A great video from Streetfilms shows how the Netherlands has transformed itself to cater for and encourage cycling over the past few decades. What’s really interesting is how things haven’t always been this way – rather through investment in really good quality cycling infrastructure (not just green paint on roads):
Also very very little lycra and almost no helmets.
H/T Atlantic Cities.
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Do you mean sharing the road with buses isn’t considered quality? (sarc).
Do you also mean that sharing the cylcepath with pedestrians isn’t considered quality as well? (even sarcier)
You know Bryce P, the really sad thing is that Auckland Transports considers just such a set-up a Quality Cycle Route and all their maps of cycling show the bus lanes as such. Despite most bus lanes in Auckland only operating 2 hours a day. Ignoring how unsafe and unpleasant it is to have a bus roaring past and then swinging into a bus stop without even looking too see whether someone is between them and the curb….
I know there are good people within AT, so all respect to them, but it appears that the majority care about how motor vehicles get around the city and everything else is secondary. Until we get some balance, the majority will feel that sharing bus lanes is good enough. The proposed upgrade of GNR from New Lynn to Henderson has shared ped / cycle lanes and shared bus / cycle lanes. Why not just do it once and do it right? Not good enough! Too slow to react.
Meanwhile to fit in an extra traffic lane because AT says GNR will be congested in 2026 (!), they plan to chop down all the old Pohutakawas that line Great North Rd across the road from MOTAT. So massacring the neighborhood is apparently perfectly fine for some more road capacity, yet heaven forbid a carpark in removed for a cycle lane or footpaths that two people can walk side by side on.
I’m not actually sure there are any good people in AT, I’m yet to see any projects emerge since it was set-up that are any way balanced in their treatment of different modes.
Do you have a link to any information about this apparent widening of GNR?
I only have it on email.
I think the most important difference between the approach to cycling in countries like Denmark and the Netherlands compared to here in Auckland is that they realise cyclists are more similar to pedestrians than they are to cars. Therefore cyclists are provided for in a specialised and adapted pedestrian realm rather than in the vehicle realm with a few half-hearted provisions.
That fundamental decision changes everything. It’s why people don’t need helmets, don’t need lycra. It’s why you see kids and grandmothers and everyone in between cycling. Not just lycra clad middle age men.
Yes!
Agreed, that makes a lot of sense and is reasonable to consider cyclists alongside pedestrians. The only problem is the ‘serious’ cyclists who want to cycle on the road rather than on an off road facility. I can sort of understand that but there has to be a compromise and unfortunately you cant cater to everybody but it is the ‘serious’ cyclists who make the most noise.
Well put
The video agrees with my recollection of living in the Netherlands. The town I lived in had a well developed separated cycle infrastructure including a brilliant route in to Amsterdam along the top of one of the dikes holding the water in the ringvaart, and a choice of two routes to work… one paralleling the N201 dual carriageway and the other running through farm land. You took one if you were in a hurry, and the other on a sunny day when you wanted to enjoy the countryside.
However, the Dutch don’t neglect their roads either. Assen and Groeningen are connected with the A28 motorway even though they are pretty much in the middle of no where and their populations are quite small. Motorways connect every corner of the country and there are often multiple motorways connecting two towns. Haarlem and Amsterdam being examples.
“… The town I lived in had a well developed separated cycle infrastructure including a brilliant route in to Amsterdam along the top of one of the dikes…”
So that video was of an idyllic day, how does usage hold up in the winter? I am curious to know.
There is obviously less cycling in winter. It gets cold there (down to -20deg on occasion), it snows, and it can obviously be wet. I used to drive to work through most of the winter, and my offices (which were in a campus arrangement on the edge of town) had a pretty vast car park along with a small covered bicycle shed.
You could claim commuting costs as an expense on your tax return. Which seems strange at first, but it IS a valid cost incurred earning an income so it isn’t too different to buying tools or work-related clothing. One of the guys I worked with drove in to work from almost the Belgium border every day, and claimed the distance traveled off his tax. I told the tax people I drove to work every day, on the basis that they couldn’t prove I hadn’t and I could do with the tax break even if the distance claimed was only about 15km a day.
Having lived in Europe where we occasional got -10˚C in winter and in the US where it was up to -30˚C, you do see people switching to the bus or tram, however, there are still large numbers of people cycling. I actually found cycling in -20˚C wasn’t really bad, I actually found it a really enjoyable experience.
Having sysled to school in winter in Christchurch as a kid I remember one day was minus even and snowing and surprisingly it wasn’t that bad, snow I could handle, rain I could not, and still largely can’t.
One of the things that immediately stands out in this video in how perfectly flat the landscape is, which must make cycling a lot easier. Given that Auckland is far more hilly, I’d be interested to hear how much of an effect people think this might have
Not much, there are plenty of routes around town that avoid the worst of the hills. The greatest impediment is the absolute lack of any sort of cycling infrastructure.
+1
Auckland probably has a more cycling friendly climate than Denmark or the Netherlands…. that might counter-balance the greater hillyness?
Well the hillyness will stop us aiming for the 50% they are in Copenhagen and parts of the Netherlands for example.
However we can still get towards 20% from our pathetic 1% with quality infrastructure. Hills are also less trouble than people believe, once you have been cycling a month can make it up even steep hills without much trouble.
There are also swathes of Auckland that are flat, places like Te Atatu Peninsular is a great example.
We also need to remember that windmills need wind to drive them. Fairly consistent wind if you are using them for drainage. Think about a key landmark in the Netherlands.
Now have a think about the last time you rode along the NW cycleway into a 10 knot headwind.
Same thing that people say about Chch – “it’s so flat, it must be great for cycling, compared to Akld/Wgtn/wherever”. Well yeh, except for those god-awful winds (80k nor’westers this week anyone?). Also people forget that on the flat you have to pedal ALL THE TIME. Put a few slopes in however and you only have to pedal half the time – what goes up must come down…
given that fitness is a major motivation for many cyclists and a motivation for adopting the mode, hills aren’t really a negative
I have an electric bike. Hills? WHAT hills?
That’s the thing people seem to imply whenever the criticise cycle, that any investment is somehow a plot to force everyone onto a bike. No one is talking about 100% of people cycling and if the hills are such a problem then stick to the car. However, increasing mode share to 10-20% would have such a massive effect on Auckland, not least on reducing the amount of money that needs to be spent on constantly rebuilding and resurfacing roads, but also in the health budgets of the country. One would hope that having a public health system would mean we’d have a government that would see the synergies between transport and general population health and attempt to make savings by spending more on active modes. Maybe one day we will.
I think it is a factor that will put off a percentage of people. However as said above, there are flatter routes you can take and you do get much better at cycling up hills the more you cycle. It’s a fitness thing.
The key however is cycling infrastructure, the one thing in Auckland that puts people off more than hills are vehicles and driver behaviour. Quite frankly it can be dangerous. Adding more infrastructure, separated, will encourage more people to cycle, which in turn will improve driver behaviour around cyclists.
Weather can be another thing, it can be difficult riding into a head wind along Tamaki Drive!!
Exactly Joshua and the Netherlands has plenty of windmills. It is the infrastructure, and the resulting lack of perceived safety, that plays the biggest part in keeping potential riders away.
A collection of photos of people cycling into the wind into today’s storm in Europe http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/2013/10/enter-headwind.html
There is a brand new main road being built in the new Westgate development right now. This will be the road to link to the new bridge to be built over SH16 to connect it all to Hobsonville etc. At this time I don’t know of proposed speed limits (the old SH16 is still 80 kmh for some peculiar reason and AT have resisted attempts to lower it FFS) but I believe this will be a very busy road. We should be happy that there are painted cycle lanes on this road but for some reason, given it is a brand new road, why can we not have Copenhagen lanes from the outset? Talk about aim low.
Same thing happened when the Franklin Rd, College Hill intersection was completely rebuilt as a result of the Victoria Park tunnel. Nothing changed except the removal of a slip lane and a very large Plane Tree. No one at AT took the opportunity to even paint cycle lanes, let alone build Copenhagen Lanes, despite the marginal extra costs being next to nothing.
Hmm,
Could it be that as these two roads cross a State highway that NZTA had a large input to the design and build process (as they paid for some of the crossing costs?) and thus refused to actually allow anything cycle related to be built as they “only do roads for cars & trucks”
And of course AT won’t argue the merits and will instead only paint the lines on the road.
We have been dealing with NZTA on an issue for over a year, and they “get” cycling. They’re very constrained by politically dictated budget allocations, but within that framework there are a lot of good people trying hard.
AT: the anecdotal evidence, and the physical evidence of what they’ve built and are building isn’t so favourable.
The piece of road in question will be AT’s. As is the old SH16 route now. CAA proposed changes to this route (I don’t have the details to hand) to make cycling safer along this existing 80 km/h route (including the double lane roundabout that is no longer needed) and AT resisted any attempts at change. That is the level of competency and dedication to moving motor vehicles that we are up against.
Even a painted median would do for now surely? I am perpetually amazed by the incompetence of AT’s staff.
4km of 4m wide cycle lane built in a week.
How many years do we have to wait for what is not much more than a footpath.
Back in June 2011 $8M was available from NZTA for the Waterview 4m wide off road cycleway. I believe its still years away.
It’s not like they’re planning to build something with the same mindset as what’s in the video or something that might have required much thought and organisation, e.g. straight direct route with good sight lines. Almost the oposite, like having the most bends & wiggly bits as possible and taking a circuitous route. Why is it taking so long to build?
Honestly, if you were heading for the CBD like most of those on the cycleway beside SH18, it would be easier/quicker/safer? to follow NN/Woodward/Carrington Roads.
I struggle to understand why the chosen cycleway isn’t a further straightened version of “route 2” in “attachment 3”
http://www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz/about-us/board-members/Board-Meetings-Minutes/Documents/Board%20reports%20June%202012/AT-Agenda-Item-10(v)-Proposed-Waterview-Cycleway-June2012.pdf
Too right. And what about Dominion Rd’s planned “upgrade”?
As I watched, I couldn’t help but compare Assen’s approach of making a direct route for bikes and buses, and making cars take the long way with AT’s approach on Dominion Rd.
As Patrick is want to say, we get what we build. It’s a pity we’re still saying it about future plans, and not just in retrospect.
Fantastic post Matt.
This is a great historical run down on how the Netherlands got their great cycle infrastructure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o
As you say, it wasnt always like this and the Dutch had to fight hard to get it. This shows that there is only one thing you need to get good cycle infrastructure and that is political will. All the other excuses are just that, excuses not reasons. Again from David Hembrow and his excellent blog:
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/02/all-those-myths-and-excuses-in-one-post.html
This article and the embedded video http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/making-a-1960s-street-grid-fit-for-the-21st-century/ shows how the Dutch turned an auto centric 1960s development in Utrecht into a cycle and pedestrian friendly neighbourhood. They did that by narrowing the roads and removing the centre lines but didnt remove any car parks or almost any separated cycle paths. Notice the young girl at the end of the video happily riding in front of the Audi – happy and safe because the car does not dominate the street. That is a safe environment for children.
I can’t help recounting this morning’s incident. Coming around Okahu bay on bikes with daughter in the T2 lane.
Immediately behind us a scooter about to pass, brave dude on a recumbent, nice polite car driver waiting for a chance to pass recumbent, behind that a bus.
We were confronted with a driver pulling out of a side road, intent on getting into the crawling traffic lane.
We yelled (as we were going to hit her) and she slammed on her brakes, blocking the lane. So she got a very rare royal flush: bikes, scooter, car with passenger, recumbent and bus!
No need for separated bike infrastructure in Auckland.
What a muppet.
A recumbent? She probably had a heart attack when she saw that. It does show how bad things are and how far we have to go.