety colleagues in blue. Kiwivelo’s highly skilled Lance and his off-sider were on hand for free bike fixes, managing to keep up with the constant flow of families who cycled to the event. We even had a local cyclist playing the bagpipes!

Auckland Transport’s Zane Bray, (always an organised, cool dude), arrived with boxes of bike safety giveaways – bells, back pack covers, slap-bands and puncture repair kits. It’s worth noting that cyclists were very appreciative of this practical and worthwhile initiative – many asked for their thanks to be passed on to AT. Gay Richards from North Shore Living Streets and Bayswater Community Committee led guided walks around the temporary foreshore path which is available for the next 3 months, while the new bridge is built.

The bridge contractors, Brian Perry Civil, were present to receive accolades for being well ahead of the construction programme, and for allowing ‘kids’ of all ages a rare chance to see bridge construction at close range. They will bring a second crane onto the site for the job – so get down there, if you enjoy seeing big construction machines at work.

The Bayswater Dog-walkers gang were resplendent in new tee-shirts for our new joint pilot project ‘All on the Same Path’. We’ll tell you more about it once the new wider bridge is in place. In the meantime, the dog-walkers, led by Chris Mullane, will be giving out bike bells, so cyclists using the route are equipped to give courteous ‘tinkles’ as they approach walkers on the path.

You didn’t have to be a mother to feel special yesterday at our Bayswater event. Best thanks to the weather for really turning it on!

Closed paths between Waterview & Pt Chevalier

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:45:02 +0000

Hello all riding on the Northwestern Cycleway – and between Pt Chevalier and Waterview on the “spur cycleway” along Great North Road.

Due to construction in the centre area of the Pt Chevalier Interchange, the footpath / cycleway there (shown in red at the right) will be closed until 2017. This means that the walk/cycleway through Unitec may get busier.

There have been some complaints in the past about cyclists riding past pedestrians in this area at unsafe (or simply startling) speeds. It would be good if everyone could look out for each other. Smiles work too.

To help, CAA has in recent months asked for a variety of safety measures in the area, running from fixing a variety of broken streetlights to adding additional signage and warning markings on roads and cycleways. Recently AT and the Well-Connected Alliance on our request also installed temporary “flexi-post” markers to get drivers to slow down / stay a bit further away from the narrowest part of the shared path along Great North Road.

[All images from the Well-Connected Alliance's Waterview Construction Newsletter]