Cycling is often not a safe or easy way to travel for many Aucklanders. Not many people use their bikes to travel to work, school, shopping or many other daily activities.
Getting more people to cycle will help:
- ease congestion by reducing the number of people in cars, trains and buses - especially for shorter trips in busier areas
- increase peoples' travel choices, particularly for those living in lower income households where travel makes up a significant part of their household budget
- reduce the environmental impact of travel
- improve the health of people who cycle.
What other cities are doing
Auckland has much to learn from other cities about how to dramatically increase the number of people cycling.
For example, up to a third of all travel in Amsterdam and Copenhagen is by bike. Only 20 to 30 years ago these places had much lower levels of cycling.
In younger cities, such as Vancouver, Portland and Seattle, sustained effort into separated cycle routes has substantially increased the share of travel by bike.
What Auckland is doing
Between 2015 and 2018, central government and Auckland Council invested around $200 million in cycling. This investment was the first step towards developing complete cycle networks in and around the city centre. It included improvements such as separated cycle lanes and painted arrows on quiet residential streets.
This approach:
- improves safety for people who already cycle as their main way of getting around
- aims to get more people to take up cycling.
The recent investment has added an additional 27 km of cycleways in central parts of Auckland and is already increasing the number of people cycling.
