Videos from AT – Trains carrying bikes & AMETI cycleways

Here’s a quick round-up of some  Auckland Transport channel videos on YouTube. The videos that could be interesting for cyclists included this one about our coming electric trains:

You can see the dedicated cycle area in each centre carriage, and also the areas with the flip-up seats, where more cycles can be stored as long as the train isn’t already at peak loads. What you can’t see yet (because it hasn’t been finalised yet) is how the bikes will be held into place – the “bike rack”, if you will. CAA and other parties are still discussing the best way to incorporate this with AT, and the public will also have a chance to comment once the life-sized first train mock-up arrives in Auckland in a while.

Another videos that may be of interest is this one about AMETI. It shows the busway (and cycleway!) project from Panmure to Pakuranga to Botany – the “the first one off the block” is the Panmure section, which has started construction (though it will be a few years before completition):

You will be able to see the wide paths next to the busway from Panmure to Pakuranga (particularly on the left-hand side, from roughly 1:20 to 2:25 play time). While the producers failed to show cyclists on these paths in this video, we have been working closely with the AMETI design team to widen many of these in the actual design (ideally, all of them, to get a consistent route that needs no partial detours on local streets) and make them accessible to cyclists – and in fact, some path sections are now intended to be fully separated between cyclists / pedestrians, to make them more attractive to cyclists who are in a bit more of a hurry.

Later on (from roughly 2:55 onwards) you can also see a quick glimpse of the cycle lanes on Ti Rakau Drive which are to take over from the two-way path in the first section. This part of the route, between Pakuranga and Botany, won’t just be painted lanes though – instead, it is intended to construct protected cycle lanes (like the new section of Triangle Road, but quite possibly even better – and all the way except local sections only). While this section of the corridor project is, at current funding levels, still 10 years away, it’s great to see such high-quality infrastructure for cycling will be part of it.

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In other news, Cycle Action Auckland are also trying our hand at producing some videos – in our case a video of the recent Cycle Style event, and route video to assist cyclists fresh to Auckland to find their way in. We’ll show them to you here when it’s done.

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