Category: Cycle-centric ideas

Bright ideas about cycling

Flashback Friday: Chch cycling continues to rise

If there’s one silver lining from all the current drama around fuel prices in NZ is that many people are considering alternatives like walking, biking and using public transport. That was highlighted earlier in the week when it was …

Flashback Friday: Todd Litman in Christchurch – May 13th

Hot on the heels of the recent visit through our fair city by John Simmerman from Active Towns, let’s cast our mind back to when other international active mode experts have graced our shores. The list has included Dan …

Flashback Friday: More dodgy bike and car parking

New cycleways can be great for cycling, but they don’t always stop bad behaviour by motorists. This has certainly come to the fore lately in Auckland, where several drivers have (for whatever reason) elected to park their cars in the …

Flashback Friday: Do cycle crossings need a bell?

Last weekend I biked out to Hornby to help Spokes Canterbury gather some feedback on improving cycling in Christchurch. I mostly took the South Express cycle route, and a couple of the stand-alone cycle crossings along the way reminded me …

Have your say on changes to Cycling Road Rules

Last year, we foreshadowed the announcement by Transport Minister Chris Bishop of several planned changes to NZ road rules, including several quite relevant to cycling. Last week, the Government launched consultation on these Rule changes, with public submissions due …

Flashback Friday Guest Post: Should kids be able to ride on the footpath?

You might have heard the news the other day that the Government is proposing a number of interesting road rule changes, many of them with significance for cycling. I’ll cover them in more detail in a future post but, for …

Flashback Friday: Hey world, have you heard of Christchurch?!

The media have just picked up the announcement from Christchurch City Council that our fair city has been named the most bicycle-friendly city in Asia and Oceania and 38th globally (I’d like to think they got the heads-up from an …

Flashback Friday: Bicycle Jousting a Hit at the Santa Parade

Tomorrow morning from about 10am, New Brighton will host a seaside Christmas Parade. Spokes Canterbury and other local cycling groups have been regular supporters and attendees of Christmas Parades in the city over the years, often delighting the onlookers …

Apparently other parts of the world are also noticing Christchurch…

I’ve bemoaned in the past how Christchurch has often gotten overlooked when it comes to global “best cycling city” rankings, often just focused on the largest cities and the capital cities. We partially addressed that issue when People for Bikes …

Flashback Friday – Cycling in Singapore: A study in contrasts

Today is gearing up to be a busy one as Tracey and I prepare to head over to Perth tomorrow for a conference next week – still a bit of bag packing and finalising presentations before getting up rather early …

Flashback Friday: Feeling the Love

Earlier this week, Star News featured a very nice article about one of our regular contributors Robert Fleming. Over more than a decade, Robert has contributed more than 60 blog posts (not counting Flashback Fridays), including updates on cycleway …

Flashback Friday – Unterhaching, Munich: Cycling and good planning

This week we have hosted a young German at our place, who hails from outside Cologne. Ten years ago, I got to explore a fair bit of Germany, both big and small places. In the southeastern part of Germany, this …

Flashback Friday: Have your Say on the Park Terrace Cycleway

Earlier this week, mayoral re-election hopeful Phil Mauger engaged in a spot of dog-whistling by calling for the Park Terrace pop-up cycleway to be ripped out. For something that has been working successfully for over two years (I often …

Proposed new Road Rules might help cycling

It’s fair to say that the current Government hasn’t been a big fan of cycling. So it was something of a minor surprise when about a month ago, Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced a raft of proposed Land Transport …

Christchurch moves up in the @PeopleForBikes City Ratings – and a few more NZ cities show up too…

Another year has passed since the North American based group People For Bikes undertook their last ratings of the bike-friendliness of cities in the US and beyond. As we mentioned last year, Christchurch is in the mix and doing …