Tauranga City Council is committed to getting more people riding bikes to school and work. In May, Councillors voted 11-0 in favour of increasing funding to provide a connected network of safe, attractive cycleways in Tauranga.
Cycleways that are installed on busy roads will be physically separated from traffic, while a range of treatments will be considered for quieter roads, including the creation of slower speed zones where people on bikes feel comfortable sharing the road with cars.
“Extensive public engagement and surveys have shown that we have a significant number of people who want to ride a bike to work or school, but don’t feel safe riding on busy roads. These are everyday people who just want a reliable healthy travel option.”
“People don’t need to ride their bikes every day, lots of people biking a couple of days a week will help with journey times for general traffic. Plus riding a bike is fun and healthy, it’s a great transport option,” said Martin Parkes the Council’s Transport Manager.
Public feedback
In late 2017, Tauranga City Council asked the public how they could get more people
riding bikes. They received 1570 responses. When asked what puts them off riding a bike, 85% of comments related to concerns about safety and being too close to general traffic.
Funding
The council is hoping to leverage an increased funding assistance rate from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to provide a total of $100m of funding towards creating safe connected cycleways over the next 10 years. The Council has committed $9.8m over the next three years (if a NZTA subsidy is awarded this equates to at least $20m in total funding), but a significant portion of Council funding identified beyond that is conditional on NZTA providing more funding support.
Is investing in cycleways a good use of rate payers’ money?
The simple answer is yes!
There are a number of reasons why it’s a good investment decision:
• Around a third of people in Tauranga own a bike so a lot of people will benefit from safe connected cycleways. While people riding to school and work are priorities, the cycleways will also benefit people who enjoy riding for recreation with family and friends and will enhance Tauranga’s appeal as a tourist destination.
• Most adults who ride bikes contribute to rates (either directly or through rent) and nearly all adults who ride bikes own a car (and therefore pay vehicle licencing fees). Each time they ride to work, or get the kids to ride to school that’s potentially one less vehicle on the road adding to congestion, air pollution and wear and tear on the road.
• Transport projects are subsidised by central government through NZTA, so the rate payers share of any cycleway will only be 25% to 49% of the cost. Council has also capped rate payers’ contributions over the next 10 years at $22.48m – $36.2m, and will only commit $36.2m if NZTA provide a subsidy rate of 67% or higher.
• The Council (and NZTA) are looking to spend $100m to create or improve 79km of cycleways. Whereas a single road project less than 1km in length can cost significantly more, for example the Maungatapu Underpass at $45m and the Baypark to Bayfair upgrades at $120m.
• Riding a bike gets people active. The estimated cost of physical inactivity in New Zealand in 2010 was $1.3 billion, nearly 1 percent of New Zealand’s GDP (Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, & Wellington Regional Strategy Committee, 2013).
Is it just cycleways?
Initially the main focus is on delivering a safe attractive connected network of cycleways, but Council will also deliver other initiatives such as cycle parking, way finding signage, education campaigns and cycle training for kids and adults.
Working together to create positive change
Well done to the Council’s Transport Department who worked hard over the last 18-months, often giving up weekends and evenings to develop the Tauranga Cycle Plan. Other community groups like Greater Tauranga, Bike Mount and Tauranga Connect gave up their personal time to help Councillors and transport staff understand the key issues. Martin Parkes, TCC Transportation Manager agreed, “The success of the Cycle Plan is due to community engagement”.
Where to from here?
Within the next 11 years Council are focused on delivering a connected network of safe attractive cycleways in the Greerton to City Centre, Bellevue/ Matua/Otumoetai and the Mount Maunganui to Arataki areas. There are also improvements being delivered in other parts of Tauranga during that time, and the aim is to have connected cycleways across Tauranga within 22 years.
For more information please visit Tauranga.govt.nz/cycling. Only the draft Tauranga Cycle Plan is available at the moment, an updated Cycle Plan better reflecting the information above will be available at the end of August 2018.
