The NZ Herald reports on a proposed cycling event in December that will enable people to cycle over the harbour bridge – if you pay the entry fee of at least $65. There are also a whole pile of weird conditions that it seems NZTA have applied to the event. Cyclists will be shielded from traffic by a massive row of buses, they will not be able to race across it and they will seemingly need to go across in bunches of 100 at a time.

Here’s part of the article anyway:

Up to 9000 pedallers are expected to take part in either of two rides starting on the Auckland side of the bridge, a 110km mission beginning at 6am and ending in Kumeu, and then a cruisier 15km excursion up and down the busway from about 9am…

…Unlike about 2000 people who cycled or walked across the bridge illegally two years ago, calling for a shared pathway to be built on it, those registered for the new event will have the Transport Agency’s blessing.

But organiser Callum McNair said that if the cyclists wanted to be allowed back for future annual rides, they would have to respect rules, including no racing on the bridge.

The regional director of the Transport Agency, Stephen Town, said the agency hoped a successful event could become an exciting regular addition to the city’s calendar, like the Auckland Marathon, which includes the bridge.

I think the event is obviously a good idea. It would also be nice for people to have the chance once in a while to simply walk across the Harbour Bridge. I did it back in May 2009 and it was a simply awesome view – perhaps the best spot in the whole city to truly appreciate Auckland’s beauty.

However, it seems a bit unfair that drivers get to cross the bridge nearly free (they do pay petrol tax obviously) every day, yet cyclists get the opportunity perhaps only once a year – then need to pay $65 for the privilege, while pedestrians don’t even get that chance. The sooner NZTA wake up to realise it’s not the 1960s anymore and constructively engage with parties trying to make a pedestrian/cycling crossing of the bridge the better. It would potentially become one of Auckland’s most prime tourist attractions and an absolutely awesome option for a Sunday family outing.

Share this

9 comments

  1. Completely agree – at least progress is being made on the cycling addon that has been discussed previously.

  2. I think I’ll register for that… How do they define “racing”? I’m not quite sure what they mean by saying “no racing on the bridge” – will it be single file or what?

  3. It effectively costs about $100 to run/walk over the bridge in the Ak Marathon, so $65 to cycle over is a bargain.

  4. I’ll be doing the race, but the cost, even for the entire race is a bit steep – Taupo which is longer and takes in 40km of a major state highway to the point of essentially closing it down is cheaper, and K2 which essentially takes over 25A over its entire length (184km) for only $10 more, and as for $65 to tottle for 15km, thats damn pricy.

    Also, I think the Herald is doing its usual reporting of half the facts – not sure if they’ll let the 15km riders go in waves of 100, but it makes sense for those actually racing as it does tend to reduce bunch sizes. Also apparently the bridge joins are a bit dodgy but even though it will be “neutralised” it’ll essentially be racing conditions at the front.

    As for not being able to walk… if I was wanting to walk rather than ride, I’d buy a $20 barely rideable beater, walk it for 2mins until out from under officials eyes, then leave it on the side to be picked up later.

  5. NZTA will no doubt be asking a fair whack to use the bridge. For a brief time I served on the first committee that established the Auckland Marathon, and I recall the asking price then was pretty eye-watering. We were also required to limit the number of participants then due to the perceived risk of resonance. Not that any of us could imagine all runners keeping in step with each other. Cyclists won’t have that problem so I imagine they are concerned about effects of wind. I have both run and cycled over the bridge – no difficulty at all in either case.

  6. NZTA’s resistance to a pedestrian/cycle crossing is stupefying. They are seemingly opposed just because some in the government have staked their professional reputations on saying ‘no’ to it and for no other reason.

  7. Some (I would imagine, a lot) of the entry fee goes towards the traffic management of a 110km route. Contrary to Taupo, this one has lots more side roads and more general traffic too, I’d assume, so while I agree the price is high, I think it will be worth it.

    Also, the work on the community cycling festival probably also doesn’t come totally without a price, volunteers being involved or not. Putting up a huge event takes money. I would be interested to know how much TelstraClear is putting in, but I guess they will want to keep that private.

    In any case, it’s a step forward. And Dan, I know, from talking to people representing cyclists on the steering group of the Pathways project (the evolution of GetAcross), that even compared to 6 months ago, NZTA’s attitude towards a walk- and cycleway has strongly improved. Compared to how they felt about it 2 years ago, it is like day and night.

    Funding for a crossing of course remains the key issue.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *