https://www.cyclewellington.org.nz/november_2026_newsletter

Calls to action

Cycleways are under attack - Contact your councillor

There are now several developments that signal serious concern about this council’s commitment to safe cycling for Wellingtonians.

• a proposal to create a morning clearway on upper Ohiro Road instead of the recommended full time cycleway

• an intention to subsidise car parking in the inner city over the Christmas period

• a vote on Friday to adopt an amendment to Long Term Plan draft work introduced by Mayor Little and Councillor Calvert that would request officers to report back on options to change:

  • a section of Glenmore Street cycleway by the gardens to clearway

  • a section of Kaiwharawhara cycleway to a clearway

  • Cambridge and Kent Terraces bus lanes back to part-time weekday

  • a section of cycleway at Karori Park (likely another clearway)

  • Middleton Road funding removed (our Middleton Parkway gap campaign proposes something inexpensive and fast)

These bad proposals are not final. Yet. Fill in the survey about the Christmas parking proposal here. Speak up today and help your Councillors and especially Mayor Little understand that clearways and part-time bus lanes are inferior responses to the transport and climate challenges we face. A decision to put this in the budget or not happens on 10 December at the Council Planning and Finance Committee.

There are so many reasons to enable people to get around in ways other than driving a car these days. These regressive interventions are out of line with a lot of work the Council has done in recent years to manage parking issues, act on climate and make Wellington easier to get around without a car.

While the city is squeezed for money, spending our rates to subsidise car parking, reintroducing car parking spaces and clearways while endangering people on bikes, and turning a full time bus lane into a part time one makes it hard to reconcile with the austerity measures we have been asked to accept recently.

Have your say on Wellington trails

Feedback closes 30 November 2026

Wellington has some amazing trails for walking and biking, and they could be even better.  Have your say - use the guide from Trails Wellington.

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Upcoming bikeness

Aotearoa Healthy Shift Webinar - Prof Ian Walker

8pm Wednesday 18 November 2026

You are invited to the fifth webinar in the Aotearoa Healthy Shift series for 2026. This is a collaboration between Cycling Action Network, University of Otago Transport Research Network, and Living Streets Aotearoa.

Professor Ian Walker is Professor of environmental psychology and is the Head of School of Psychology at Swansea University. This webinar is titled: Transport actions that make a difference. The case of SUV purchasing.

Make sure to also watch Prof Walker’s recent public talk on Motonormativity that he gave here in Wellington early October. Video below or click here.

Register here.

Saddle Club

4:30pm Friday 27 November

Pukeahu

Join us for a social ride around the central city and beers and chats after. We’ll be doing this each month on the last Friday over summer. Family friendly, but be prepared to ride in traffic on some streets!

• Meet at Pukeahu from 4:30pm

• Ride start at 5pm

• Beers at Heyday Brewery on Cuba Street 6pm

Celebration of Tahitai path completion - Ākau Tangi Evans Bay 

Save the date - Sunday 29 November 2026

Further details to come so keep an eye out on our socials.

We’ll be joining Council officers, the visiting Bloomberg team, and other groups to celebrate the completion of the wonderful cycling route to the east of the city around Evans Bay. The series of projects on this route have been years in the making.

December Cycle Wellington Meeting

We’ll be forgoing our regular monthly meeting format in December and attending a public talk with Skye Duncan from the GDCI Bloomberg team instead. See details below and grab a ticket! Hope to see you there.

Public talk by Skye Duncan - Shaping streets that put people first

6pm Tuesday 1 December 2026

Lecture Theatre 1 (LT1), Te Kura Hoahoa - School of Architecture and Design Innovation

Skye Duncan is the Executive Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), an international non-profit dedicated to transforming streets around the world. GDCI creates practical, world-leading guidance on street design and works alongside cities to put it into action.

Grab your free ticket.

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Recent goings on

New Wheelington t-shirt and hoodie design

Just in time for summer and Christmas - we have a new t-shirt and hoodie design! We’re also celebrating the completion of the cycleways around Evans Bay with a cheeky enhancement of the Wellington sign near the Miramar cutting.

Grab yours here.

Public talk by Tom Flood - Reframing road safety

We were thrilled to have Tom Flood give his talk to us last week. Tom demonstrated how powerful it is to centre children and caregivers into the transport discussion. When we focus on what mobility and city streets look like to navigate and utilise by kids, we can appeal to more universally held values most people hold, and hopefully arrive at more accessible and equitable outcomes.

Public talk by Prof Ian Walker - Motonormativity: How we struggle to see the problems of car dependency

Co-Chair’s annual report

Cycle Wellington held its 2026 Annual General Meeting on 3 November. Thanks to members and officers who made it along. There was a lot to cover. View the Co-Chairs' report slides here.

Progress towards making biking better in Wellington remains grim. The uncertainty from the national election has not provided much hope that things will improve any time soon, especially if the coalition manages to retain power.

If the coalition does form another government there is every chance that the transport sector will get even more hostile towards cycling. We need to prepare ourselves to fight the potential of aggressive anti-cycling measures and even more excessive investment in roads and car dependency.

Every Body Active by Design guide released

Sport New Zealand has produced a great new resource laying out the importance and opportunity of designing more activity into everyday life for more people. This is clearly in line with what Cycle Wellington has been advocating for many years. It’s great to see these insights and guidance communicated so well. 

The places where we live, work, learn and play influence how active we are every day. Every Body Active by Design provides practical guidance for creating urban environments that make regular walking, wheeling, cycling, play and social connection easy and enjoyable, helping build healthier, more connected communities across Aotearoa. It helps planners, designers, mana whenua, communities and decision makers to create places where everyone can move, play, connect and belong.

Learn more and download the guide here.

WCC

• Working on Long Term Plan budgeting with proposals involving degrading cycleways and bus lanes

• Organising to host BICI representatives to inspect the Martin Lucky to Island bay nature-based trail.

• In response to the petition run by Great Harbour Way about Miramar Peninsula, the Council voted unanimously to investigate costs and designs. The proposal would reconfigure the road to be more accessible by people walking and cycling and be more fitting for the envisioned nature reserve of the area.

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