More and more Aucklanders are choosing to travel by bike. It’s often the fastest way to get around for short journeys, it’s fun and easy, a low cost travel option that offers reliable journey times and it also benefits your health.
It is developing a network of cycling routes to make greater Ponsonby easier to get around, and he has recently conducted a survey asking residents for comments and opinions on the AT plans.
Auckland Transport received submissions from nearly 900 people, plus hundreds of online comments. Staff have not completed an analysis of the results yet.
Improvements planned will create safer, more appealing routes for people on bikes. AT aim to improve pedestrian crossings and footpaths, and plan new landscaping and better signage.
Auckland Transport is proposing continuous high quality cycle lanes on busy roads, ideally physically separated from general traffic.
On quieter roads AT proposes to reduce traffic speeds and volumes to make it safer and more attractive to walk and cycle. This is a 10-year project but it will begin this year.
The accompanying map shows existing or soon to be completed cycle ways in red and proposed ones in blue. When completed the inter-connecting walk and cycle ways will join up the dots through Grey Lynn, Ponsonby, Herne Bay, Westmere and Pt Chevalier.
Another new trend that will increase cycle use is electric motors on bikes. While some bikes come new with motors already in place, another innovation is a method of attaching motors to existing bikes.
One of these new technologies is the Austrian-made ‘add-e’ conversion kit which is light and affordable. It suits those short range journeys where you can switch on the motor only when you really need it, say going up College Hill.
As the importer of the add-e kit Deb King says, “There is no other form of transport quite like the invention of the bike that can offer three fundamental human needs - for our health, for social and for environmental benefits.”
Deb King has visited the United States and observed the paradigm shift occurring in transport. “Over the next few years,” she told Ponsonby News, “we will witness an evolution in transport, both public and private, using Light Electric Vehicles. Electric bikes are just one aspect of those sea changes.”
There will be increasing opportunities for cafes and restaurants to provide leads for recharging bike batteries while riders have a coffee and a cake.
Even a cycle bus is about to hit our roads. How good would it be for, say, Ponsonby Road, to have a tram-style bus bike, carrying up to eight people, commuting up and down the street every day.
Ponsonby News also spoke to Kathryn King, Auckland Transport Cycling and Walking Manager. Kathryn is a passionate cyclist herself who lives in Pt Chevalier. She told us AT was thrilled with the response to their survey with the nearly 900 responses including residents associations, schools and individuals. “We will now look at all the feedback and compile a report which will be made available to the public soon. It will then be used to inform various projects in the area, the first of which will start later this year,” Kathryn said.
Kathryn also commented on E-bikes. She told us the popularity of E-bikes is a contributing factor to the growth in cycling. “We’re running courses so people can test out electric bikes and see if they’re right for them,” she said.
Ponsonby News is pleased to see the commitment by Auckland Transport to better community consultation. This is excellent bottom up planning, rather than top down imposition. That is how urban design should be created. (JOHN ELLIOTT)
For more information and to sign up for a course, visit the AT website. There will be more public consultations when AT has developed the projects further. AT will be posting out brochures to local people, putting ads in the newspaper and putting information on the AT website www.AT.govt.nz.
You can contact Deb King to find out more about electric bikes and buses via E: deb@quikes.co.nz