Author: LennyBoy

Submit on getting a Fringe Benefit exemption for Bikes-to-Work

Connor Read (co-founder of the Shutl e-bike rental service) has alerted me to an interesting but troubling development in the world of fringe-benefit tax (FBT). Many of you may know that current legislation in NZ requires FBT to be paid …

Flashback Friday – Elections 2019: Why are Cycleways always the Easy Beat?

It’s coming up to the end of this term’s local government elections. If you haven’t done so already: get out there and vote! You have until midday this Saturday 8th and you’ll have to hand in your voting papers in …

Flashback Friday: Why Traffic Speed Matters for Walking and Cycling

This week I have been busy attending the Australasian Road Safety Conference, being held for the first time ever here in Ōtautahi Christchurch. It’s been a fantastic event, with over 450 people attending from the road safety sector in …

Flashback Friday: Timely street maintenance is important for cycling

I was in a meeting yesterday where a discussion was held about coming up with a standard national specification for maintenance of cycleways, now that quite a few of them are appearing around the country. It’s one thing to find …

Flashback Friday – End of Tour: Reflections on Cycling in Europe

Earlier this week I reported on the recent draft Chch Transport Plan, which has some great proposals in it. It’s stated that many of the ideas in it came from looking at best practice elsewhere in the world; many …

A lot to like about the draft Chch Transport Plan

It may have been an attempt at a political stunt but, whatever the motivations, the Christchurch City Council decided a couple of weeks ago to publish the draft version of its Christchurch Transport Plan currently in development. There was subsequently …

Flashback Friday: Bus-Bike Workshop a Success

Mixing with heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses while biking can be a daunting prospect to say the least. As was evidenced by the controversy just last week about a close-passing truck in Wellington, we still have some …

Flashback Friday – Vauban and Rieselfeld, Freiburg: Suburbs for Cycling

Last week I reminded you about my time visiting the German city of Freiburg and some of its transport-friendly aspects that the similar-sized Christchurch could emulate. Another feature that Greater Chch could do well to consider is how Freiburg develops …

Flashback Friday: Freiburg – Cycling and Sustainability

This week has seen a flurry of discussion locally by City Council about whether to release or not the draft future transport plan. In the end, the Council decided to publish the 30-year draft plan for the public to have …

Photo of the Day: Wellington interim cycleways

I mentioned that I was in Wellington recently, as I’m helping to review some planned cycleways. The Council there are looking at ways to roll out some “transitional cycleways” quickly, using various low-cost products to do so. Already they …

Flashback Friday – Return to Chch: Cycle lane separators on curves

The growing concern about addressing climate change is seeing various people look at ways of rolling out infrastructure for cycling faster than the usual laboured full consultation/design/construct process (Harewood Road anyone?). Nationally that is meaning things like the Streets …

Shutl brings e-bike subscriptions on demand to Christchurch

There’s a growing number of people in New Zealand who are liking the benefits that e-bikes can bring to their lifestyle, especially if they have to contend with hills, longer distances, or just poor health/fitness. But owning an e-bike doesn’t …

Flashback Friday – Cycling in Zürich: An uphill challenge

This week I have been spending time in Wellington, looking at some proposed cycleway routes and observing bike behaviour in our capital city. Although similar in size to Christchurch, Wellington suffers from having a lot of hills that limit the …

Flashback Friday – Return to Christchurch: Cycling works underway

When we haven’t been pondering our own cold/wet weather lately, much of the focus this week has been on the incredibly hot weather over in Europe (climate change, anyone?). Seven years ago, I had just returned from three months in …

Flashback Friday: First Count Data for New Cycleways

Cycle counts in Christchurch were in the news this week, with some concerns about stalling bike numbers (at least the Press article was somewhat more measured and factful compared with some other misleading dross elsewhere…). We’re lucky to have built …