I’ll continue the Palmerston North theme of late, by mentioning one of the successful outcomes from the 2018 2WALKandCYCLE Conference there – a couple of big award wins for Christchurch-based projects, as first reported back in Aug 2018. The …
Tag: Cycling advocacy
In the Spotlight: Don Babe, advocating for Canterbury cyclists
Don Babe is a busy man. He works as an accountant, helps his wife run their Prebbleton blueberry farm, is long-time chair of Spokes Canterbury, and takes every opportunity to contribute to planning processes to create a better environment …
In the Spotlight: Robert Fleming and the Wednesday Wheelies
Robert Fleming has been involved in cycle advocacy for well over a decade, having first gone along to a Spokes Canterbury meeting in early 2013 after being knocked off his bike. He says he sat quietly for the first year …
In the spotlight: Meg Christie, getting communities cycling
Meg Christie is an active transport health promoter for Canterbury’s community public health service. Her job is about finding ways to make it easier for people to walk and cycle places. This involves influencing public policy (for example, by making …
Flashback Friday: Highlights from #2WALKandCYCLE Conference Auckland
Next week sees the return of the 2WALKandCYCLE Conference, hosted in Wellington. Partly due to lockdown disruptions, it’s been three years since the last one in Dunedin – quite the wait. Unfortunately I won’t be attending this one – …
In the spotlight: Glen Koorey, championing safer roads for cyclists
In the coming months, I’d like to post a series of short pieces on people who are actively involved in making greater Christchurch a great place to cycle and encouraging everyday cycling. I’ve got a few ideas about who I …
Flashback Friday: Roger wants cycling in the city too…
This week, we’ve just had the 13th anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck Christchurch back in 2011 – it really does seem a lifetime ago now. In the first few years afterwards, a lot of discussions were had about …
Flashback Friday: Are new cycleways OK for existing cyclists?
I had an interesting conversation earlier this week with a reporter, talking about how people are getting used to using our cycleways as they get ever busy, including lots of passing each other and queuing at intersections. It’s a nice …
Autumn Biking Events 2023
The start of some cooler temperatures around town (at least in the morning) tells us that summer has ended (as has daylight savings) and we are now headed towards winter. While that might dampen the enthusiasm for getting out on …
What does the new Chch City Council mean for cycling?
It’s been a few weeks now since the local body elections were held and the dust is settling on the final results around the country. Here in Christchurch we have a new mayor in Phil Mauger and also six new …
Flashback Friday: The Orthodoxy of the Highway
It’s been an interesting week for transport policy, both nationally and locally. For a start the Government’s first Emission Reduction Plan was finally released on Monday, which personally was a bit underwhelming but at least makes some signals about further …
Flashback Friday – Cycling Complaints: When Feedback is Appropriate
I imagine that all of us at some stage when riding have encountered some less-than-exemplary behaviour from other road users; just today, a driver turned left in front of me having just passed me… We often can’t do much about …
Flashback Friday: More on why I write submissions
Last week we looked back on some advice from Chrys Horn about the importance of submissions when consultations come out. This week, Chrys continues the theme (first published in Sep 2014) and gives some more examples why submitting can …
Flashback Friday – Submissions: Why bother?
Happy Biketober! I hope you have a fun month… But as we mentioned yesterday, it’s also a time to mourn the passing of a great local advocate Dirk de Lu. One of the things that Dirk was prolific at …
Remembering Dirk de Lu
Last Friday 24th Sept saw the falling of a mighty Californian redwood… Many in the local cycling advocacy world will probably have heard of the sad passing of Dirk de Lu last week in hospice, having succumbed to the ravages …
Flashback Friday: Perceived Danger or Actual Danger?
Just the other day I saw another comment on social media by a Chch local stating how cycling in the city is very scary and puts them off. It’s a common enough reaction I see (even more so after the …
Flashback Friday: A little plug for Spokes Canterbury
Local cycle advocacy group Spokes Canterbury recently had its Annual General Meeting, and reflected on another positive year of progress for cycling in the city. This post (originally from Apr 2014) reminds us of the work that Spokes has …
Bike Activities coming up in May 2021
It’s already halfway through May, but I thought it was important to let you know about three interesting biking-related events coming up very soon in May:
- On Tue 25th May from 6-7pm, local cycle advocacy group Spokes Canterbury will
Better Consultation
As Submissions Convener for Spokes Canterbury for 12 years, now retired, I have some thoughts to share on how consultation might work better. The links are to Strong Towns which offers a rich source of articles on urban planning and …
Who are we providing cycleways for?
Recently there was a Facebook post to Chch City Council’s site by someone grumbling about cyclists using traffic lanes in the central city when a cycleway exists on the same road. Not surprisingly, there was quite a bit of animated …