February 2022 Newsletter

Posted by 638sc on February 05, 2022

https://www.cyclewellington.org.nz/february_2022_newsletter

Kia ora koutou -

Happy Bike Month 2022 Pōneke!

There are lots of things happening this year to make our wonderful city better for people and better for biking. 

Some things to keep in mind:

    • Focus on the big picture
      The most efficient, climate-friendly ways to move people are by public transport, walking and cycling, not private motor vehicles. We can’t expect an equitable, accessible city for people without changing the ways we get around.
    • Pōneke is creating a bike network
      The network effect will benefit the whole city. This is not about any single-street project.
    • Don’t give oxygen to naysayers
      There will be plenty who push back against better biking facilities. While listening is useful, it is rarely productive to argue with people whose positions are unlikely to shift. Better to keep elevating the discussion and lifting people’s gaze to the bigger picture goals like climate action, public health and transport equity. More people on bikes is a champion for addressing all these.
    • Support our councillors
      It is always helpful for our elected representatives to keep hearing that they are on the right track. Get in touch with them to voice your appreciation of their mahi.
    • Vote bike
      Come local body elections later this year, make sure to support candidates who are fully behind all the great progress and biking plans.

Ngā mihi nui,

Alex Dyer and Linda Beatson
Co-Chairs Cycle Wellington

Calls to action

The Parade Upgrade

Submissions close February 13 2022

Wellington City Council wants to know what you think about improvements planned for The Parade in Island Bay.

This work is long overdue. Cycle Wellington welcomes this work getting underway as soon as possible.

Check out the CW submission guide and have your say.

Apartment Dweller's Bike Parking

Cycle Wellington are eager to support calls for more and better bike parking for people living in apartments. Often this facility is lacking or non-existent. A great way to share your insights on where bike parking is needed is through our Minor Improvements Map. It has a layer for bike parking. Please add your desired locations for bike parking for apartments with any supporting information you can share.

 

Upcoming bikeness

Big Bike Scavenger Hunt

3pm Saturday 19 February

Pukeahu War Memorial

Teams are given a secret manifesto of clues and checkpoints before embarking on a dash around Wellington in a bid to collect the most points before getting to the finish spot before their time runs out!

Spot prizes up for grabs for everything from best dressed to most creative team photo. We are using an online team registration this year to maintain physical distancing at the start line and will require a vaccine pass from all riders on the day. 

529 Garage bike security register trial

In case you haven’t heard, the database tool for recovering stolen goods - ‘Operation SNAP’ -  that has been in use by New Zealand Police has recently been decommissioned. There is no official replacement. 

Our good friends at Bike Auckland have stepped up and are running a trial of the current best product to replace this: 529 Garage. The trial is running in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for 6 months.

A limited number of free ‘shields’ are coming for Wellington sponsored by WCC. CW are working to help get people’s bikes registered during the trial period. Shields have a unique ID that indicates to a would-be thief that the bike is registered in 529 to help deter its theft.

Once the shields arrive we will share more details for how to get yours.

Aotearoa Bike Challenge

Month of February

Ride with your friends and colleagues this February for your chance to win some great prizes along the way! 

Ride anywhere, anytime and encourage others to do the same to earn points.  The more points you earn, the further you climb the leaderboards and the better your chance to win prizes.

Picnics in Parks

11am - 12:30pm weekly on Fridays

Changing locations

Every Friday (nearly!) we meet up somewhere in central city Wellington in an on-street parking space. Join us for a chat and coffee, and sometimes: knitting, board games, and puppies, and help passers-by rethink the use of public space. We’re usually near a cafe, so come support a local business for your lunch as well.

Next Cycle Wellington Meeting

6pm Tuesday 1 March 2022

Sustainability Trust, Forresters Ln. and online. Sign up to CW to receive online meeting details closer to the time.

Project updates

WCC

There was no meeting with Council officers this month. Keep across all the work underway at https://www.transportprojects.org.nz.

Interim lanes 90% designs

Designs now at 90%. Installation work on the Newtown to Waterfront route begins in March and will take 4 months. The Botanic Garden to Waterfront installation will start in July.

Public comms about these projects will go live on 23 February. We can support these projects by:

  • Supporting our Councillors
  • Supporting local businesses and holding community activations along the routes
  • Championing the new process being used

Feedback from the wider community about the designs will be welcome once the routes are installed. Don’t be surprised if installations are a little rough in places - and there will be no curb realignment or heavy engineering involved in order to achieve the network effect of these routes as cheaply and quickly as possible. There will be a phase of adaptation work, based on community feedback, on the Newtown route in October and in November for the Botanic route.

Jobs

WCC are currently recruiting for several roles to boost their capacity to deliver all the great city design changes that are coming. It would be great to get more friends of CW involved in these important projects.

Go By Bike Day

Unfortunately, no date has been set for Go By Bike Day this year due to Covid fears.

Recent goings on

RiverLink update

Mediation is now under way through the Environment Court between interested parties in the RiverLink project. Cycle Wellington is supporting our friends in Hutt Cycle Network to seek a better outcome for people on bikes for this project.

You can support this effort to ensure a quality addition to the cycling network in Hutt Valley by making a contribution. Funds are used to pay experts that have been hired for the case.

New CW Flyers

You may see some Cycle Wellington Flyers around town. We had some printed to let more people know what we do and hopefully attract more people to support our ongoing mahi.