Christchurch’s Major Cycle Routes have helped to fuel an impressive surge in numbers of people cycling around the city over the past few years. One of the busiest locations is at the Antigua Boatshed bridge, where an electronic display helps show passersby how many people have biked past the spot each day and for the year overall. And this week, a major milestone was reached there…
Yep, the site recorded more than 500,000 people biking past in the year to date. There was some excitement this week as that number loomed into view and the lucky 500,000th person duly arrived early afternoon on Thu 12th Dec. By the time I took this photo at about 4.30pm on Fri 13th, over 2000 more people had been past.
{I have to say, it’s really hard to take a decent photo of this display with its fast-flickering LEDs; trying to combine a slower aperture speed without overexposing is quite tricky…}
For those of you playing at home, that equates to over 1400 bike counts a day – in the past month alone the average was over 1500 with weekday peaks over 2000. Some naysayers invariably quibble that this doesn’t reflect how many people biked past, arguing that most people bike there and back to their destinations – ignoring the fact that the same logic applies to motor vehicle counts on roads too (in fact they’re more likely to make multiple trips on the same road…). There’s some feedback that the counter doesn’t always pick up some of the niche carbon-fibre bikes, so that figure is likely to be understated too (and no, they don’t pick up scooters, prams, steel-capped boots, etc…).
Every time that people grumble that they “never see anyone cycling”, this display counter is a tangible reminder to everyone that cycling in Christchurch is all around…
Were you one of the 500,000 this year?
I am a regular cyclist on the roads of Christ
You and a couple of a dozen others!
I’m grateful for the bike lanes as I cycle in Ĺtautahi, it’s hard to afford to drive w living costs so cycling is used lots
The majority of these numbers would no doubt be derived from hospital staff who have no alternative transport options for their daily commute. 1000×2 daily simply skews the real count out of all proportion.
I find your comment confusing. Are you suggesting it’s a good or a bad thing that hospital staff have an alternative to driving? Considering the parking woes facing the hospital isn’t it good that visitors and patients aren’t competing with those 1000 hypothetical staff?
Also, how does that skew the data? A bike is a bike regardless of where the final destination is.
It’s a shame that some people can’t help but be negative about cycling and cycleways. I have recently started cycling most of the time now so I can save money on car fuel and maintenance. I appreciate the cycleways and would love to see more people out there.
500,000 – yes, I was one of them On my bike, it’s easy, quick and cheap to get anywhere in town … maybe frustrated drivers stuck in endless traffic jams should try biking instead? Great way to de-stress!
Sorry, I’m not in there – I started avoiding the museum when it got too busy.
What a cop-out !
More cyclists very soon! The Banks gave notice this week to Service Stations to restructure their funding ie no more loans, garages serving petrol next? Look out for notice from Insurers they are also accountable for climate change risks to their businesses.