We all love a bit of healthy rivalry, whether it’s which is the bigger “second city” in NZ or even which is the “shittest town in NZ”. Bike-friendliness is another metric by which many people seek to answer “where …
Category: Cycle-centric ideas
Bright ideas about cycling
Flashback Friday: The pub run – by bike
Compliments of the season! I hope that most of you will enjoy a well-deserved summer break and perhaps get out on those lovely new cycleways sometime too (I’m going to do some scouting of them later today…). Our workplace finished …
Flashback Friday – Mythbusting: What a Safe Passing Rule Means
It was eight years ago now since I was involved in the national Cycle Safety Panel that made various recommendations to government, including a number of Rule and policy changes. One of them that got a bit of attention was …
Lots of safer speed street consultations out for review
We’ve mentioned before the importance of lower speed limits for improved encouragement and safety of active modes like walking and cycling. Around the country, we’re starting to see more of this happening, especially on the back of the new 2022 …
Flashback Friday: Progress on Cycle Safety Panel Recommendations
It hasn’t be a great year for cycling safety in NZ, with a larger than average number of road deaths to date. While there is sadly an element of randomness about whether some crashes become fatal or not, it has …
Guest Post: Dogs on bicycles
No, we’re not talking about some clever circus trick; here is a very practical guest post from Douglas Horrell about the interesting question of how to bring your favourite furry friend along for a ride on your bike…
This is …
AA adds new bike breakdown service
I’ve been a member of the NZ Automobile Assn for many decades. While I don’t always agree with their policies in some areas, I appreciate the support when my car has broken down (could probably count on one hand the …
Flashback Friday: How do you make your bike commute more interesting?
With the shift to a new house nearly a year ago, my commute to work changed. However, I don’t always takes the same route to or from there; sometimes due to the traffic at different times, sometimes to get in …
Flashback Friday: Inside the new Bus Interchange – What’s in it for Cycling
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On my fairly regular trips out of town I often use a bike-bus combo to get to and from the airport. The central Bus Interchange is a great facility to join the dots here and they really did do a …
Biketober 2022: nearly halfway but much more to come…
Hard to believe that this weekend we will already be at the halfway point for Christchurch’s Biketober 2022 festival! I hope you’ve had a chance to take part in a few activities already and there’s plenty more to come…
For …
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 …
Biketober 2022 – on the very near horizon
Doesn’t the time go! Spring officially began three weeks ago and now it is six days until the start of Biketober 2022 – https://biketoberchch.nz. Wow – so fast!
Check out the 50 and more events we’ve got in store …
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
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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
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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
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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
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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 …
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
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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 …