First, a disclaimer from me. I will never use the cycleways because I am too old to cycle, but I strongly support the provision of suitably placed cycle lanes with part of the objective being to get cars off the road. However, I question whether it is prudent to spend $200 million dollars and seriously question the Pt Chevalier/ Meola Road plans.
I have had several discussions with a local group in Pt Chevalier, who strongly oppose the plans for double cycle lanes on Pt Chevalier Road and Meola Road. My understanding is that the approximately 10m - wide Pt Chevalier Road will have 4m for cycles and 6m for buses and cars. Buses will not be able to pull off the road for long stretches of Pt Chevalier Road, so when they stop all cars will stop too. The resulting fiasco will only exacerbate congestion, in the opinion of the locals, including Bob Hunter who lives on Meola Road and who has done extensive counts of cycles, buses, cars and pedestrians. The Outer Link bus is already unable to stick to its timetable because of congestion on Carrington Road and other parts of its route. The cycle lanes will further impede its progress, while Meola Road around the sports fields is a veritable death trap.
At a recent meeting at Bob Hunter’s home, two AT representatives came to explain ATs plans. Unfortunately, these officers are part of the project team which will implement the scheme for their client, who is, wait for it, AT. Yes, bureaucracy and bureaucratic speak knows no bounds.
Consultation has taken place, but not enough. AT has a habit of consulting and then doing what it wants to do anyway. The officers we met admitted that usage will not be high on the new cycleways at first, but will grow. Now, I don’t criticise forward planning and thinking, but there seems to be a ‘take this, it will be good for you’ attitude by AT, pushing cycling far beyond the need right now.
Surely it is public transport that is grossly inadequate in Auckland, and the need is to get cars off the roads and stop building roads, that should be the priority.
Further consultation is necessary, particularly around the Pt Chevalier Road/Meola Road intersection, where apparently traffic lights are proposed. These lights are strenuously opposed by Hunter and his neighbours. There is also a vague statement by AT that some trees might need trimming. "Some trees" - what they really means is a number of 20-year-old pohutukawas. Remember Western Springs, where AT said it had no option but to cut down a number of pohutukawas. Public objection was electric.
I attended an AT board meeting where the Chairman, Lester Levy, finally intervened and instructed his officers to find alternative solutions. They did.
There will be locals protecting those Pt Chevalier trees from the chainsaws, I have been assured. I will join them.
Meola Road is a traffic nightmare now, especially outside Western Springs Football grounds. Hunter says a Jaggers Bush/Pasadena option has not been properly considered. He also says his counts of cyclists shows very few commuters and few recreational cyclists using the proposed route.
Questions need answering. How can parking configurations be improved? How can the intersection designs be improved? How can Pt Chevalier Road be better shared than 4m for cycles and 6m for everything else? What alternative routes have been studied and rejected? What research on cycle numbers was done? How many motorists will divert down side streets increasing congestion on local roads? Were two-way cycle tracks considered? Some businesses on Pt Chevalier Road will lose more customers and probably close as a result of congestion and lack of parking. Did AT consider this?
Hunter told Ponsonby News that “ATs philosophy is nothing to do with reducing vehicle traffic - it is solely to benefit recreational cyclists - in other words AT is spending $200 million annually on people who like to ride bikes. AT is budget driven - spend it or lose it. Their object is an integrated cycleway system - nothing to do with improving public transport. We are at the mercy of sanctimonious bureaucrats who care nothing about the future of Auckland’s transport woes.”
The locals Ponsonby News spoke to feel the only objective of AT is to spend money, and that consultation is token only. One resident called it "rule by a self-elected pressure group," and hardly democracy.
Once again AT has failed the public. Proper consultation with locals could solve this issue, maybe not to everyone’s satisfaction, but at least they will know genuine consultation has taken place.
This is not just about cycling, it is about the way Auckland Transport conducts its business, top-down instead of bottom-up local government. A drastic change in the culture and behaviour of Auckland Transport is essential if Auckland is to continue to aspire to being a world ranking city, and transport deadlock is to be solved. (JOHN ELLIOTT) χPN