Cycle Lanes

The pedestrian and cycle way along marine parade. Fantastic. There are cycle ways and cycle ways. They are not all the same.

I have received a query about cycle ways.

Why on earth would you support more cycle lanes when the ones I see around the Mount are wide enough for a bus lane and seldom ever used- eg Totara Street has a wide cycle lane where traffic congestion is a nightmare, all in order to cater for the occasional cyclist who still seems to prefer the road!

On Cameron Road near the CBD there is a huge footpath, plus a wide cycle lane – again never used. This has been at the expense of car parks outside those businesses – and we wonder why small business owners are relocating or shutting up shop. This is killing the city centre. Please can you talk to the people and you will find my views are widespread.

I agree with both points.

When I was a young boy in Otumoetai, we used to ride our bikes to school. There were hundreds of bikes in the school bike shed. There were bikes and bikes and bikes riding to school in the morning, and riding home in the afternoon. Getting dropped of at school in the morning and picked up in the afternoon by mom or dad just did not happen. We (myself, my younger brother, and my younger sister), were only picked up by my mom after school if we had a doctors appointment or something similar. Otherwise we all rode our bikes to school in the morning, and rode our bikes home from school in the afternoon.

I was a solo dad with my son and daughter, and we used to do a lot of biking. They biked to school, and we went mountain biking on the weekend. I still have a row of bikes in my garage from those days. Bikes are a great way to get around. They are healthy, environmentally friendly, and they save money. We had some lovely times biking. The redwoods for example is a fantastic family biking place.

But now my two children have grown up and left Tauranga. I am older, and retired, and I now prefer to walk. Walking, you see more, and you can stop and talk. Walking is very sociable.

Where I live, I am close to the Papamoa waterways. There was a huge opposition to putting pathways in, but now they are a fantastic resource. There are walkers, dog walkers, cyclists, dog running cyclists, mobility scooters, unicycles, duck feeding moms, moms with prams, grandparents with grandchildren etc. Fantastic, an amazing resource.

Now for me, I prefer off road cycle ways. Cars, trucks and buses etc do not play well with bicycles. if there is an argument, the cyclist almost always loses, and loses big time. So to me, I would like off road cycle ways rather than road cycle paths.

For example, and wearing my cyclist hat. I would like to see an off road cycle way and walk way along the waterfront from Greerton to the CBD. I really do not like the way the council has done the Cameron road upgrade. Did they ask the cyclists what they wanted? Did they ask the pedestrians? Did they ask the moms with prams? Did they ask the mobility scooter users? Did they ask the business owners on Cameron road? Did they talk to anyone except themselves? It just seems to be the way the council does things. WE have decided what YOU want, and here it is, and DO NOT even think about complaining.

Similarly, in Matua, there is already an amazing cycle way and walk way along the edge of the harbour all the way to Chapel street. It is a beautiful off road pathway. Why can’t they develop that instead of messing up the traffic on Levers road? If I was cycling to work, I would far rather cycle off road, than risk being run over and killed on Cameron road, Levers road or Ngatai road.

The reason that I am standing for council is because I really do not like the way council does things. They really do not seem to have any common sense. They just seem to want to waste our money on stupid things. I really do not like the way they have done Cameron road. If I was cycling to town, I would use the footpath. Similarly, I have no idea what the reason is for Levers road.