Cycleway openings are a rare occasion this year, as delayed projects work their way through the pipeline. So it was a treat to roll along to the opening of the renewed Franklin Road last Wednesday. Of course, this wasn’t formally a cycleway project, even though the results include high-quality bike lanes. This was a massive, full-noise street renewal, undertaken from the ground up. From the underground up, in fact! This grand old street has had a nose-to-toes makeover, starting with buried utilities – no small thing, as this included separating the old combined public sewage and stormwater pipe, which had led to sewage overflowinginto the harbour when rain flooded into the pipes. …
Bike Auckland
The low-speed personal vehicles have arrived – and e-bikes and e-scooters are just the beginning! This guest post by Oliver Bruce, co-host of the Micromobility Podcast and Conferences, summarises a recent presentation he made to the Ministry of Transport (and posted afterwards on Twitter) that explains why micromobility represents a fundamental rethink of transport as we’ve known it, and why we should all be paying attention. Let’s start with a question. When was canned pet food first produced? And more importantly, what do you think led to this development? It was 1922, the year after the United States reached “peak horse”. The birth of the petfood industry was enabled by cheap horse meat from the …
Outside an architecture firm just off K Road, you’ll see a private business carpark space that’s been converted into a great little bike parking spot. What you don’t see is all the incremental changes that led up to this amazing transformation and leap of faith. In this guest blog post, Bobby Shen describes the tipping point… Eclipse Architecture is an architectural design practice with over 20 staff and a wee family feel. We’re tight-knit, and we talk about most things with each other, including our commuting habits. The office is tucked away in the industrial backwaters of Karangahape Road (soon to get a whole bunch of enhancements, including protected bike …
Good things are happening in Mt Roskill, where years of dedicated advocacy and action just keep bearing fruit. The Puketapapa Local Board under former and current leadership have been exceptional champions for local walking and cycling access, as seen in the links to SH20’s big bikeway and the recent flowering of the spectacular Te Auauanga Restoration Project. In any network, it’s the little local links that make the difference. And here comes another one, this time to the east – a link from the Roskill School Campus towards Hillsborough Rd. Consultation is open until Friday 26 July, and we warmly encourage you to add your support! Here’s the project information …
You know that warm, happy-inside feeling that often comes with a bike ride? It’s not just you; academics have known about it for some time. Now, a new piece of research out of Auckland University has thrown more light on it. Why are cyclists the happiest commuters? Health, pleasure and the e-bike is a paper published by Kirsty Wild and Alistair Woodward. It combines earlier research into transport mode satisfaction with Dr Wild’s 2018 Electric City study to explain why cycling makes us happier than driving, public transport and other modes. The new research, published in the Journal of Transport & Health, is available free of charge for a limited …
Earlier this month I became a proto-reanimator, joining Loop Groop’s Build Your Own Bike workshop in Eden Terrace. It’s a learn-by-doing experience in assembling your own ride from the groopies’ piles of recycled bits. My donor bike was a mid-90’s Klein road machine abandoned in the basement of my apartment building. Here’s the second part of Revenge of the Klein: On our first Saturday I had stripped the bike down the frame, found a front wheel for it, and rebuilt the headset and wheel bearings. The next job was to replace the tired bearings from the bottom bracket. They were sealed bearings, not easily restored, so I bought new ones …
Anyone who travels along Meola Road knows to beware Saturdays in soccer season. That’s because every weekend, the busy and popular Seddon Fields fill up with kids and parents who’ve come from far and wide – as well as from quite nearby. And, because almost everyone arrives by car, the road fills up with parked cars, overflowing from the available parking spaces onto muddy berms and even on the footpath, and circulating like sharks looking for that one perfect spot. Hence Bike to Football, a local initiative aimed at calming the traffic and organised by the dads behind the Point Chev School Bike Train, Matt Fordham and Nic Rowan. Inspired by the …
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