In amongst the feeding frenzy regarding cycle safety last week, the NZ Transport Agency released a new advertising campaign encouraging motorists to better share the road with people cycling. The campaign is designed “to personalise and humanise people cycling so …
Category: Cycle-centric ideas
Bright ideas about cycling
Cycling Safety and the Media
So, like most people I’ve tried to spend the last few weeks enjoying summer and thinking of nice things like going for fun bike rides. But the good ol’ media, bless them, never sleep in their quest to remind …
Clever Cycling Stuff: Cycle Bypasses
It’s always nice when you can get an advantage over motor traffic by cycling instead. Some people riding already do this by sneaking through intersections when other traffic is stopped. This doesn’t tend to do much for cycling-motoring relations (as …
Learning from Ilam Road
Christchurch’s first step into the brave new world of cycleways came almost accidentally with the reconstruction of Ilam Road near the University. What started out primarily as a pedestrian crossing improvement project ended up also providing some rather handy separated …
What “Quick Wins” would you like?
Hidden beneath all the hoopla about the City Council’s Major Cycleways programme, there is another small but potentially very useful line item in the Council budget. $250,000 was allocated for each of the next two years for “cycleways targeted …
Cycling to Events
As the golden weather starts to kick in, we’re also starting to see a lot more fun events to get to around Christchurch. But will you be able to ride your bike to them? And will there be some bike …
Where should our next Open Streets be held?
For a first-time event, the recent Christchurch Open Streets ciclovía was a fairly successful activity (especially considering the so-so weather). Lots of people enjoyed various activities around town without the distraction of motor vehicles. So, on the assumption that we …
Dealing with Cycling Safety in NZ
In the fog of overwork during the last few weeks, one item I haven’t highlighted yet is the release of the final report by the Coroner’s Office of their investigation into cycling safety. As you may recall, this was …
Learning from the Dutch
There’s a stereotype about the hard-working Dutch, and Christchurch put that to the test over the past few days. As mentioned last week, the city was host to two visiting experts in cycle planning from The Netherlands, and they had …
Cycling Help from the Dutch – Thu 28th Nov
As was mentioned the other day, the City Council are starting to ramp up the work required to make the city’s new cycleways a reality. This involves quite a team of local planners/designers/etc, and is being guided by the …
Major Cycleways – We’re on our Way!
So it’s been a little while now since the City Council signed off on the $69 million plan for major cycleways, and you might be wondering what has happened to it. Actually quite a lot in the background, but …
Biking – Easier on the Body
I’ve had a few significant aches and pains lately (mostly self inflicted – don’t play football against your son’s team…) and have been feeling less mobile than normal. This was then exacerbated when I moved into my new house last …
Separated Cycleways: Which Separators are Best?
Separated cycleways are coming to town as part of the Major Cycleway Routes; we’ve already seen one recent instance along Ilam Road (still waiting for the coloured surfacing to go down there, by the way). There are a …
Open Streets was a Blast!
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Well it’s taken a few days (too much work in the day job…), but here are some pics from last Sunday’s Open Streets event in town.There are also some great photos on the City Council’s Facebook site.
It …
The spirituality of cycling
I’ve always been convinced that one of the greatest benefits of cycling is a spiritual benefit – the sense of appreciating the beauty of the world & feeling more connected to it as I zoom around the Port Hills. I …
Does your mother not let you ride on the road?
Recently a Christchurch cyclist told me this story. A workmate of hers approached her, soon after he had started. “Do you remember”, he asked, “shouting ‘Does your mother not let you ride on the road?’ at someone riding on the …
What if… We built a cycle-friendly Christchurch? Wed 28th Aug
A presentation coming up might be of interest to viewers, as part of the University of Canterbury’s “What If Wednesdays” series of free public seminars.
What if… We built a cycle-friendly Christchurch?
Presenter: Dr Glen Koorey
Wed 28th August, from …
Guest Post: Impressions from a “tourist”
This is a guest post kindly supplied by Prof John Parkin from the UK, editor of the recent book “Cycling and Sustainability” and a recent visitor to our fair city…
Kia ora.
Large and small gems: that will be mine, …
Bike Share Plan coming to Christchurch
An interesting news article in The Press on Friday announced that a trial of a bike-share scheme for City Council staff would begin in Christchurch. The hope is that the trial would ultimately lead on to a roll-out of a …
Handy Tips: Playing Nice with Trucks and Buses
Cycling and trucks got a bit of media attention in Christchurch a couple of weeks back after the scary incident in Sockburn. I don’t know all the specifics of this case yet, although I’m glad to see that the …