On a glorious Saturday evening, thousands of Aucklanders and visitors took over Te Ara i Whiti, the pink path, and spilled out into the streets for a block party with bells on – and it was beautiful. In lieu of a thousand words, here’s a link to our Facebook photo album, and you can also scroll to the end of this page for a slide show of moments from the day. So many wonderful people played a part, and we’re keen to thank them all. (If we’ve missed someone below, please let us know!) Firstly, a huge thanks to all our sponsors, without whom! As presenting sponsors, Barfoot & Thompson gave us …
Bike Auckland
[REPOST] We all know biking is totally hot right now, and cyclists are total hotties in general. But there comes a time of year when this is a literal condition as well as a metaphorical one. For some reason, Aucklanders always want to know how to ride in the rain, and we’re happy to share the knowledge on that score (be prepared… to love it). But what to do when the damp conditions are a little more, uh, up close and personal? Read on… How do I avoid being sweaty after a bike ride? A lot of people thinking about commuting by bike ask this question, and let’s be fair, it can …
Having ended 2017 with a story about cycleway opposition in Grey Lynn, we hoped to start the New Year with more positive news – and indeed, works finally began a couple of days ago on the next section of the Quay St cycleway. As you know, Tamaki Drive into the city is Auckland’s busiest bike route (which may make it New Zealand’s busiest?) – with 43,000 trips in November, and growing. But currently the 1000+ Aucklanders who bike along this route daily are forced to choose between braving the roadway (busy with port traffic, buses, and cars), or sharing the footpath with pedestrians. The existing Quay St cycleway – a two-way …
Please take a second to support this quick-click petition to ensure that Auckland Transport and the Local Board know there’s heaps of support for livelier, lovelier neighbourhoods – in Grey Lynn and beyond. Decades from now, we’ll look back on 2017 and say: that’s when it changed. That’s when Auckland reclaimed its urban mojo, stared the data squarely in the face, looked afresh at the vast swathes of tarmac that criss-cross our city… and got back on its bike. It was the numbers, we’ll say. A sudden rise on the automatic counters along Auckland’s bike paths, well in advance of the usual late summer spike. A ‘network effect’ as newly …
Linda Wong and family stumbled across London’s iconic FreeCycle bike festival while on holiday earlier this year. With the Auckland summer approaching, it’s time to wonder once again why Auckland hasn’t caught the worldwide citywide open-streets circuit-ride bug yet? Sure, there are logistical and budget issues with closing streets for through-traffic for a few hours for a Ciclovia or Summer Streets event – but the joy it creates is priceless. Will 2018 be the year Auckland really gets it? What do you reckon, Mayor Phil? On a drizzly, overcast day in July, we set off on some hired bikes with 70,000 other cyclists to enjoy a car-free cycling circuit around central London. …
Friend of Bike Auckland (and former committee member) Bryce Pearce has been mulling over the tragedy in Te Atatu Rd last week, in the light of long-running attempts by the local community to make this stretch of road safer for everyone. This post also appears on his blog, the Orewa Urbanist. I’ve written and deleted this post a few times since Thursday evening’s tragic death of John Bonner on Te Atatu Road. Now, we do not know how events unfolded, so I’m not interested in arguing the finer points. (Editorial note: and with the crash still under investigation it wouldn’t be appropriate to speculate on the details, so please, let’s not.) …
In a week where a few people were noisily skeptical about cycleways, it was exciting to get our hands on the November automatic bike trip data. We knew the city centre counts would most likely be up a bit: new connections (notably Nelson St through to Fanshawe/ Market Place), fantastic weather, a big old festival, and that grab-and-go bikeshare experiment. We knew there’d be a bump – but we didn’t quite expect a spike like this! Can we call it the Mike spike, or the Hosking curve? Or as one wag on Twitter suggested, it looks like a classic ‘hockey stick’ graph… a hosking stick? As always, the numbers are …
A good friend of Bike Auckland got skittled on Onewa Road on Wednesday night. He’s okay – well, he’s alive and recovering. The shock of the incident led to a conversation within our team that we wanted to share with you, below. And then came the tragic news of a car vs bike fatality on Te Atatu Rd on Thursday evening, which made it all the more horribly relevant. We are absolutely heartbroken for everyone involved, and for our Bike Te Atatu whanau who have worked so hard over so many years to try and make changes to prevent exactly this from happening. Every time an Aucklander – a family member, …
Lots of people asked about our T-shirts at Lightpath Festival. Here’s a quick reminder that you can wear your heart on your sleeve – or front or even tote bag – via our online shop! We have a range of shapes and styles and colours and sizes, including super-cute little kids’ tees with little bikes on. It’s a great way to share your enthusiasm for a more bike-friendly city wherever you go – and a small portion of each purchase goes to Bike Auckland so we can get on with the work while you get out and ride. Check out the FAQs here. DELIVERY NOTE UPDATE: Digitees have advised any new orders will ship …
How’s this for an early Christmas present for people on the Shore? A major motorway project – the last link of the Western Ring Route – will now bring considerably improved connectivity for people on bikes and on foot, thanks to sustained and substantial work by the Bike Auckland team. In particular, our North Shore infrastructure liaison Steve Southall was an absolute star at the recent Board of Inquiry (BOI) hearing into the SH1/SH18 Northern Corridor Improvements (NCI), whose decision is now complete. Below, Steve explains Bike Auckland’s influence on the outcome, and how the path and the improvements we advocated for will transform the Albany Basin for people who want to …
Wait, what’s a car doing in our feature spot? Well, as part of our new membership benefits, we’re partnering with local bike shops and other merchants to bring special discounts and exclusive opportunities to everyone who becomes a Bike Auckland member. One of the wonderful businesses backing bike advocacy in your city offers a new way to think about personal transport. What if you didn’t have to own a car, but could use one whenever you liked? And what if that car came with a bike rack so you could get further afield on two wheels? That’s the Cityhop proposition – and we even hear Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Center is a fan! …
Great news for Bike Auckland members! In a long-anticipated development, we’re partnering with local bike shops and other merchants to bring you special discounts and exclusive opportunities as membership benefits when you become a Bike Auckland supporter. Meet the people backing bike advocacy in your city – this week, an ‘all-of-the-above’ emporium with two outlets in Auckland… EVO CYCLES Who and what is Evo Cycles? If you’ve rolled through Pukekohe along Manukau Road, or past Britomart on the Quay Street cycleway, you’ll have seen Evolution Cycles stores. Hard to miss them, really – they’re big, and they’ve got a distinctive black and neon green colour scheme. The two Auckland shops are part …
We love hearing stories from our readers. They take us places we might not otherwise go – like on epic bike trips here or abroad. Or they show us something we’ve lost sight of, like memories of youthful hijinks or how the city looks through a child’s eyes. Or they share the power of bikes to carry us through difficult times and out the other side. Here’s a story that fits into that last category – and how! To learn more about Kelly’s inspiring journey, visit her Facebook page. My name is Kelly Munford. In 2011, I had a serious car crash which resulted in me breaking my neck, breaking my pelvis, and suffering …
We campaign for a more bike-friendly city for all sorts of reasons – it’s fun; it’s a smart and cheap way to add transport capacity to existing roads; it’s a brilliantly efficient way to address our climate change imperatives… and of course, going by bike is actively good for you. The health angle is boosted by recent news that New Zealand kids are becoming less and less active and independent – and more and more adults aren’t even meeting the basic minimum recommendations for physical activity. In that context, creating cities that give people the chance to walk and bike for everyday travel is a public health no-brainer. This is borne out …
The arrival of bikeshare in Auckland has been fascinating, with some teething problems, as we predicted. One biggie: a shortage of customer support, that led to a flurry of enquiries to us and likely to other places as well – many of them from members of the public who saw a dockless bike as an abandoned bike. The good news: OnzO now has a phone number – 0800 646 696 Please contact them about any issues. OnzO has offered to meet with us so we can hear more about their plans, which we understand may involve a rollout of more bikes – including electric ones. We’ll keep you posted. Auckland Transport’s Walking, …
Great news for Bike Auckland members! In a long-anticipated development, we’re partnering with local bike shops and other merchants to bring you special discounts and exclusive opportunities as membership benefits when you become a Bike Auckland supporter. Meet the people backing bike advocacy in your city – this week, a one-stop cycling haven on the lower isthmus… ROULEUR CYCLES Who and what is Rouleur Cycles? Tucked away on Selwyn Street just around the corner from Onehunga Mall, Rouleur Cycles caters for bike nuts of all kinds. Rouleur first opened its doors in 2015 with the purpose of creating a one-stop cycling haven for anyone who rides a bike. That’s pretty much how it is …
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