Comments (12)

By BarbC, May 3, 2013

Thanks to Auckland Council Parks and Devonport-Takapuna Local Board for a free school holiday attraction at Bayswater pipe bridge on Bayswater Ave, between Takapuna and Devonport. If you haven’t seen it yet, we promise it’s worth a visit.

Brian Perry Contractors are building the new $2.5m bridge which will replace the historic super-narrow cycle and walking path over the sewer pipe. The project is a showcase of construction grunt – a big digger and a crane, a drilling rig, tip-trucks and a heavy duty ‘temporary works’ bridge made of motorway-strength concrete staging panels. I recommend you get this contractor on the job if you want to make things happen – they are weeks ahead of schedule on the project!

All of this gear and construction activity is happening right beside the pipe bridge. This makes it a rare opportunity for local kids and their grannies, dads, mums, big sisters and brothers to be up-close and personal with all this gear and activity. Perry’s staff are clearly well trained in PR, as they are extremely courteous and generous in answering questions from sticky-beaking members of the public hanging out over their construction site.

We all know how kids love to see how building works. They are usually blocked off from building sites by big fences – but not here. Don’t waste this opportunity to get an eyeful of the action. You have until Friday, 17 May – after then the pipe bridge will be closed for demolition to allow the flash new 2.5m wide bridge to be constructed. A temporary foreshore route is planned while the new bridge is built. It tends to get boggy, so isn’t recommended for cycles.

A community celebration is planned for Mother’s Day, 12th May to give everyone a last chance to walk the historic pipe bridge and to celebrate progress towards the new bridge.

Please join us!

What: Sausage sizzle – bike fixup  and community gathering

When: 11am-3pm Sunday, 12th May

Where: beside the pipe bridge, below Bayswater Cemetery, on the Devonport to Takapuna Green Route

Get there by cycling or walking – closest access is from Bayswater Ave  but it can also be reached via the Green Route from Northboro Ave, and the Francis St boardwalk.  For a big day out from the city, come via the Bayswater or Devonport ferries (bikes travel for free and Bayswater Ave is cycle friendly).

This event is brought to you by the Bayswater Community Committee, Auckland Transport, Bayswater Dog Walkers, the North Shore Police BBQ team and Cycle Action Auckland.

Special mention has to be made of Zane Bray (of AT’s Community Transport team) for cycling to all of our meetings, and being the ultimate go-to man for the event.

The Bayswater C.C. and Cycle Action Auckland have been lobbying for years for a new wider bridge – this is a major success to celebrate.

Comments (11)

By BarbC, April 27, 2013

A few years ago Cycle Action Auckland saw itself as working mostly for commuter and everyday cyclists. Road cyclists were another breed who did their own thing, and were not part of our world.

All of that changed the day that Mark Taylor from Mt Eden Cycles asked Cycle Action to help improve bunch riding on Tamaki Drive. This brought us in touch with road cycling leaders from shops in Central Auckland to develop the Good Bunch protocol, which in turn taught us more about the different needs of road cyclists. It was timely that we should gain this knowledge and wider cycling community, as road cycling issues occupy a lot of my time as Chair of Cycle Action Auckland. The old game of ‘hate on the lycra cyclists’ is still alive to some extent, but I am pleased I have learnt more about road cycling, have more road cyclists amongst our advisers, and can call on these new mates to help out on various programmes. Cycling in Auckland is stronger because of this collaboration.

I notice that this collaboration doesn’t seem to be happening in other cities across the country. Cycle advisers/advocates still occupy one world, and the road cyclists seem to be in another. I think that’s a shame. The reason why I say this is demonstrated by the May/June issue of the  NZ Road Cyclist magazine in bookshops now. I recommend you get a copy. Road safety features throughout the magazine, from the front cover – where it lists ‘Cycling’s No 1 Issue – How to stay safe on NZ’s roads’ , to the editorial ‘Lead Out – Don’t Try this at Home’ ,  a number of very balanced and worthwhile  ’Letters to the Edito!r, and several feature articles.

This magazine highlights what a tight bunch the Auckland cycling community is becoming, as more of us make cycling a centrepiece for our lives – whether it be for transport, relaxation, sport, or touring- and keeping safe becomes a vital priority. As Chair of Cycle Action I celebrate this – we need everyone on board to change Auckland for cycling.

We would love to have more road cyclists as members of Cycle Action, as getting more money for cycling safety is about public visibility and strength in numbers.  It costs bugger all, and means you are backing the hardest working team in town lobbying to improve cycling conditions across the Auckland region. Think about it, and join up! www.caa.org.nz

Thanks team!

Comments (36)

By admin, April 12, 2013

By Pippa Coom

In early March I travelled on a private trip to Melbourne with the Velociteers who performed at the Melbourne Bike Fest. I took the opportunity to check out why Melbourne is considered to be one of the world’s most liveable cities. The first thing that struck me was the number of people using bikes for transport, especially young women.

Melbourne suffers from similar issues to Auckland with car-centric city design, excessive speeds and road congestion. However unlike Auckland there is connected bike infrastructure that makes cycling pleasant and safe. It wasn’t perfect but there has clearly been investment in a whole variety of different approaches to encourage cycling – painted green cycle lanes, shared paths, contra-flows, traffic calming, intersection treatments and separated or “Copenhagen” lanes (see the photo below of a lane under construction along the route of an existing painted lane).

The Melbourne public bike hire scheme introduced in 2010 has also increased the visibility of cycling. Over the four days I was there I used the service for all my trips. I found it to be convenient, cheap (registration is $2.40 per day with the first half hour free ) and took me to where I wanted to go around the city centre. I was able to make the compulsory helmet requirement work by taking over my own helmet and being willing to carry it around between trips (not an option that suits everyone – although helmets are for sale for only $5).

However experiencing the Melbourne bikes also convinced me that in Auckland we should not make a public bike hire scheme a priority until we can offer connected and safe routes.

I totally support the aim of public bikes being available for transport in Auckland and will continue to work for this (it is a priority in our Local Board Plan) but I don’t think a publicly funded scheme can be justified in the short term when the infrastructure doesn’t exist to send locals and visitors on short A to B type trips around a variety of locations in the city centre and fringe.

Ideally a public bike hire scheme should be funded as well as investment in cycling infrastructure and we shouldn’t have to wait for either but as we have to prioritise right now (from a very limited walking and cycling budget) I don’t think a Melbourne type scheme is top of my list for Auckland Transport to deliver.

[Pippa Coom is a former CAA Committee Member and is the current Deputy Chair of the Waitemata Local Board]

Editor’s Note: The comment about the public bike hire is an interesting one – because it comes back to the chicken-vs-egg question that we often discuss in CAA – are more cyclists needed to get more cycle infrastructure, or do we need more cycle infrastructure to get more cyclists? Will promotion work when the groundwork on the road hasn’t been done yet?

On the other hand, overseas schemes where the city went all-in (such as Paris, or London) have been credited with creating a lot of new cyclists, sometimes even in the absence of other new infrastructure. What do you think? [Note that Pippa's comments above regarding the Bike Hire scheme have been updated with more context since the initial version of the post.]

Comments Off

By admin, April 2, 2013

Wot ho! here are the details and flyer for Tweed run number whatever it is to Highwic house for the deco picnic thingy whatsit!

Auckland Tweed Run

Comments (2)

By BarbC, March 22, 2013

Look at this. Just look at this – that motorway is all jammed up. Bikes to the rescue!

The art installation from Matter on the Nelson Street off-ramp is shaping up fabulously. Go see it this Saturday!