Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel and a candidate in this months Entrust election
It might surprise you to learn that in Auckland, our harbour city, wrapped around the shores of the beautiful Waitemata, bicycles bring as many people to the city centre in the morning peak as the ferry system.
And they’re on the rise. As Bike Auckland noted in a recent newsletter:
Auckland Transport’s cycling and walking newsletter this week said the number of people cycling into the city is growing 11 percent annually, and one in every 20 people making that trip is now on a bike.
One thing that stood out particularly about the chart above is that it appears that bike and ferry-riding are now roughly equivalent. Cycling seems to have caught up to being ferried across the waves for city-centre access at the morning peak.
Clearly the gradual investment in biking infrastructure is paying off. Ferry ridership has been up and down, but unlike the luckless rail network, is largely holding its own on pre-COVID numbers (on that, it is a bit frustrating the above chart only goes back to 2020).
However ‘gold-plated’ some may consider cycleways to be, they must surely concede bike lanes have very low operating cost. An occasional bit of sweeping is all that’s needed once installed. The ferry system, by contrast, is an expensive beast to operate.
This is not a criticism of the ferry service, which is invaluable for our harbour city. Rather, my point is to highlight the invisible power of the humble bicycle.
Cost is also always in a dance with value – and, while the cycleway budget is small (and disappearing at national level), critics also like to claim it is unused, or that what it produces is generally of low value.
However, on these data it would seem cycling is more the ‘stealth mode’; secretly delivering the core transport service of accessing our premier market for jobs and education, at scale. Therefore, well deserving of both space and investment. Ironically perhaps, it is precisely because cycling achieves this task so discreetly that some can continue to persuade themselves it does little.
City-centre access is a useful bar for comparing our ferry system with other modes, as it is almost totally focussed on that task, as shown by the map below.
Whereas the cycleway network is way more widespread, piecemeal and disparate.
While the bike network has been slowly but steadily growing, it still has only one true, longer distance ‘commuter route’, what in London would be called a Cycle Superhighway: the North-Western Cycleway. A great bit of infrastructure that is heavily used, especially since AT connected it to the city via Ian McKinnon Drive with a simple bit of road space re-allocation.
Another cycling arterial that’s improved a lot recently is the route east from the city along Tāmaki Dr, which now extends to Ngāpipi Rd and is a fantastic ride. It does not yet extend either up the rest of Tāmaki Dr,n or to the new shared path up the Purewa valley – so while excellent in parts, this wing of the cycleway network is still incomplete.
Otherwise in terms of city-centre access, there’s a few bits and pieces of disconnected infra here and there, and lots of taking your chances with traffic on road network, as is the case for my ride in from Grey Lynn to the city until I reach the Kārangahape Rd dedicated bike lanes.
Unless of course you live on the Shore, where for bike riders there’s only the ferry network – ironically, perhaps, for this post, as many of those ferry passengers heading to the city are also people who ride bikes on the North Shore and Gulf Islands. The Devonport Wharf bike racks are regularly full to overflowing – which makes the “stealth mode” even more invisible to transport planners in the central city.
So really this bike-to-ferry trip is a great effort by bike users, and can only continue to grow with further investment.
Much of the South is a bike desert, despite its tantalising flatness and broad streets. Also ignored as quick wins: completing the obvious southern route along SH1 and the railway lines, as well as arterial bike lanes going straight through (and across) the heart of the isthmus, along the wide boulevards of the former tram network.
Looking North, across the harbour: there are stretches of shared path clinging to the edges of the motorway, and still nothing in the way of connection to the heart of the city. Liberate a lane and you’d liberate a whole lot of Aucklanders from traffic – especially with the advent of e-bikes extending the potential of cycle communities to more people, across even greater distances. Or better still, add a new bridge with the missing modes.
Here’s a catchment map made a few years back, just to show the possibilities – before the wide uptake of e-bikes.
Even closer into the city centre – within a fifteen minute ride of downtown – the local routes are still patchy. Some of them are very slowly improving, but still with blindingly obvious and easily solved gaps. Ponsonby Rd! Newmarket! Parnell and Remuera, right there on the city fringe.
The currently under-construction Meola Rd and Pt Chevalier Rd lanes, being rolled out as part of road renewal projects, are already proving fantastic and popular. And we are all looking forward to the Great North Rd lanes finally getting underway after costly delays, meddling by a few elected members, and wavering commitment from a few within AT. Hard to fathom the delay, in the face of massive enthusiasm from the local community to keep the project alive and see it delivered in a timely fashion.
Note the bike to football parking in the background, how many vehicle trips does that divert?
These new dedicated and protected paths will absolutely help more people choose to use their bikes to access the city centre on work days too, especially as more gaps are connected up.
To conclude, the city-centre access chart I opened with shows that there’s a good mix of ways to access the city centre, including cycling, which plays a more significant part in this mix than is immediately obvious. That it is likely if we keep improving the quality and the connectivity of safe cycling routes, these will continue to attract increasing use. Offering, for those who want it, an economical, healthier, and more spatially efficient option. While freeing up space for others to more easily use their preferred mode.
NOTE: this Thursday 3 October, following the meeting of Auckland Council’s Transport Resilience and Infrastructure Committee, councillors will attend a [closed to the public] workshop to discuss the implications of the (depleted) National Land Transport Fund investment for transport in Auckland.
Among other things, Councillors will discuss how to handle Simeon Brown’s cuts to funding for walking, cycling and safety. A preview can be seen in this 18 September open workshop, and the accompanying Auckland Transport paper:
Auckland Council 18 Sept 2024 AT paper for Transport Resilience Infrastructure Workshop
If you value safe access to cycling for more people across Auckland, now is the perfect time to let your elected reps know you want them to keep building the bike network!
Not sure where to start? Bike Auckland is here to help, with:
- an excellent overview of what’s at stake in the budget shortfall
- a shocking list of the many projects and programmes at risk (including quick safe affordable bike lanes across the map, plus basic road safety projects!)
- a speedy guide on how to write to councillors asking them to protect our transport future
Time to reveal to all the power and growing popularity of the stealth mode!
Processing...
Shsh,don’t let the secret out,it will catch on ,and everyone will want to do it. Heaven forbid, that pedal power could unlock congestion,improve mental heath,such backward,third world thinking,must be suppressed,getting drivers to go faster,should do the trick.
Yes, we can’t let bikes increase, it would be too good for society.
Where has that top graph re mode share come from? I can’t locate it in the Bike Auckland newsletter or the AT one. Not disputing it, but I would just like to know where it’s from.
From a presentation to the City Centre Advisory Panel, data from AT.
I asked AT for the numbers but they seem unable to send it, despite several emails from various staff members, and turning my simple request into a LGOIA. I don’t know what is wrong in there, some kind of culture of fear? These kinds of data should just be freely available every month.
Thanks for that. I’d have also thought it was a cause for celebration at AT’s end, as it shows that most people entering the city centre are not driving.
There probably is a bit of a culture of fear – of losing the funding for ferries. 50 million per annum to service a pretty small percentage of people could lead to it being on the chopping block. TBH, the Gulf Harbour ferry service could go tomorrow without any great loss.
There is definitely something worrying about the culture. Sadly I don’t see a change coming given the cementing of the leadership. AT seems to want a LGOIMA for any Council request. Even small things.
As a Western commuter taking the New Lynn-to-Avondale path and NW path to Newmarket / CBD for years now, I’ve certainly noticed the increase in popularity. Ebikes have had a massive influence, there are so many people riding that wouldn’t have done that on a pushbike.
Now that it is school holidays, it is a good time to remind all your driving commuter buddies, “Support cycleways and the roads will be this quiet all the time!”
I would be interested to know Chris what it’s like compared to 2019 (if you’re able to make that comparison). I had used it a couple of times that year and thought it already seemed well used. Would you say it’s gotten even busier? Personally have not used since 2019 as I have had no reason to bike into the dirty CBD.
“dirty cbd” and that’s a red flag for another concern troll who has no interest in actual reasonable debate and are making their rigidity and bias on urbanism and transport perfectly clear.
IMO it has certainly become busier since then. I can’t find a current chart to confirm that with data.
Always cracks me up we love to put carparks and roads on the waterfront/beachfront.
Like this is the most valuable/nicest real estate – imagine the value of that Devonport land?
You could actually have some nice apartments/terrace housing there – a bus / taxi drop off – lots of bike parking. Maybe a EV car/bike sharing scheme for the residents.
Sale of the land would probably pay for ferry opex.
Imagine the outrage though in Devonport – locals would chain themselves to the carpark while they decry loss of heritage!
At least the roads and footpaths are public space. Overseas not so much.
Swapping coastal public land for ferry opex – seems a little short sighted.
What a load of nonsense. I’m all for cycling and cycle ways, but there’s an awful lot of people who cannot ride a bike young and old for various reasons. Most people who use the ferry wouldn’t have a bike as their main means of transport anyway. So, carparks are going to be necessary now and, in the future.
Keep / expand the disability parking, set a market clearing price for the rest of the parking. See if that has better return than if that land were 12 story apartments.
Peter, I’ve fixed your comment;
What a load of nonsense. I’m all for CARS and ROADS, but there’s an awful lot of people who cannot DRIVE a CAR young and old for various reasons. Most people who use the ferry wouldn’t have a CAR as their main means of transport anyway. So, carparks are NOT going to be necessary now and, in the future.
Weird comment. How many car parks are there? Let’s say 100. So only 100 people can drive, park and hop on the ferry. What happens to the others? The bus, they walk, the taxi, they cycle, whatever. At some point you cannot keep providing car parks, just like you can’t keep adding one more lane.
And of course not everyone can bike – we get this argument trotted out every time someone talks about parking, bikes, etc. We get it. But for a beautiful coastal place like Devonport, how much nicer to remove some car parks from this so-called heritage area that everyone is so rabid to protect.
Peter, why are you imagining that adding a few cycle lanes deletes every single road, street, and parking space everywhere? This is just simply and wildly untrue and fanciful.
Thousands and thousands of lane kilometres of car infrastructure will remain entirely unviolated and will still be fully funded, no matter how many bike lanes we add, they are, and will remain, both cheap to deliver, and only on a few routes.
No one and no plan, requires ‘everyone’, or even anywhere near a half or a third of journeys to be by bike. Enabling 10% would be great, would have huge benefits for the city and for all other road and transit users.
10% of journeys touches no reluctant rider. It just allows those that would like to be able to ride when it suits them, safely, to do so.
Drive all you like, let others do as they like too.
But, but, …that means there isn’t anything to argue about!
If people who need/want to drive can drive, people who like to bike can bike safely, and people who use public transportation can. If a car requires parking, or if public transport requires a ticket, it will be paid for by the person using it. If it is hilly or rainy, well that’s the person who is riding the bike’s concern.
It all seems rather, democratic and reasonable. The hardest thing is unfurrowing my brow. Now that I’ve gone to all the trouble of furrowing it.
Thanks Patrick – excellent.
With the Transport Infrastructure Committee (TIC) now the Transport RESILIENCE and Infrastructure committee (TRIC), and both cycling and ferries being highly resilient transport solutions, im looking forward to council putting their funding (and thinking) where their acrynoms lay.
Reading the agenda for the next TRIC meeting suggests mode choice, or mode shift planning is yet to make it to the funding table. TERP and its mode shift seems to be goneburger also.
Where is that cycle ferry that was promised? The one proposed as a cost effective alternative to liberating a lane on the AHB, or the PT and active mode bridge…
One of the ferries i heard that was being considered has been broken up for scrap aluminum
KLK, it isn’t cheap to run any ferry, and a dedicated bike ferry would be certain to be expensive operationally, and may not attract many riders, certainly without the promised shoreside paths.
I was being a touch sarcastic….
Good article Patrick. by the look of this data, (if it is accurate) modes are definatley changing. I am a bit sceptical of the cycling figures when there is no clear lift during the warmer and drier daylight saving months. RE the bike ferry idea – do you know why this has not been trialled yet? I thought AT were keen and actively promoting it a few years ago? A regular bike ferry from Devonport at least would reduce the congestion and occassional conflict between cyclists and regular ferry passengers.
The ferry and yearly walk/ride across the bridge promised by NZTA were hollow promises designed to relieve the pressure from the “liberate the lane” protests of the day. Mission accomplished, like our new speed limits we’re stuck in 2019.
KLK – you mention your comment was sarcastic, so just stating for the record, active transport works because of movement. Waiting for a ferry to maybe arrive and maybe not be full is the opposite of active transport.
With the brakes on the economy and those left working from home, im guessing the bridge has even more spare capacity for a liberated lane.
I live in Howick and commute to my office on Queen St 3 days a week. I’ve been doing this ride since 2018, there has been so much improvement during this period. It’s been patchy and slow, but when I look back to what it was, it’s night and day.
Right now it’s a reliable 65 minutes door to door. Pretty sure I could knock 10 mins off this if I had an e-bike.
During this time, I’ve rode about 30,000kms, it’s honestly been life changing both in terms of health and finance. I’m 25kgs lighter than when I started riding, the bike went cash positive in less than 6 months. I’m tens of thousands of dollars to the good as well in saved commuting / vehicle costs. I can’t grasp why everyone doesn’t do it., my only regret is not starting sooner.
Go you. What a great advertisement for an active commute.
Bluey for the win – this is excellent !
Clearly you havent heard Auckland isnt Copenhagen, you cant ride a bike in the rain, we have hills… wind.
Im thinking the “tens of thousands” in savings was money the car/road/oil industry was banking on receiving from you. They are fighting hard to dissuade others from making a similar, expensive to them, decisions.
A large part of the savings is money that Auckland Transport or Fullers was getting from me, but we did go from two cars to one cars as a family, and hugely cut down on petrol etc.
I rarely drive anywhere now, the odd time I do it at weekends or holidays it’s a bit of a chore.
Rain in Copenhagen can be epic. Presumably the thousands of Copenhageners who cycle can somehow cope.
Joining the gaps – don’t forget the Quiet Streets that are not mapped – those where both vehicle speeds are 30 km/h or less and flows are 300 vph or less. Speed limits are a problem, but many local streets are 30 km/h by design. These are the necessary supplement to the main network.
“Speed limits are a problem, but many local streets are 30 km/h by design.”
I wish this was true, but it patently is not. We have some historic streets around places like Ponsonby, where the practical effects may align with this. And we have some new roads in new subdivisions built in recent years which this applies to.
However, some (at a guess, 90%) of our network is designed for 50+ kph, and not changing physically any time soon. Especially with a transport minister who is literally making lower speeds limits against the law except in super-rare circumstances, and who is making traffic calming “verboten” for a whole profession.
i heard on RNZ this morning. 300 applications for traffic calming measures have been cancelled, with 90+ of these being requests from schools.
ARGGGG!!!!! Thankyou for this information, BUT, note the photograph showing people enjoying the Orakei section of the Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive. This is an example of some of the best bike friendly infrastructure in Auckland that is also duplicated by Rail services!
This may be fine until you actually try to use these for a transport mode [aside from using cycling as a purely recreational activity]. With the evolvement of ebikes etc, many cyclists now, are also older, or if working, time poor, and often less interested in cycling for the sake of it. And there are more of us. Lessening the need for cyclists to navigate mainstream motorist infrastructure by enabling cyclists to use PT road services between urban centers and outer suburbs may resolve safety issues between motorists, particularly on inter-suburban routes for heavy vehicle drivers, and commuters. Cycles are not exactly huge machines. Most PT Buses can accommodate other ‘cycle sized’ and near as items – but refuse to do so because the passenger asking to board is carrying what is identified as a bicycle, not a mountain buggy, shopping trundler,large or multiple suitcases or trampers packs, large musical instrument, or on one occasion I saw recently, a well used dog kennel! . Most are of comparable size or even larger than a bicycle and present in similar passenger numbers to passengers boarding with luggage that passengers are currently permitted to board Auckland PT road services with.
When making inquiries regarding this matter, the excuse I have been handed is ‘that the bicycle will take up the space that could be occupied by a “paying passenger’. An explanation usually given with a detectable measure of hostility. How is it relevant that this service should be provided free of charge, when used by PT road services as an argument for this very ‘selective’ service delivery?
Refeffing to the Orakei section of the Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive cycle way; while using the new cycle friendly infrastructure to do every day journeys is a bonus as an activity; when using it to get from A to B, as a person who does not own a motor vehicle, why would I choose to cycle carrying a load of groceries, or commute to work, often having to navigate convoluted sections of cycle trail, when a ride on a train will take some of the battery-range draining distance out of the journey, and also, being able to board PT with my cycle enables my cycle being available for use at my destination?
From the train, I can see the nice new cycle friendly infrastructure, which is fine, but too often, after riding a short distance from the railway station, I am met with horrible cycle infrastructure in places where there is no rail services to complete my journey?
As a ex-motorist this is frustrating. Yes I love using the new cycle friendly infrastructure available at my journey’s destination. What I don’t love so much is the struggle with disconnected narrow and potholed pavements, having to share the footpath, especially at weekends, with sometimes resentful pedestrians, and residents pulling out of their blind entranced driveways without warning, or experiencing close passes by especially weekend motorists when daring to use the road, and the wear and tear on my cycles and other transport equipment caused by aging concrete pavers lifted by tree roots, at best being roughly patched up with asphalt scraps, albeit relieved by a couple of meters of smooth pavement outside new housing developments but with cars parked all over berms and footpaths outside residential driveways, probably due to residents’ restricted access to off street parking, and so being forced out onto the road. Its also about navigating the entitled attitudes of weekend drivers, pedestrians, and hired scooter riders. What is wrong with city councils confiscating machinery, and penalizing someone who parks a hired scooter in the center of a single lane shared footpath or protected cycle-way? Motorists are towed for less reason.
If its a nightmare for me; consider what this is like for someone using a mobility scooter, wheelchair, or other mobility equipment. The transport infrastructure is fine if they can actually get out of their own street independently. Busses will allow wheelchairs etc on board, the fishhook in this plan is “if the person can get to the bus stop” ! Many people living with mobility issues cannot; or the process is so onerous they find it more practical to use a car; or struggle with inadequate and rationed mobility specialist transport services.
PT road services are not accessible, or convenient to most NZers living with reduced mobility, who have to use other mobility-specialist transport; so its quite hypocritical of NZ PT road serves to claim that they provide a good service for NZers who need to use their services the most and expect to claim public funds/acclaim for doing so. They are only providing a level of service which meets their own convenience.
Their current service provision protocols mean that the services provided on PT catering for people with mobility issues will not be overused any time soon! Maybe that’s how Auckland PT road services would prefer it to remain.
Here lies the service provision “moral hazard”. If PT services were to be made less onerous for people living with mobility issues, it opens an argument supporting PT into providing some level of suburban service to allow cyclists to board buses with their cycles, [a service which has been provided, without fanfare, in the past in Auckland up until the early 1990s], which is a service provision our PT road services do not want to be forced into providing. Its more about PT business managers putting service provider profits and convenience before the needs of service recipients.
This ‘gap’ in services provision is felt most keenly in outer suburbs when the route to the bus stop is sometimes difficult to navigate, or even too dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists – in fact for anyone not using a car.
Also while rail services do provide an excellent service for cyclists and people living with mobility issues, they currently have dismal service coverage and service reliability, and rely on keeping their customers in ‘hope’ of improvement in a distant future.
If the promise of improved PT Rail services is so distant what is wrong with PT Road services meeting this need now? Maybe NZ cyclist advocacy groups should expect some form of ‘please explain’ at least!
Many of the best bike trails seem to be design-optimized to cater for the cyclist who leaves home in their RV with their cycles strapped to the trailer to ride for short recreational journeys and then reload their cycles onto their RV for the journey home…..Sorry to sound ‘ungrateful’ but obviously this new infrastructure is not designed with universal egalitarian use in mind. Go figure…..
TLDR.
Can you say this shorter please?
They want to be able to take their bike on the bus.
Have you considered that your “resentful pedestrians” might not feel comfortable with cycles riding toward them on what is supposed to be pedestrian (not cycle) space. I walk along the southern side of Quay St footpath in the mornings and am often passed by cyclists going full tilt in their enthusiasm to get to work. Despite there being a cycleway, bus lane and 30kph road lane they decide the remaining pedestrian space is for them as well. Also included is the frequent blindness bike riders have when a cycle red light is lit at pedestrian crossings which cross the cycleways.
I have heard rumours from reliable sources that the Great North Rd upgrade is again in jeopardy, does anyone know if this the case ?
I am weary of having to keep advocating for it after so many years of planning, consultations and deliberate delays .
Bikes equal freedom, happiness, adrenaline; and in conjunction with a ferry or train, are the best way to move, for a person.
Those who do not like a bike, are simply motornormative, and unwilling to evolve.
Painfully our motu’s government is dominated by the head in the sand, short sighted, ignorant persons, who have not updated since the second world war, despite most of them being way beyond the boom of babies.
Here in Taamaki we are a city still evolving, strangely enough helped by a mayor who is competing with Lula, Donald, and a few others in age, and seems far from a good listener, but is proving himself quite effective in a leadership role, up against some other examples of non taringa utilisers.
We will finally attain a rail system to qualify us as a city, eventually apartments will dominate our construction sector, and we will then start to be comparable with the great cities of the world.
Wellington never will because it is crap compared to Auckland, and traditionally everybody moves to the city, the big city, and Tamaki Makaurau is half the motu, so deserves respect.
Bikes also have an obvious health benefit, and with our ageing population and lowering birth rate, general population health will be vital to reducing the load on our health system.
Dunedin still needs its hospital regardless.
bah humbug
The Void on the cycle route map. Covering the entirety of Newmarket, Mt Eden, Onehunga, Mt Wellington and Remuera. 200,000 people within 30 mins of the city by e-bike… with literally no safe cycle lanes.
Now please for the love of god put bike racks on the front of buses like every other transit system in the developed world.
I’ve been away from Auckland for so long that I have literally forgotten/not realised it’s still not a thing in Auckland yet. All buses are fitted with bike/cycle racks in Christchurch, you don’t have to leave New Zealand to come across them.
amen
Not a fan of this for Auckland sorry. Need to extend your ride? Trains are good.
Bike racks on buses slow boarding significantly and are not good in either bigger cities, or cities where buses are used as top order transit. It delays way too many other users, and simply trips up high frequency operations.
These all apply in Auckland.
Maybe on some outer more rural low capacity routes, but I dunno, maybe just ride?
There could be a case for specific routes going across the harbour bridge with limited stops? E.g. a 95BX (bike express) which only stops in Glenfield, once along Birkenhead Ave, top of Onewa Road, bottom of Onewa Road, Victoria Park, Britomart?
Similarly a 82 BX Takapuna Centre, Akoranga, Victoria Park, Britomart?
But these would need to have a long operation time span (about 6am to 9pm), run at least every 30 min (20 or 15 min would be better) and be in addition to the current busses, so probably not really feasible.
I like this idea. I saw a post on FB today where Wellington CC has set up a mock rack on a bus outside Te Papa to see hiw easy it is to get your bike on and off.