The current government might be inexplicably hostile to cycling as a transport mode, and COVID might have changed the nature of work and thus commuting, especially in places like the city centre. But that’s not stopping people getting on their bike – especially as most trips aren’t even work trips. The positive signs starting to come through in the data.
To keep track of trips made by bike (and, increasingly, scooter), Auckland Transport relies mainly on automatic counters, and is using more and more of them. From just eight counters around 15 years ago, AT now has 81 counters spread out all over the Auckland region. More are being added all the time: one of the most recently added counters is on the fantastic upgrade of Meola Rd, which is pictured in today’s header image (more on that later in the post).
Collectively, these counters typically record over 20,000 bike movements each workday, and around half a million trips by bike each month. That’s a lot of people moving around. Note:
- Of course, some bike trips will be picked up on more than one counter; this is normal, and is exactly the same for other kinds of traffic counts, like vehicles and pedestrians. A bike is one less car at every point along the way, and the decongestion effect is worth measuring. It’s also proof of the network effect, if more trips are attracted to – and recorded on – more routes.
- Also of course, despite the growing coverage, many – perhaps even most – trips will never be recorded. Almost all journeys to school by bike, most shopping trips by bike, and many trips to work by bike will never be counted by AT’s current methods. For that, we can look to observational counts, and of course the Census, which reveals important islands of high active mode use.
Getting back to the automatic counters: when it comes to Auckland Transport’s official performance metrics, AT relies on the results of just 26 of their 81 counters. Why just 26? Because they’re the oldest – all but two of them were installed by the time Lightpath opened in December 2015. This provides a near-decade long data series to compare changes.
The most recent data available is from April. As we saw with public transport, numbers in April were a bit lower than April last year due to half the month being taken up by Easter holidays and Anzac Day, combined with two weeks of school holidays.
The trend on the 26 counters
In the 12 months to the end of April, the 26 baseline counters recorded 3.44 million bike movements. That’s up from 3.31 million in April 2023, and is right on the target set out in AT’s Statement of Intent. So as long as the numbers in May and June follow the current trend, it’s a metric AT will be able to say they’ve exceeded at.
As with other modes, counts are still generally down on what they were pre-COVID; this is the work-from-home effect. For these 26 counters, usage peaked in February 2020 just prior to the pandemic with 3.80 million trips, meaning the current numbers represent about 90% of that level. (March 2020 was on track to be the biggest month ever on the bike paths, but…)
Counters in the City Centre
It can be hard to tell from the earlier map, but half of the original 26 counters are focused on the access points to city centre. This ties in with the boost in investments a decade ago, which improved bike access to the city centre via projects like Grafton Gully and Lightpath.
Interestingly, looking at the results from just these counters gives a different picture. As you can see below, bike trips to and from the central city are basically back where they were pre-COVID. This is especially notable because public transport and driving trips to the city centre have declined as work patterns have changed. That cycling is back to this level is positive, and may even represent a significant mode shift happening under everyone’s noses.
Counters on the Northwestern Path
While the aggregated views above help give a wider picture, one of my favourite counters to look at is the one on the Northwestern cycleway at Kingsland – one of the busiest in the city, and a powerful indicator of the network effect.
The Northwestern cycleway is one of the city’s flagship bike routes, and now the second most well-used after Quay St. But it wasn’t always this way. The counter at Kingsland is one of the oldest in the region, having been installed when the cycleway was extended through Kingsland in 2010.
At that time, usage was just a fraction of the then-busiest route of Tamaki Drive. But as the Northwestern cycleway was steadily improved and extended through the 2010s and beyond, and as the wider network expanded, providing more and more connections (on-ramps and off-ramps, as it were), ridership soared.
It is a perfect example of the network effect in action, as visualised in this post from 2021. Actually, let’s drop that 2021 animation in here once more, as it’s too good not to revisit. The point is, as connections are built and added, ridership grows and more ridership is encouraged.
And now, looking at the most recent data: as you can see below, just as with the city centre more generally, ridership on the NW Cycleway through Kingsland is essentially back to what it was prior to 2020.
It’s not weekend trips making up this growth, either. On the Northwestern, most trips happen during the working week – with Tuesdays and Thursdays now even higher than they were in the year prior to 2020.
The newest counter on the network: Meola Road
Finally, Meola Rd is one of the newest counters. It was installed after the amazing upgrade Meola and Pt Chevalier Rd recently received, which scored a lot of headlines – although now that the infrastructure is up and running, the headlines have mysteriously died away.
The project was only completed this year, and we only have data from March onwards – but the great news is that this is already one of the busiest routes in the region. It’s a fantastic start, and ridership is only likely to grow over the coming years as more people give getting on a bike a go.
Further data breakdown from AT, as shared by Bike Pt Chev, notes that with an average 500 trips a day in March, Meola Road is already well on the way to meeting the business case target of 700/day in 2028. The mode share is also promising:
What about other kinds of people-powered/ public transport, you ask? These are the March numbers:
Bikes: 15,514
Scooters: 2729
Pedestrians: 19,927
Bus passengers (on AT buses): 29,204That’s ~67,000 trips in March that didn’t add an extra car to the road!
AT estimates that driving currently still accounts for around 80% of people-journeys on Meola Road (461,325 people-trips in March, based on a car occupancy rate of 1.51, so around 373,000 cars on the road).
They also expect – as do we – that people using the alternatives will continue to grow over time. Expanding the network of safe links towards the city will help with this. So will keeping our local 30km/h speeds on all the quiet residential streets that give everyone safe access to our swish new main routes.
Both of these are in AT’s power to provide, but it’s locals who can make the case for both by sharing our stories of how safe speeds and safe routes go together like bread and butter.
One more thing to know: the counters are in the middle of Meola Road, near MOTAT2. So they’re not even catching the thousands of local walking, biking and scooting trips at each end – including the hundreds of kids who bike to Pt Chevalier Primary, Pasadena Intermediate, and Westmere School every day.
It really is all the more perplexing that AT appears hellbent on raising speeds on the local streets that feed into this especially high-profile new infrastructure, from a safe and amenable 30km/h, back to 50km/h. If this proceeds, the kids in the header image, currently using Meola Road, in huge numbers will be spat out back onto high-speed side streets, and logically back onto the footpaths or into cars – a negative network effect that will undermine the whole point of the investment.
Now would be a great time for AT to take a refresher on both the “network effect” and its alleged Safe Systems approach. Otherwise it risks negating one of its quieter successes of the last decade.
The steady growth of cycling as a mode across the city, despite the slow rollout of infrastructure and political headwinds, should be a headline that our transport agency could be proud of. And the people who get on their bikes – whether or not they ride over an automatic counter on their journey – deserve a whole lot better.
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People like to bike, give them a place to do so in reasonable safety, and they will.
Any news on CATR bike “networks”? These appear beyond glacial in roll speed, despite CATR projects having a selection that could start quickly as significant analysis has already taken place.
AT should roll out low traffic neighbourhoods (via modal filters and traffic circulation plans which are super cheap) on all the local streets where speeds have gone up. They can lay the blame directly at Simeon Brown’s feet as the alternative of increasing speeds on local roads goes against their Local Government Act responsibilities of not causing harm to Aucklanders.
This is a timely post. The Meola Road counter is a daily beacon of successful investment and the netwok effect. And like many people, I’m struggling to fathom AT’s insistence on raising speeds around its instantly popular new infrastructure, of which Pt Chev is just one particularly high-profile example.
It’s especially confounding given all indications are that AT has had clear options for avoiding perverse and dangerous consequences like this one. It’s as if they’re committed to doing something fast, rather than doing it right.
Inviting people onto the newest parts of the bike network, while simultaneously raising the risk they face in getting there, turns what should be an attractive amenity into what lawyers call an “attractive nuisance” – i.e. a massive potential liability.
Even from an accounting perspective, it makes no sense: people can’t “ping” those new bike counters if they can’t get to them safely, so all the early success towards meeting business case targets will hit a wall.
From a reputational perspective, too, AT is courting some embarrassing (and, worst case, tragic) headlines, when by rights it should be heading for a regular stream of positive “Local kids smash cycleway usage target, AGAIN!” stories.
And, from a local and very human perspective: what does AT plan to tell the kids about why this is happening? We on the ground could really use some help with that part of it.
Yes and if AT looked to pick up the stories not just the numbers what a picture they could paint. I recently attended a hui at Coxs Bay and so got to ride on the Pt Chev and Meola infrastructure- so wonderful to be amongst happy, independent young people feeling they were able to get around safely with their mates. Build it and they will grow.
City Centre cycle trips and mode shift have definitely been growing.
1 in 20 are now on bike according to some of the counts.
The 6km City Centre Loop is hopefully encouraging more people to come and enjoy a great day out on the City too.
Really shows how crap it is for western side of the Shore including the obvious huge missing link
Indeed. In related news, AT is currently consulting on expanding its small trial of bikes on buses over the bridge: https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/bikes-in-buses-trial
“Allowing bicycles inside buses will mean that AT provides a consistent service across its Rapid Transit Network, because commuters can already take bikes on trains. Allowing bikes on the NX1 service provides cyclists with a way to cross the harbour bridge, enabling a more connected and accessible network.”
Gosh, if only there were other quick, obvious and affordable ways to ensure “a consistent service” for people on bikes across the transport network, let alone “provide cyclists with a way to cross the harbour bridge”…
Yes. And there have been so many times AT was directed to shift their investments to fill in these many gaps.
The TERP, for example. AT took a determined approach to treat the TERP as if it required years of preparing a “programme”. This “conveniently” gave them time to prevaricate longer, whilst continuing with BAU.
What the TERP actually asked for was:
– a new paradigm in how decisions are made,
– early reprioritisation of investment, to recreate a completely different modeshare of trips. This would and should have led to immediate, heavy investment in cycling. The TERP was clear this should not wait for the finalisation of a full piece of work in a new methodology.
So, do keep speaking out about AT’s failure to provide the basics of mobility across the whole city.
Nevermind why the busway buses don’t have bike racks?
Seems the least they could do, and that’s too much
20,000 bike movements per day – BS -kids riding on the foot path (avoiding the bike lanes) like here on the shore to school maybe
Odds on well over a million vehicle movements per day and yet all miserable AT does is make changes that increase congestion and kill off retailers
Yep, there’s nothing less credible than data that doesn’t suit your narrative.
Graham
– hates kids and/or bikes
– wants more vehicle movements…
– but doesn’t want more congestion
– also thinks congestion is killing off retailers
Imagine being this upset about people enjoying a bike ride.
To be fair, it’s not just kids that ride on the footpath — it’s regular, speedy commuters too!
Unfortunately, Bike Auckland says riding on the footpath is acceptable — a real slap in the face to law abiding cyclists!
I’m sure all the law abiding cyclists on this blog are writing strongly worded letters go Bike Auckland now, reminding them of the law!
You go first.
Afterall, it’s only the 30th time you have mentioned it here. Lead the way.
it really would be so easy to have a dialogue and talk about things like cyclists ringing bells before passing pedestrians on shared paths, if the old see yew en tee wasn’t so hostile and pigheaded about his way being the only way.
I already have, don’t worry!
I look forward to everyone who claims to support vulnerable modes doing the same.
But given as people here falsely claim Peds must give way to bikes on shared paths, I’m not holding my breath…
Burrower, you seem confused.
The post youre replying to is on *footpaths*, not shared paths.
Bikes are prohibited from footpaths by law.
Since I know you support vulnerable modes, I know you’ll support peds being entitled to their rights under law!
i’m not going to entertain some roided up macho internet asshole until he learns to apologise and bring his argument to the table sensibly and civilly. then we can talk about cyclist and pedestrian etiquette and interim measures to keep both safe without discouraging one or the other to travel, when you’re willing to *both* give and take.
cause right now, it’s pretty clear you’ve got it out for cyclists and want to spite them; and don’t actually give any s about getting people out of cars for a good proportion of the short <5km journeys that make up nearly 60% of car trips.
you’re not arguing in good faith, and we can tell. go find some anti-bike subreddit to entertain your whinging, unless you enjoy being a nasty, selfish troll here, in which case you can join the aussie “democracy” trolls on the blocklist
@Sarge: “I already have, don’t worry!”
What was their response?
@Wilbert, you can look at their public comments on this matter. I’m not disclosing things that identify me.
@Burrower, the fact that you admit you made a mistake, but choose to double down on the name calling instead of apologizing, shows you’re the one arguing in bad faith here…
As you know, the footpath in question is so narrow you can’t even walk two wide. Please tell me how you would safely share this space between bikes and peds?
You mention joining the ban list — are you claiming to be an admin here?
I’m not admitting any “mistakes.” I’m just not going to give any ground to a thick-skulled vengeful asshole who has never come to the table with anything other than “ME WANT MY WAY EVERyONE IS AGAINST ME”
If you would like to civilly discuss things like widening footpaths, or narrowing car lanes to allow for segregated, protected bike lanes that make people feel safe riding bikes next to 2-tonne metal boxes on wheels, or measures taken to widen shared paths and improve key safe areas, or, hell, acknowledging the systemic issue of car-dependant infrastructure that forces pedestrian-cyclist conflicts as a compromise for the “lesser” mode – you apologise and take back your aggression.
Anyone in the comments here would be more than receptive to discourse on such topics if the people who bring critiques up clearly aren’t bad-faith actors just wanting to spout an agenda.
As always Burrower, people like you are why people hate cyclists like me.
All you had to say is: “No one should ride on footpath. It’s illegal (outside of narrow exceptions) and dangerous for peds. Every pedestrian we buzz (or hit!) is a motorist we expect to still give us room”.
Then we could proceed. Of course I support giving active modes more space. But I also support following the law.
@Sarge: can you please point me to their public comments? You state Bike Auckland is saying that cycling on the footpath is acceptable. Where can I find that? After all, you state, you prove. A link will suffice.
Sarge, as usual old dullards like yourself don’t understand that you need to shape a person’s environment to shape their choices. And while we are governed by a petrol-huffing death cult that promotes making roads and streets unsafe for anyone not in a car, cyclists aren’t going to feel safe riding on the road or in an unprotected, unswept cycle lane/gutter. and (most likely intentionally given this govt embracing the pro-car culture war) discouraging cycling and walking both as a commuting option.
Narrow the car lanes, slow them down, get more space for a kerb or bollards on the edge of the bike lane to keep cars out. Ignore the whining and moaning by sloppy tossers who can’t be bothered to drive attentively and blame anything but themselves for their mistakes at the wheel. There’s your physical separation that will allow and encourage cyclists not to use footpaths. Doing a reenactment of “old man yells at cloud” is going to achieve nothing when the system and infrastructure are actively making riding on the footpath the safest option.
As usual Burrower comes in with a barrage of trolling defending dangerous behaviour. Because they are so blinded by their anti car ideology any mode other than a car can do anything they want even if it’s dangerous because they want a car less society. Nothing wrong with that opinion of course but they don’t honestly say that and try and lie and seem like they care about pedestrians or they are just trolling on purpose.
noone asked for your useless lead-brain-damaged opinion, aussie. now haven’t you got some kids to attempt to run over at 80kph?
Like I said a troll. Just insults and flys off the rail whenever an argument isn’t going their way. That sort of conversation method gets you nowhere we shall reverse a few more speeds next week as punishment.
oh you won’t be so smug when water and food are scarce and the death toll from crop failure-induced famines and heat waves skyrockets. I look forward to the day when you suffer equally to everyone else, when your being a spiteful little sh*t over your selfish speed addiction gets put into perspective.
though i could be wrong, you wingnuts love to not take responsibility for your own wrongdoings and blame your preferred target-victims.
Freedom to travel safely and independently without needing a car? Safe cycling space for children? The mind truly boggles at such insanity. Quick! Pave over the cycleway with more carriageway space. Make the traffic move! 50 km/h all around! More space for more cars to move will undoubtedly rejuvenate New Zealand’s belagured retail sector. Obviously. It’s just common sense.
Why would kids avoid a cycle lane when such a thing would obviously be designed to play to the strengths and guard the vulnerabilities of its users?
If that’s what you’re seeing, maybe your bike lanes are only paint and wishful thinking, a con even a kid can see through.
Fantastic data and great news, thank you Matt!
As a regular rider on the Kingsland section of the NWCW, incl recreationally on weekends I thought the Sat/Sun numbers looked a bit low as it always seems super busy all day but guess this just re-inforces how impressive those weekday commuter numbers are.
Ride on!
I’ve mentioned this before but this seems as good a place as any. Does anyone know how the timings that appear on the side of the road in Waterview saying how long it takes to get to the CBD by bike, car and bike get calculated? generally speaking they all seem to say around 30 mins. It is basically 8kms to the top of Nelson street which would be next to impossible to take that long on a bike? that’s averaging about 15kph which seems a pessimistic:) It must take a lot longer than 30 minutes by car as well. If the actual times were put up it might encourage even more use…
15 km/h is normal bicycle riding pace. Electric bikes are faster but you are on a shared path so you better not overdo it.
Meola Road is terrific…and then it gives up the ghost in Westmere. A continuous cycle route along Jervois Road and into the city centre would make so much sense.
Still – at least Meola and Pt Chev Rd have had their treatment. They show that Auckland can deliver success…when the stars align.
Good f**king luck trying to get rid of any traffic lanes or parking with the good burghers of Herne Bay and their massive Euro tractors
Nice stats. It’s a slowly evolving revolution.
OK cycling is positive, but let’s not be ridiculous. To put these numbers in perspective: if it says appx. 60,000 counts at Kingsland for two months, that is appx 1,000 per day. If we assume most of those are return trips that is appx. 500 people making a return trip.
That is not a powerful indicator for anything. It is one train load. Or it is 1 motorway lane each direction for 15 minutes. The cycling mode share along that route could go to exactly 0% tomorrow and nobody would notice.
And also that plan by AT to raise speed limits is in progres. The street to our local school went back up to 50 km/h, with a small time limited 30km/h zone around the school. And yes, it is a dead end with a lot of parked cars, if anyone would actually try to drive 50km/h over there that would be really dangerous.
Yes lol, the way they talk about the numbers sounds like we should be building a second and third southern motorway I mean the demand on there is insane no other piece of infrastructure moves more people daily than the southern motorway in fact it probably moves more people daily than all the cycleways in the country combined.
That said I have used the Northwest cycleway personally and it’s fun for a weekend trip however it was more for the sake of riding rather than actually using it to get somewhere if I knew I was going to be shopping or had an appointment somewhere I could’ve taken the train or drove. So not a big economic benefit in fact the GOVT loses out on money for infrastructure.
Can’t wait for more bike paths! Really looking forward to a way to directly cross the harbour so I can ride to work everyday without public transport!
AT could look at Strava heat maps to get a pretty good idea where regular cyclists ride regularly. And lots of 70+ year olds on Strava too.
Love a graph without a y axis. What bike counters? Not actually trips.
But the other graphs look like we have are past the point of peak bike. And are some of those scooters who still aren’t legally allowed in bike lanes? (Cycle groups don’t want to share?)
A sane city would dedicate more road space for dedicated bus lanes, the 50% on some arterials, rather than cater for the 6% – the entitled cyclists.
Love (not) the photos of empty bike lanes too, that’s an endictment.
It may be helpful for people to know how exactly a cycle lane is born. For any complaints, you can contact the responsible *government* department.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/walking-cycling-and-public-transport/cycling/cycling-standards-and-guidance/cycling-network-guidance/
I doubt those numbers are correct. I can’t believe there are 600 cycle trips a day on Meola road as that would mean an average of about 50 cycles and hour or almost 1 every minute. I’ve never seen that much cycle traffic anywhere except maybe along the northwest motorway cycle way.
Why doesn’t the Council encourage motorcycles as they do not require any additional roading, reduce congestion and from a user perspective a 125cc motorcycle or scooter is about the same price as a e-bike. Personally I think a motorcycle is safer if the rider wears protective clothing, unlike the lycra cyclists wear. I certainly feel safer on a motorcycle than I ever did on a bicycle.
Any reason why you’re dividing by 43 (25,717 / 43 = 598) or is it because 43 is the number of working days in March and April?
In that case, you should have divided by 40 because there were 3 public holidays in April.
That would have increased the average to 640, an even more incredible number you wouldn’t have believed!
If you had looked at the day-by-day numbers, you would have seen that weekends have been very popular.
Counting these, that brings the average down to 25,717 / 61 = 422.
Probably still too high to your liking but maybe that’s because cycling is more popular than you have thought until now.