Cycling in Auckland
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Cycling in Auckland is a mode of transport which has historically had high levels of modal share in
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand, like in most cities in New Zealand. However, the dominance of the car in the city, the negative attitudes of car drivers and general changes in transport patterns had made it a very marginal transport mode in the early 21st century, with remaining cyclists often riding for leisure and sports purposes. While political and infrastructure initiatives are underway to revive cycling, success is still to be solidified. As of 2005/06, only 16% of the Regional Cycle Network had been completed, which also included routes that had been built before the plan for a regional network had been adopted. In 2014, results showed that cycling mode share had stopped declining compared to previous census results, though from 0.9% in 2006, it had only risen to 1.2% of all work trips on census day. However, statistics and automatic counters show the success of cycling where higher-quality infrastructure has been installed, with nine counters across Auckland reporting annual cycle number increases of an average of 10% in 2014, a growth trend that continued in subsequent years.


History

The first Auckland bicycle ride was undertaken on 23 August 1869, using a
velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation o ...
made to order by a local company, and ridden down Grey Street, then being one of the smoothest roads in the city.


Attitudes

Auckland has a much less positive popular attitude towards cycling and new
cycling infrastructure Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except whe ...
than some other cities of New Zealand like
Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
and
Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. An Otago University study showed that fear of rude and actively hostile behaviour from drivers was the main reason New Zealanders were not using their cycles more. Some 59% of all respondents in an Auckland Transport study of a cross-section of Aucklanders noted safety as a barrier to cycling. This, and to some degree the hillier nature of Auckland, have caused cycling to so far remain a marginal pursuit – only 1% of all morning peak trips were being made by bicycle in the late 2000s. However, in Wellington, with an even hillier topography, the cycling numbers are approximately twice as high.Sustainable and safe land transport
(from Statistics New Zealand. Accessed 2 May 2008.)
While Auckland City Council and the
Auckland Regional Transport Authority The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) was the central co-ordinating agency for transport (especially but not only public transport) in the Auckland Region of New Zealand from 2004 to 2010. In this role, ARTA provided public transport ...
(ARTA) have undertaken some works since the introduction in 1998 of a "Walking and Cycling Plan" for the city, cycling connections between different areas of the wider city are still often missing.''On your bike – Auckland resistant to cycleways'' – ''LG – New Zealand Local Government'', Volume 43 No 12, December 2007, Page 16. Some cycle lanes have met vocal opposition, mostly from locals who consider them unneeded due to the low level of cycling in Auckland and due to the removal of on-street parking for their implementation. However, Council representatives note that cycling will not gain in popularity until the corresponding infrastructure is gradually introduced.''On your bike – Auckland resistant to cycleways'' – ''LG – New Zealand Local Government'', Volume 43 No 12, December 2007, Page 18.


Facilities

While most cycling takes place on normal public roads, there are a small number of dedicated off-road facilities available in Auckland. In many other places, plans for on-road or off-road routes have been mooted, but not yet realised. These include recreational mountain bike trails, pump tracks (short dirt tails) and BMX tracks which are scattered around Auckland and suit different cycling abilities. One of the largest and most well known mountain bike facilities in Auckland is Woodhill Forest, which is commercial. Surveys show that a significant part of the population desires protected cycle facilities (i.e. off-road or separated from vehicle traffic), such facilities being desired by 55% of all respondents in an Auckland Transport study of a cross-section of Aucklanders. As of early 2014, the target in the Auckland Plan was for 70% of the Auckland Cycle Network to be completed by 2020, however with the current funding, Council estimates that only 40–50% will be complete at that time.


Cycleways

Existing cycleways in Auckland primarily parallel motorways. They currently (as of 2010) consist of the Northwestern Cycleway, which was created along the
Northwestern Motorway The Northwestern Motorway (also known historically as the Auckland–Kumeu Motorway), part of (SH 16), is the major western route and secondary northern route out of Auckland in New Zealand. Twenty-one kilometres in length, the motorway runs f ...
between the Auckland CBD and Lincoln in West Auckland (with some on-road sections on the way) and the Waikaraka Cycleway, from Wesley,
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
to Southdown, most of it along State Highway 20 through southern Auckland City, before continuing along Mangere Harbour to the east. Waitakere City Council also constructed a number of longer-distance off-road cycle paths, such as the routes that are part of the
Project Twin Streams Project Twin Streams is an umbrella name for a number of initiatives centred on two streams ( Opanuku and Oratia) in the West Auckland, New Zealand. It consists of a number of environmental and community initiatives and infrastructure. This inc ...
through the
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area, as well as the new cycle path along the
Te Atatū Peninsula Te Atatū Peninsula (formerly Te Atatu North) is a waterfront suburb of West Auckland surrounded by the Waitematā Harbour. The area was home to brickworks and farmland until the Northwestern Motorway was constructed in the 1950s, after which Te ...
. Overall, as of early 2014, Council notes an approximate of cycle ways, "consisting of 95 km of cycle metros, 130 km of cycle connectors and 57 km of feeder routes that varying levels of service and cycle infrastructure provision. Parts of the existing network require cyclists to use bus/bike lanes and consist of short sections of unconnected cycle lanes, which advocacy groups do not consider to be an optimal solution in terms of safety". As of September 2021, Auckland Transport has not been able to meet its targets for newly constructed cycleways since 2017, even though the targets have decreased in subsequent years.


Bicycle rental

Auckland has a small bike rental scheme,
Nextbike __FORCETOC__ nextbike is a German company that develops and operates public bike-sharing systems. The company was founded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2004. It operates in cities in 25 countries including Germany, UK, New Zealand, Poland, Croatia, ...
. It began with around 170 bicycles available at rental stations mostly in the CBD and the inner suburbs. The scheme ceased operation in 2010, and restarted in 2013 with only 13 bikes in 3 locations in downtown Auckland. In 2017, Auckland Transport began to investigate the feasibility of implementing their own bike rental scheme. A dockless bikeshare operator, Onzo, launched in 2017. Their yellow bikes were deployed without any prior arrangement with local government. As of April 2021, Onzo has not renewed its license with Auckland Transport and the
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has attempted to remove the business from its register.


Proposals


Harbour link

One of the links most called-for by local cycling groups is a connection over the Waitematā Harbour between the Auckland city centre and the North Shore, where cyclists currently only have the option of a very distant detour, or of taking a ferry. There have been many recent history of attempts to provide walking and cycling access on Auckland Harbour Bridge. The political and public relations campaign to provide a link led to one of the largest ever demonstrations of its kind in New Zealand, when in May 2009, several thousands of walkers and cyclists ignored police barriers and peacefully marched onto the motorway bridge, calling for the motorways agency to reconsider the walk/cycleway proposal. Following years of campaigning a Harbour Bridge crossing, known as Skypath, was promised funding by the Labour Party in the lead-up to the
2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November  ...
. Once Labour was in government, the project was passed to the NZ Transport Agency which released a revised design in 2019.


See also

*
Cycling in New Zealand Cycling in New Zealand, while relatively popular as a sport, is a very marginal commuting mode, with the share hovering around 1–3% in most major cities. This is due to a number of factors, principally safety fears. History The bicycle reache ...
*
Bike Auckland Bike Auckland (Bike AKL), formerly Cycle Action Auckland (CAA) is a pro-cycling advocacy group in Auckland, New Zealand. The predominantly volunteer group aims to improve infrastructure and conditions, as well as perceptions of cycling to encou ...
*
Transport in Auckland Transport in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, is defined by factors that include the shape of the Auckland isthmus (with its harbours creating chokepoints and long distances for land transport), the suburban character of much of the urban are ...


References


External links


Monthly Auckland Transport cycling statistics
{{Cycling in different countries and cities
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
Transport in Auckland