Tag: Government

A heads-up about the bike helmet rule

There’s been an interesting flurry of discussions in the past few days, following the news that Regulation Minister David Seymour sought advice on the possibility of removing mandatory cycling helmet requirements. The upshot (for now at least) is that …

Proposed new Road Rules might help cycling

It’s fair to say that the current Government hasn’t been a big fan of cycling. So it was something of a minor surprise when about a month ago, Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced a raft of proposed Land Transport …

Cycling in Chch 2024 in Review: People, Places, and Pushback…

Another calendar year flies by and we’re ready to herald in 2025 – Happy New Year! For many of us, we might be grateful to see the back of 2024, with various worrying signs for cycling foreshadowed back in our …

2023 Census stats show cycling growth in Christchurch

About 18 months ago, the 2023 Census was undertaken, asking everyone in NZ various details about their households and work/life habits. I’m not entirely sure why it takes so long to collate the relevant information from what is now largely …

Flashback Friday: National’s Transport Dystopia

Any day now, we should be getting news of the finalised National Land Transport Programme, which will then inform Councils about what projects they will get funding subsidy for. Not that we should be getting our hopes up too …

Flashback Friday – The GPS: Govt Pro-roads Statement on transport

So, after much bluster and talk, the new Government has released its draft GPS on Transport and it’s perhaps not surprising that it’s mostly roads, roads, roads. I’ll make some more comments on this in a future blog, but it …

Cycling in Chch 2023 in Review: The Good, the Bad, the in-Between

And just like that, another year is over and we ponder what has happened since we last reviewed the state of cycling Chch at the end of 2022 – suffice to say that it seems like a mix of things……

Flashback Friday: Draft Govt Policy Statement is good news for cycling

After a fair bit of horse-trading, we finally look like we have a new Government about to be formed. Then it will be interesting to see how much they change existing transport policies, including how much cycling continues to get …

Flashback Friday: Money galore for cycleways

The Government’s latest Budget was just delivered; given the current political environment it was no surprise to see it focus on “the basics” and cost of living. On the transport front, there were lollies for public transport services and fares…

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 …

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: The Orthodoxy of the Highway

It’s been an interesting week for transport policy, both nationally and locally. For a start the Government’s first Emission Reduction Plan was finally released on Monday, which personally was a bit underwhelming but at least makes some signals about further …

Flashback Friday: “Accessible City” Plan – What’s In it for Cycling?

As we get around our post-quake rebuilt city, it seems a lifetime ago when the original plans for the rebuild (esp. in the central city) were being finalised by Govt after Council’s initial proposals. Not surprisingly the transport aspects of …

Big funding boost for Chch cycleways

Yesterday morning, Christchurch woke to the news that the Government was investing in the completion of six major cycle routes, thanks to funding from the Government’s shovel-ready infrastructure fund for COVID-19 recovery.

An extra $87 million is being pumped …

National Land Transport Programme has a bumper crop of cycleways

Every three years, the NZ Transport Agency prepares a National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) that summarises what is going to be spent by the Government and local councils on roads, pathways, public transport, etc. 2018 was the year for a …

Draft Govt Policy Statement is good news for cycling

We’ve heard lots of cycle-friendly murmurings from the new Government since they came into power. But as the saying goes, that all counts for naught until you “show me the money”. That has now happened with the release of …