The winter gloom can be a bit tough to enthuse yourself about getting out and enjoying some bike riding. And when it seems that there are commentators left, right and centre panning cycleways, one is entitled to feel a …
Category: Benefits of cycling
economics, health, fitness etc.
Guest Post: 4 Reasons to Bike Your Way to Healthy Living
Here is a guest post submitted by Harper Reid – enjoy…
Whether you’re just getting started on your fitness journey or are already keen on other forms of exercise, adding some cycling into your day will certainly improve your holistic …
Video of the Day: Why we need cycleways
We regularly feature an interesting photo from around the city, but this time it is a video that captures our attention. As you may recall, the City Council has recently been consulting on its Long Term Plan for the next …
Bikes Mean Business
Planning for this year’s Biketober has started in earnest. Over the next few months there will be a frenzy of meetings: meetings of the committee variety, meetings for fundraising applications, meetings to ‘let’s have a coffee and chat’, and …
Guest Post: Edgeware Village – Strength to Strength
Guest blogger Robert has some thoughts about his local…
Can the injection of a cycleway help revitalise a Village that keeps on keeping on?
Like most small suburban centres in any New Zealand city, life has been tough for Edgeware …
Are Major Cycleways working? First surveys
There’s been a lot of discussion by the public and the media over the past couple of years about the value of the Major Cycle Routes programme. That’s perhaps to be expected; $160-odd million is a lot of money for …
Spring is back – and so are we!
The days are getting lighter and there is also the hint of some warmer weather popping up on occasion. Meanwhile a few more people are coming out of hibernation to hop on their bikes. And there’s lots happening on the …
The GPS: Govt Pro-roads Statement on transport
If you’ve ever wondered why it is that cycling only seems to get a pittance of the funding that roading does, it’s largely down to an innocuously named document called the GPS. No, it’s not about determining your location …
Solutions to traffic queues
I was impressed with this image from a story on Aucklands traffic congestion which suggested Aucklanders spend 4 weeks a year stuck in traffic.
It’s a great perspective with the queued traffic snarling to a standstill while the lone cyclist …
Highlights from #2WALKandCYCLE Conference Auckland
As mentioned recently, I attended the 2WALKand CYCLE Conference in Auckland last week. About 260 people took part and there were over 90 different presentations, which are now available on the website (some also have papers as well). If …
Is Christchurch cycle-friendly enough?
We’ve heard a lot of good news stories over the past year or so as Christchurch has started “rolling out the green carpet” and introducing lots of new cycleways around the city. But I guess the real proof of the …
Photo of the Day: Xmas Shopping by Bike
‘Tis the season, and everyone is frantically rushing around getting their festive goodies. That tends to mean that traffic and parking get a bit crazy, which duly gets reported in the media (not that it’s really “news” if it happens …
Mythbusting: The business benefits of bikeways
With the new Major Cycleways coming to Christchurch, a major trade-off in many locations will be the removal of on-street car-parking (either on one side or both) to provide enough space for separated bikeways. Already we are seeing some concerns …
Do the economics of Chch’s cycleways stack up?
Earlier this year, we brought you information about the economic assessment done of the Major Cycleway Programme by external consultant transport modellers QTP. Although many conservative assumptions were made, the total benefits were still considerably higher than than the $160m …
Guest Post: Cycling and making sense of life
Another guest post by Robyn M Speed
Sometimes life is like biking into a never-ending headwind. Sometimes life is happening so fast and out of control that it’s like flying downhill, both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
The …
Guest Post: As Easy As Riding a Bike
Here’s a guest post from Jack Jiang, kindly reprinted from his original AECOM blog post:
Improving urban wellbeing: as easy as riding a bike
The landscape of post-earthquake Christchurch, New Zealand is changing rapidly. When there is change, there …
Show me the money – The Economics of Cycleways
Spending any significant sum of money by the City Council tends to attract the scrutiny of some ratepayers, especially if they’re dubious about the benefits to be gleaned from the investment. We’ve seen some of that with the planned expenditure …
Thoughts from Velo-City Global 2014 Adelaide #vcg14
Well it’s been a while since my last post, but that’s mainly because I’ve been in Australia this past week. Most of my time was spent in Adelaide for the Velo-City Global 2014 cycling conference, the first time this international …
Book Review: Everyday Cycling in Aotearoa New Zealand
by Alastair Smith (185pp., Awa Press, Wellington, RRP $35)
Here’s something that might be handy as a Xmas stocking-filler!
Over the years I have collected a variety of books on cycling for transport and urban cycle commuting. Invariably they …
Giving kids some freedom
My last post was about how cycling can benefit older folks. This one is dedicated to my nephew who is 3. We need spaces and facilities that allow children to move around and play safely. This great blog post on …