Comments on: Photo of the Day: Auckland Cycleways

By: Pete

Pete — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 19:58:13 +0000

Unfortunately after a short burst of heavy rain on Friday, the location of the where the photograph was taken had raw sewage running down the cycleway!
Yuk. There was no way to avoid it as going up hill is against the flow of traffic so diverting on to the road isn’t an option.
Combined sewer/stormwater systems rock…..

By: Lennyboy

Lennyboy — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 07:45:38 +0000

In reply to Andreas.

I don’t think it’s a NZ-specific problem; I’ve heard about ‘bikelash’ in other traditionally auto-centric places too (even places like the Netherlands had their grumblers when the first extensive traffic restrictions were introduced). The best defense is simply more people using the new facilities (as seen in our latest counts), and loudly supporting them back – have your say in the current Council Long Term Plan consultation!

By: Andreas

Andreas — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 02:33:32 +0000

Thanks for the interesting update regarding the Auckland cycleways.
It seems like that in Auckland (same as ChCh) there is also a sort of NYMBI anti-cycleway movement that even uses violent action to express their dislike (usually related to losing some car parking spaces):

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/central-leader/102298217/anticycleway-protester-arrested-after-attacking-traffic-island-with-sledgehammer

Is this only a temporary (and particularly NZ) phenomenon, an sort of indicator for a period of transition to more sustainable forms of urban transport, which is particular hard for people who are used to car-dominated urban landscapes (and related privileges) that they have problems to cope with change and to adapt?