An early roundup this week, on account of the long weekend ahead. Watch out for the wind out there!
This week in Greater Auckland
- On Monday we shared an open letter to Auckland Transport about Project K (further to the last-minute watering down of designs we covered last week, and AT’s reply which we shared in last week’s roundup.)
- On Tuesday, continuing our focus on safe and attractive streets in the central city, we shared a guest post by the editor of Craccum magazine, calling for greater safety on Symonds St after a horrific recent crash
- And on Wednesday Connor posted an update on our Project K open letter (signed by almost 100 people and organisations), including some of the many public comments expressing outrage and disappoint at AT’s walkback on Project K.
This weekly roundup, like all of our work, is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join our circle of supporters here, or subscribe on Substack!
Abandoned skyscraper rescued from ruin
In late-breaking news, a new developer has been found for the partly-completed Seascape apartment tower, the pyramid-topped skeleton of which has been lending a somewhat North Korean feel to the city skyline over the last nine months.
As reported by the NZ Herald last night (article paywalled):
Icon will replace China Construction on New Zealand’s tallest apartment tower, the $300 million-plus Seascape in Auckland, where work stopped nearly nine months ago.
A spokesman for developer Shundi Customs said a notice had been issued to all stakeholders saying that the contract with China Construction had ended.
Australian builder Icon would take over the abandoned project to complete work, he said.
This comes after recent reports of ongoing financial disputes between the original builder and developer, and concerns about the safety of the scaffolding. It’s promising news: Icon built The Pacifica close by, which started construction after Seascape and was completed in early 2021.
Why cities are great
From the Guardian, an interview-on-the-move with “Annabel Streets, the appropriately named author of a new book, The Walking Cure,” which spells out how a walk around the city is as good for you as a stroll in the countryside.
“I love the opportunities for surprise,” [Streets] says, leading me out of the church, down winding backstreets.
“Urban spaces are often much more stimulating and energising than more remote landscapes,” says Streets. “Unless marred by too much noise, pollution and traffic, cities can perk us up, pique our curiosity and trigger our imagination. Yes, you can walk in a park or through mountains and feel wonderfully calm, but there are few signs of human endeavour. Cities relax us as much, if not more, because humans are fascinated by each other and the things we have created. They encourage us to get out of our own heads and distract us from our own ruminating minds.”
And this week, Patrick Reynolds spoke to the Eke Panuku podcast “A City of Neighbourhoods” about shaping the city centre and how to continue the downtown boom:
Low traffic / high impact neighbourhoods
Some great numbers in this overview of the measurable impact of low-traffic neighbourhoods :
Magical things happen when walking and cycling are safe and convenient. Here’s what happened in some communities in the UK:
✅ 51% drop in vehicle traffic inside the neighborhoods.
✅ Over 2-3 years, 20% reduction in car use.
✅ No delays in emergency response times.
✅ Oxford: public support was 5-to-1.
✅ Britain: public support was 6.5-to-1.
✅ People are opting out of driving for their short trips. Walking increased 115 minutes per week; cycling increased 20 minutes per week.
Like the T-shirt says, no conspiracy – just lazy!
Don’t wanna go far for stuff.
— Tom Flood (@tomflood.bsky.social) 2025-04-12T14:15:27.319Z
This one neat trick for making all roads 10% more efficient and productive
Recent research points to a key cause of traffic congestion in recent decades: more and more giant vehicles pointlessly wasting space.
In the study, published in the journal Transportmetrica A, David Levinson, a professor at the University of Sydney’s school of engineering, and Yang Gao, a researcher at the School of Data Science at City University of Hong Kong, found that the growing number of SUVs reduced the vehicle capacity of freeway lanes in Minnesota’s Twin Cities by 9.5% between 1995 and 2019. Their findings suggest yet another way in which “car bloat” exacerbates problems that affect everyone, regardless of how they travel.
Census transport trends, made visible
Stats NZ points to recent updates to the interactive data-vis site CommuterWaka. You can now see 2023 data for each census area, refine it by transport mode (walk, bike, drive, bus, train, etc) and destination (work or education), and compare it to previous census data from 2018.
Of course, the changes wrought by the pandemic are a bit of a confounding factor here – there’s more work-from-home – but still, no doubt some interesting things to see. Let us know what you spot!
There’s also an update about the make-up of households, including more children living at home well into adulthood. This chimes with our recent piece on the greying isthmus, and our ongoing advocacy for greater affordable housing options where people (of all ages) want to live.
Bikes mean business
In Central Otago, the Shotover Gorge trail opened last weekend, as “the culmination of seven years of blood, sweat and tears”. As the Queenstown Trails CEO Mark Williams says, it’s all about the network. (Click through for even more gorgeous photos by Geoff Marks)
“The big focus of the Shotover Gorge Trail was closing the gap in the network, linking the northern side of the Whakatipu Basin with the residential suburbs, creating a seamless recreational link and integrating with the mountain bike trails on Coronet Peak and Mahu Whenua”.
The additional benefit of connecting communities with active transport opportunities is not lost on Williams. “Trails provide the perfect means for locals and visitors to experience the Whakatipu Basin without a reliance on vehicles, reducing emissions and congestion, with the obvious health and wellbeing benefits of daily exercise”.
In Rotorua, e-bikes are enhancing the reach of a community safety programme:
Safe City Guardians team leader Robert Severne said the bikes offered another tool for the team.
“Gives us more scope to go further out into extended areas.
He said the team was trained to use them, went in pairs and were kitted with first aid packs.
In the Hutt Valley, an increasingly connected bike network allows for easy commutes, family connections, and fun days off, says lawyer Chris Nicholls, who tells Stuff:
I cycle up to Naenae on a track and train my jack russells [Sid and Reg] on the river trails, down to Seaview or Petone on the weekends.
The perfect Saturday morning in the city is …
Either to bike to the Hutt River and under the Waione St Bridge, to Seaview Marina overlooking the yachts, and go to the cafe. Or we will drive to the Petone beach dog exercise area and walk the dogs. I’ve enjoyed watching the progress of building the cycle and walkway into Wellington. I’m looking forward to it being finished. I also like to bike to Eastbourne to see mum, and I’m really looking forward to that cycleway being built.
In Wainuiomata, a heavily car-dependent suburb, a year-long e-bike trial run via Kōkiri marae reveals once again what we kinda know: these are empowering machines that can help whanau to live their best lives.
As the summary notes, people used their e-bikes for all sorts of trips, shared them with friends and family, and enjoyed physical and mental health benefits. Having an e-bike also lowered transport costs, and helped people access nature, social events, and cultural activities, while setting an example for the next generation. “We’re role modelling for our kids, our tamariki and our mokopuna,” said one participant.
The excerpts from interviews in the full report give a great glimpse of the real-world impacts:
“That [riding a bike] is a normal thing and that big people can ride bikes and so I think that’ll be a good incentive for me to just go out there and do it … even though you’re not – you’re not actually swishing the hair and trying to be that type of person, but just an ordinary type person that can get out – oh hell, if he can do it we can.”
“When we all travel together, I was actually quite nervous, you know. I haven’t been on a bike for a long time and I’m 50 so it was like oh, do I really want to be seen in the public and we’re big units. So, that was a bit of a nerve-racking thing but – from then to now – it’s just an easy transition to do … it’s a joy.”
In central Wellington, just as in cities everywhere, some shops are struggling in this economy, while a bike network is being pieced together to save lives and reduce congestion and save the planet and so on. Is there a connection, Stuff wonders – concluding “not really, it’s mostly the economy”, but asking readers to weigh in with their reckons anyhow, in a sort of reverse reading-comprehension exercise.
At Rice Bowl Burger Bar… Wawa Shen reckoned she’d lost a few regulars, people who used to park outside the shop and jump in to collect their order.
However, she’d recouped some of that loss, by offering more promotions and working harder.
Times were tough, she said. People were spending less, and ingredients cost more. Reluctantly, she’d put prices up, and fried rice that once cost $16 is now $18 – “a lot of money”.
Takings were down, but Shen said it was difficult to tell what was behind that: higher costs, or a lower turnover.
…At Good Boy Food + Drink, business was brisk, and cyclists were a big part of the sandwich shop’s success, said Peter, who was prepping food when Stuff dropped by.
“We love it [the cycleways],” he said. “Lots of people cycling in the morning to work, people park up out here, have a coffee.”
While the article focuses on Wellington woes, Auckland pops up in a cameo role as Reassuring Local Example:
Alistair Woodward, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Auckland, has studied the impact of cycleways on communities.
Studies from Aotearoa and abroad showed cycleways — along with other roadworks — were disruptive to businesses during the construction phase. But once the dust settled, business returned, often bringing a different type of consumer.
Woodward had seen the phenomenon when cycleways were rolled out on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd. Local businesses had been anxious about losing car parks, and while some had closed, others had replaced them, and the area was thriving, he said.
“The commentary from people who run the businesses was that the clientèle changed a bit, but their businesses weren’t adversely affected.”
In fact, the slower people travel, the more they spend, Woodward said. “They’re more likely to go into a shop. They’re not going to buy a fridge, but visit a florist, a café: drop in on a whim.”
Also in Auckland, check out this local-ride project, which started during the first Level 4 and just kept going…
Started off 5 years ago this week with a lockdown challenge to ride every street within 3km of my house. Kept going in subsequent lockdowns, adding 1km at a time. Now have ridden every* street within 18km of my house, which covers 46% of roads in the Auckland region!
— Luke Christensen (@lukechristensen.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T07:00:40.696Z
Safer speeds for pets and people…
In the Bay of Plenty, locals are begging Whakatāne District Council for safer speeds on a road used by people accessing the glorious surf, after the tragic loss of a much-loved Jack Russell.
“I picked Maggie up off the road after she got run over,” Dobbin said.
“She died in my arms. It was a wake-up call. The driver wasn’t looking at the road, so it wouldn’t have made a difference if she was a dog or a toddler.”
As owner and operator of Salt Spray Surf School, Dobbin spends a big part of his time on the grassy dune beside the 1.3 kilometre, no-exit coastal road, popular with surfers and holidaymakers.
“The near misses that we see all the time are countless,” he said.
Maggie lived across the road from the surf school. “She was the coolest dog ever. She would get all the rats out of the dunes and would come across the road all the time because she was so friendly. She became a part of the surf school over the summer.”
And in South Canterbury, a small town is begging for safer speeds after the death of a man accessing a famous local pie shop, on a busy high-speed road that locals had long feared would kill somebody.
New owners Ben and Jo Holmes said they had been calling for a review of the speed limit for “a long time”.
“If you reduce it by 20kph, naturally there’s more of a chance for people to stop if something happens,” Ben Holmes said. “We’re not asking for much.”
…“We never wanted to have someone become injured or lose their life outside of our business,” Ben Holmes said.
“Hopefully, in light of this, some positive change will come.”
… and a hopeful moment in the House?
In response to Oral Questions last week, Minister of Transport Chris Bishop indicated that he believes the new Speed Rule allows communities to retain existing safe speeds of 30 km/h, if they wish to. This will be glad news for many who are concerned about impending blanket speed rises.
It’d be helpful if the minister could clarify the process for keeping existing safe speeds. (He could also put 30km/h back on the list of available urban speed limits. It never made sense that the new rule deprives cities of one of the handiest tools in the toolbox for healthy, productive streets.)
Meanwhile, Auckland Transport is increasingly looking like an outlier on this topic. Its list of 1500+ streets where it thinks speeds need to go back up to 50kmh is hundreds of times longer than any other city. It also includes many Kafkaesque examples: cul-de-sacs, quiet side streets, communities that came together to solve a history of crashes, and even the street outside a school for blind and low-vision students.
Support for a sensible approach is coming from many quarters, including councillors, local MPs of all stripes, and many schools and communities. International eyes are also all over this, thanks to AT’s well-deserved global prize for its safe speeds programme. With the Minister’s clear nod towards a workaround, now’s the moment for Auckland Council and the AT Board to exert a positive influence over the CCO, and work with the Minister and local MPs for a much more reasonable outcome, in line with other cities.
The alternative – in which Auckland Transport doggedly pursues higher speeds in dozens of neighbourhoods and around hundreds of schools, and they (and elected members) have to wear the political consequences of the resulting harm – just doesn’t bear thinking about.
In short: hurry up and sort this out, everyone!
Keeping on top of green and blue threats
In the Spinoff, two good reads on a couple of natural threats to our liveable city:
- How to find out if your home is at risk of flooding – written in partnership with Auckland Council.
- How to join the war on invasive moth plants, featuring the good people from STAMP (the Society Totally Against Moth Plants!)
A loud response on behalf of quiet skies
A resource consent application for a waterfront helipad in Westmere has gotten the thumbs down from a thousand neighbours as reported by Quiet Sky Waitematā (which mapped submissions, to create the image below) and the NZ Herald (which dug into the 356-page council report).
Auckland Council’s planners also advised against consent, on the grounds of negative impacts for birdlife, trees and the neighbourhood as a whole. Unless the applicants withdraw their application, the matter will go to a hearing in May.
A little CRL VR ride for y’all
Lastly, why not cruise into the long weekend with this driver’s-seat view of the CRL journey from Maungawhau to Waitematā. Woo-woo!
That’s it for this short week – stay safe in this wild weather and enjoy the long weekend as much as you can! We’ll see you next week.
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The workaround the Minister is hinting at is just the current process i.e. reverse speed limits and if you want to lower them again must do so on a street by street basis. So if you want to lower the speed on a cul de sac where the speed has increased to 50km/h it will need a specific consultation showing support and an economic analysis showing a positive BCR and then MAYBE it might be ok to lower back to 30km/h
Except that the rule as written doesn’t allow 30km/h as an urban speed-setting option after 1 July 2025, with two exceptions:
“Unconventional, low-volume, or low-speed roads”, e.g. “Parking areas, beach access points, riverbeds, cultural and recreational reserve or similar” – these can have speeds between 10 – 30kmh
and
“Urban intersection speed zones”, defined as “Intersections that have a history of high risk crash types”, which can have speeds of 30 – 70 km/h
The latter looks like it could be a potential workaround, given pretty much every urban intersection would have a history of high-risk crash types. But not necessarily a written history, given the vast majority of crashes and near-misses involving people walking/ biking never get reported in the system.
(Also not recorded: all the people, kids included, who would be happily walking or biking, or running for the bus, if only the streets felt safer.)
That’s a good thing 30 is too slow. There should be a blanket ban on 30 as a permanent speed limit. The intersection thing isn’t going to happen in urban areas it’s mainly for the urban connector roads no one will actually slow down to 30 for that short bit at an intersection they don’t do it in the current 30 areas anyway. If people really wanted to keep 30kmh the consultation wouldn’t have said 66% want speeds to be reversed by July. You’re just not equipped to deal with the fact people don’t care about evidence and want to drive fast because it’s fun and saves time. Speeds are almost nothing to do with road tolls anyway QLD, NSW and VIC prove this to us every single year with their lower road toll despite the vast majority of urban driving being done in 60-70 or 80kmh zones. AT especially should be forced to reverse their limits as they implemented many without evidence of support or the really stupid ones on culdesacs where no one would’ve accelerated past 30 but they felt like they needed to waste money on pre determined consultation. Removing the possibility of 30 zones will also save money on things like this.
AGAIN IF YOU WANT LOWER SPEEDS YOU HAVE TO CREATE REAL SUPPORT FOR THEM – No one has done that yet. A few cherry picked groups of loud vocal people are nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands(possibly millions) of normal people who ignore 30 or temporary 30 zones everyday. I would say 9 in 10 NZ motorists AND cyclists ignore 30kmh zones.
hi Mount Colah! why aren’t you using your original username?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/522281/kiwis-want-lower-speed-limits-around-schools-high-risk-areas-survey-shows
“Roughly half of survey respondents supported a 30km/h maximum school speed limit in urban areas – 20 percent said it should be 20km/h – 26 percent said 40km/h.”
KLK that survey is whatever how was it conducted? In person interviews and the questions are leading, they don’t clearly state 24/7 or not people might’ve been confused and thought they are talking about reducing current school zones to 30 (which even I support as it means everyone will just do 50 instead of 40 lol). Your survey means nothing to the 66% of respondents that told the govt to reverse speed limits implemented since 2020! I would argue the govt isn’t going hard and fast enough on this 66% is a clear mandate to increase speeds. If the majority thought 30kmh was warranted they would stick to it or even close, that’s not the case most are just ignoring and doing 50 including cyclists. Most of us are already taking advantage of the higher speeds on arterials and despite what you claim we are saving heaps of time I got from Botany to Manukau in only about 10 mins. At the woke speeds that’s easily a 15min trip as you also miss most of the lights. You already know once the rat runs are back this isn’t going to stop we are going to want more of this. The public’s demand for speed is insatiable you’re just upset the GOVT is listening to evidence people want most roads to be put back to what they were. I would agree some of the rural towns probably have a case for lowering from 70 to 60. 60 is the appropriate urban limit to have Australia proves this with a lower road toll. Any lower and the deaths start to climb NZ is a good example lots of 50 & 30 zones we have a higher road toll all urban arterials should be increased to 60kmh.
I think you need to reacquaint yourself with what National actually campaigned on. It wasn’t simply “increasing speed limits”.
It was a remission of blanket rules, but the ability to retain lower limits where experts, evidence – and locals – wanted it. The “localism” and less “command and control from Wellington” Simeon Brown campaigned on.
The survey reflects that the communities want that input and expect the Government to honour their campaign promise. No one is asking for a return to blanket limits. But the irony is this is what they are getting. Thankfully it looks like the latest MoT is a bit more honorable than the last one. But I get that this goes straight against your personal preferences and ideology.
It’s time the Minister was forced to admit that he is still failing to challenge the insane Rule change and enable what people actually want – retain 30 km/h speed limits and allow review if the community don’t think they are right in some streets. His ambiguous “No” to the last question means “No, you have to reverse them and then waste a lot of time and money before you can out them back again, and I’ve forgotten about the bit of the Rule that doesn’t allow for 30 km/h speed limits where they are most necessary.”
Yeah. Exactly.
Setting speed limits isn’t supposed to be a riddle. Nor a game of Dare.
Bishop is the minister. He’s got to fix the messes that Brown made, and before too many people die. It’s part of the extra workload you agree to if you stand in a party that promotes nasty people like Brown.
Lower speed limits are just about revenue, NZ is one of the few places in the world where speeding fines go directly to the GOVT and are not ringfenced. If Labour or the Greens really cared about safety they would’ve already implemented speed limiters so enforcement for speed would be completely unnecessary. Isn’t it awfully convenient that suddenly after all the years and advertising of 100 being the mythical limit and 1K over that was certain death now suddenly 80 has become the magical limit. Why might you ask? Well it all seems well until you remember REDFLEX NK-7 cameras can only enforce one direction of traffic in 100kmh zones which might be why cameras spring up once 80 is the new limit as the revenue potential more than doubles. I’m yet to see any real attempt from any govt at actually reducing the road toll, we even saw the greens hold up testing for illicit drugs! It doesn’t matter if you’re impaired by them or not they are illicit, therefore no driving if anything is in your system period. Where’s the increase in fines for cellphone use yeah sure 80-150 big deal Labour are chickens and too afraid they will lose votes hence why they probably won’t allow arterials to be dropped again if they ever get back in. So Heidi I assume you support illicit drug users being charged for driving? I’ll wait.
Breathe.
Colahfern unfortunately has breathed in too many petrol fumes, i think, and air pollution does trigger inflammation and brain atrophy.
What an enormous waste of everyone’s time and money on a billionaire’s helipad. How do the few in Mercury lane oppose the changes there yet we have to go to a hearing for this rich fool’s nuisance
+1000
Quite! And meanwhile, on Waiheke and Great Barrier, new helipad consents are still being granted apace. The main difference being that the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan has never given effect to the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement. Even thought it was supposed to do so as soon as practicable after the Coastal Policy Statement was made law fifteen years ago. So impacts on native species have never been considered in the roughly eighty consents, most of which fly in low over what should be protected coastal areas.
Agree, should be cost recovery after it is turned down
There is cost recovery, by Auckland Council, from the applicants, who will have spent hundreds of thousands on the process (on consultant planners, ecologists, acoustic experts, lawyers and other specialists, as well as council fees). But it’s the objectors, Quiet Sky Waitemata, who now have to raise another $40k in a month (on top of the vast amounts they have already raised and spent) to be able to send their experts to the hearing. If the applicants can outlast the challengers financially, they can present their case unopposed. Here’s a link to Quiet Sky Waitemata’s fundraising appeal: https://www.quietsky.nz/s/QSW-Fundraising-Appeal.pdf
Nearly midway through government term, years past, this year is the year that government can turn things around with the ‘cost of living’ by addressing issues imploded onto our Auckland Transport workers! They keep our transport services functioning and operating and we need to help them out more!
The polls are really reflecting that ordinary workers such as Auckland Transport workers are struggling financially and theirs more resolutions around ‘cost of living’ and not just helping businesses and business owners! Businesses in particular operate ones and business owners control the economy, inflation(greediness), not the government! Government policies creates change and improves lives for everybody and current government not improving lives of ordinary New Zealanders. The supermarket demerger a must for Pak N Save and New World, it’s time they got broken up into seperate wholesale entities. Would need to go against most of the grocery commissioners words, there does need to be 3rd whole saler and whole sale doesn’t prevent smaller brand from competing. Only reason why they’d be struggling is cause there’s no 3rd whole saler in-market. Lastly the commissioner stated about the promotional special and low price as an issue, if we prevented the supermarkets from low price and specials it would kill marketing practices. National should really watch this video!
https://youtu.be/QXKUxn1y1ps?si=iYW7oKrW2R1OhjTs
But demerger of supermarkets isn’t enough to curb the ‘cost of living’. We need the government to holdback some RoNS for next election cycle instead of doing this year like SH1 Whangärei to Port Marsden Highway, Hamilton Southern Links, Petone to Grenada Link Road Cross Valley Link and SH6 Hope Bypass for more public transport projects Dominion RD Heavy Rail tunnel, North Shore Rail line starting from Waitemata station and Christchurch rail cause people in their 50-60s who’ve already finished having kids are really struggling to find 1-2 bedroom apartment housing closer to CBD due to lack of supply of apartments which is causing people in their 20-30s not to start family and sinking our economy. Property developers are unwilling to build high density apartment blocks are far away from multiple rapid transits lines like rail cause it’s not ‘convenient’ and ‘accessible’ which all apartment owners expect! The more rapid transits we see in one suburban area, the more value interest there is building high density apartments!
Lets help these Auckland Transport workers!
you do know supermarkets aren’t the focus of or relevant to this blog, right?
Interesting article in the herald. Per the penultimate paragraph, E-scooters greater than 300W should be registered as motorbikes, and helmets should be worn. $15M in ACC payments is quite a bit and an added strain on the health system. I can’t imagine the police would have resources to enforce it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nztas-outdated-e-scooter-regulations-need-a-serious-overhaul-editorial/TUKLOFATIJBE5MAJOZHUOMI3FE/
Interesting facts thanks Commuter, I know in Australia they do enforce speed through LIDAR using the same stalker XLR guns our police use so it’s possible although obviously they have more resources. Although suddenly people like Heidi will want speed limits raised as they realise the 10K speeds they advocated for in certain bits are too slow once they start getting fined for going 30 in a 10 zone etc. 50 will become the default speed limit the moment police enforce bikes in 30 zones too then suddenly all the evidence won’t matter to this blog. (It already doesn’t given so many boast about how fast they completed the North western shared path which by their own admission should have a 10k speed limit)
evidence like the basic physics that a sub-100kg bike + cyclist combo at 50km/h has far less kinetic energy than a 2+ tonne vanity SUV/ute?
of course, Mount Colah/Democracy, you antienvironmental antitransit ideologues are very good at misrepresenting facts and fixating on single details like it’s some kinda of a gotcha. But you can’t change the reality that far many more people die being hit by cars, and that is why cars must slow down for better cities. 30km/h equals shorter stopping distance and a 90% survival rate if hit.
so sorry that your selfishness gets impeded by laws of physics and basic empathy.
You are so angry Mount Colah. Maybe get outside of your car, find some park with a forest and take a breath of nice fresh air? You know that research has found that driving is associate with higher rates of anxiety, depression, and other adverse mental health?
I’m concerned by your aggressive inability to accept the laws of physics that cars are more dangerous than bicycles. And your repeated commenting on this blog under different usernames.
People on this blog don’t actually care about peds — they just hate cars.
There’s multiple sections of footpath near the Orakei shared path — I’ve been the victim of a cyclist hit and run there.
When I shared that here, the responses were:
* ‘I cAn Go 40 Km/Hr On ShArEd PaThS!!!’
* ‘CaRs ArE WoRsE!!!!1!!’
* ‘RuLeS aRe FoR mOtOrIsTs!!!1!’
The fact is, commenters just want to ride faster, without caring about anyone else. The hypocritical response by Burrower proves this.
“science is hypocritical” ok boomer
if you ask me your your comments are unhelpful and biased strawmen. i’ve never seen any cyclist comments here demanding speed in the inane and selfish way Mount Colah/Fassifern/whatever this aussie troll is calling themselves this week gloats about going fast in a car. Sounds like you’re projecting, and only commenting to push a status quo agenda without accepting any criticism or alternatives
Their comments are “unhelpful”…. why’s that Burrower because they don’t push your exact anti car narrative? They bravely speak up and share a vulnerable story and you just put them down for it and call them a boomer, no wonder there is no logical debate anymore because someone like Burrower will mount a straw man argument go off the rails and insult someone. Why do these sort of people never accept any responsibility it’s always the cars fault and never their own even when the E Scooter injury bill rises to $15M and some scooters are flying down shared paths at 100Kmh they still must turn the attention to cars rather than realising it’s a seperate issue that deserves its own debate. But who am I kidding Burrower is not interested in debate they just want to put others down and calls anyone who disagrees a “boomer”. In other words “Evidence when it suits me and democracy only when it affects cars in some way negative” truly a disgusting view point and only when they are interested in genuine debate can a actual conversation be had with someone like this.
I’m not the one promoting a death cult of speeding and pollution, Mount Colah. And yes, I know it’s you changing your name to a different NSW suburb. Pretty damn transparent and pathetic – but what do you expect from a butthurt cager who thinks having to slow down for anything is Fascism and Discrimination.
I do sincerely hope you lose access to your precious car and are forced to rely on public transport and walking for a good few weeks. Suffering what they inflict on others regrettably seems to be the only way that the privileged will ever understand or develop empathy.
Burrow, if you’re gonna troll, at least pretend to read…
I agree with you on lower speed limits. I think they’re so good, they should apply to all modes to protect everyone!
You think only cyclists are worthy of protection, and peds should be hit.
Or have you reversed your position, and you now support speed limits on shared paths! That would be great if you have!
i support separating pedestrian and cyclist infrastructre, as is the position of other commenters on this blog and the transit advocate/urbanist community in general. shared paths are widely seen as a poor compromise by authorities unwilling to narrow the car lanes to create protected bike lanes.
not that that matters to your anti-cyclist, “individual responsibility” ideology you are blatantly pushing – why else would you begin with the conclusion you want everyone to conform to?
Calm down and be willing to give some ground instead of being so aggressive, maybe then others on this blog would be more approachable to discourse on how to best optimise shared path infrastructure
Burrower, your response shows the double standards you hold.
When cyclists are at risk from cars, you demand that everyone else is inconvenienced (even at 3 am in the morning, when there are very few cyclists)!
When peds are at risk from cyclists, you refuse to accept any inconvenience for cyclists. You demand that more money be spent — because cyclists shouldn’t have to ride to the conditions.
We could improve ped safety tomorrow, simply by imposing speed limits on shared paths.
Why won’t you support the very cheap and immediate solution to improve ped safety?
(To the Mod who secretly removes comments — at least say what rules are being broken….)
Out of curiosity, for speed limits on shared paths:
– How would a cyclist know what speed they are going? and
– How do we see enforcement working, if this is implemented?
lmao, Mount ColahFern is so ridiculously biased.
Seriously, if they do want to go the “cyclists take responsibility” route; signage warning for pedestrians and suggesting using their bell more often, different pavement materials at corners and narrow spots to facilitate with braking where needed.
But widening paths and separating low and high speed active mode travel is the optimum solution, inevitably.
Pansy drivers need to get over themselves. Narrow lanes will help them drive slower, and if they b*tch about damaging their car – learn to drive better. I laugh in Sarge’s face at the thought that slightly narrower lanes are an “inconvenience” when i have done 2 hour shopping trips with a heavy cart on foot, crossing busy roads with no safe crossing provision. Get on my level, Sarge.
Just how lane splitting for motorcycles reduces traffic and is statistically safer in a number of areas, but pisses off carheads solely for the reason that someone is going faster than they are (then they glue on a bunch of safety justifications to get their way)
Well, Mount Colah, disabled people don’t tend to be rolling in money, you know.
But i suppose you don’t care about that and would rather see me euthanized if i don’t conform to your perfect white picket fence and 26 lane highway world. Naturally you abled lot only think of yourself and your privileges, while it’s okay in your mind for retarded subhumans like me
to suffer and be disadvantaged – or better yet wiped out so we don’t inconvenience you with our existances, isn’t that right?
Burrower, again, you show the double standard.
When you want cars to slow down, you demand narrower roads (cause drivers respond to conditions).
When you want bikes to slow down, you demand more spending on infrastructure (cause you don’t really believe bikes should slow down. Cause you bike…)
Of course, everyone wants better infrastructure. But sensible speed limits is a solution that can be imposed tomorrow, with minimal cost (while the better infrastructure is built).
KLK,
* Realistically, it won’t be enforced. Shared paths with speed limits are not enforced now.
* However, we don’t go ‘Many motorists ignore the 30 km/hr zones– so let’s just give up and do nothing.’
* Most cyclists going faster than 30 km/hr, will have some speedometer
It’s the start of a culture change. It sends a signal to cyclists about what behaviour is expected. Would I like enforcement? Yes. But in an environment where too many cyclists are downright hostile to peds on shared paths, I’ll settle for signage that gives a clear message.
As a person who both runs and bikes, I have more near misses on shared paths, than I do on the road — and this isn’t okay.
That Shotover Gorge Trail looks/sounds amazing, great community work/funding in behind it to finish it too. Great how the link is right into the town.