Gary Moller
Gary Moller is a Health Practitioner who is focused on addressing the root causes of ill health or poor performance by making use of a key forensic tool – Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis – and administering healthy, natural and sustainable therapies.
Having ridden Wellington’s streets almost daily for 50 years, I feel qualified to share my thoughts on the state of our city’s infrastructure. It’s clear, electric bikes or not, Wellington will never be the Amsterdam of the South. Our fierce winds, persistent rain, narrow streets, and rugged terrain ensure that this dream will never become a reality. Instead, we must focus on what makes sense for our unique city and its residents. This means reconsidering many of the cycleways in Wellington.
For Wellington to thrive, ample on-street parking is essential. Despite the influx of more public service employees and contractors in recent years, central Wellington is struggling. Many long-term Wellington residents, like myself, feel the inner city is in a state of decay and is losing its once vibrant soul. Putting in one cycleway after another isn’t helping the situation. To the contrary, they’re making things worse.
The cycleways, while noble in their intentions, have inadvertently removed thousands of carparks, posing a serious threat to small and medium-sized businesses, while degrading house prices on affected streets. These businesses depend on customers being able to find convenient parking. Without it, they suffer, and the vibrancy of our city diminishes, as it is. Large enterprises such as supermarkets remain largely unaffected by the impact of cycleways on small to medium businesses. They typically have their own dedicated parking, insulating them from the struggles faced by smaller enterprises. However, small businesses don’t have this luxury, and the loss of convenient parking can be devastating, and it’s proving to be so. Just take a walk and see all of the vacant shops, and how drab things are looking.
Moreover, the removal of on-street residential parking creates extreme inconvenience for householders, particularly the elderly and mothers with children and groceries. These residents often rely on close, accessible parking for daily activities and errands. For them, the frustration and inconvenience caused by the lack of parking are significant. Delivery trucks and couriers also face increased challenges. The absence of convenient parking spots slows down their operations and impacts their efficiency, while increasing traffic congestion. This, in turn, affects local businesses and residents who rely on timely deliveries – and fuel is wasted. While I love the new cycleway in the upper portion of Aro Valley, it must be terrible for residents, so for that reason, I oppose it.
Cycling is a hazardous activity, especially in Wellington. Those on our City and Regional Councils who romanticise cycling in Wellington and who think that placing cycling above motor vehicles, and at the expense of smooth traffic flow are deluded. They’re in dreamland. While they claim to “consult” I feel the process is a “Clayton’s” consultation with the decisions already predetermined, pending a few cosmetic tweaks. Have I been properly consulted? How about you, if you’re a resident? Were you consulted, then ignored? The best conclusion is that there’s an agenda that’s divorced from the reality of what makes a city like Wellington function and thrive.
Here’s the thing: If a person can’t safely do tight figure-eight turns on a bike in a grassy field or apply emergency braking, they shouldn’t be riding a bike in Wellington, let alone with their children. I cycle for one to three hours just about every day, and I’m always practising my skills. This even includes practising my forward and side rolls, so, when I inevitably fall off my bike, I’m less likely to do a catastrophic face-plant, or break a wrist or collarbone. When the occasional person flies past me on their cumbersome e-bike with its cheap and nasty brake set, I wonder how good their skills are for emergency braking, for avoiding a drain or pothole, or for safely descending a steep hill in the wet and when the wind is gusting dangerously. I’ve already been the victim of an e-bike that couldn’t manage or brake in time to avoid a head-on collision, and was extremely lucky not to be seriously injured:
https://www.garymoller.com/post/ouch-i-collided-head-on-with-an-e-bike
Wellington isn’t the place for anyone other than skilled cyclists to venture, except in the Central City where vehicle speeds are typically less than 30 km/hr. Cycling is a high-risk activity anywhere other than in an environment like Amsterdam. Wellington isn’t Amsterdam. A fall from a bike is inevitable, and for a frail or elderly person, the consequences can be catastrophic. The personal, social, and financial costs of such accidents must be factored into the equation of the cost-benefits of a cycleway project.
Dedicated cycleways that don’t detract from traffic flow are great. For example, the cycleway to Ngauranga Gorge and the cycleway from Oriental Bay to Evans Bay are excellent, although their cost-benefits are still questionable. These routes offer safe paths for cyclists without significantly impacting traffic or residents. In contrast, the cycle way in Aro Valley, the one in Island Bay, and the one from Te Aro to Brooklyn are problematic.
The busy three-lane road up Brooklyn Hill is now reduced to a single uphill lane. This road is in constant use by heavily-laden trucks labouring their way to the Happy Valley landfills. Although I enjoy it, the cost-benefit of this mostly deserted cycleway is dubious. A remedy for this barely-used cycleway up Brooklyn Hill is to divert the climb up the mostly unused footpath on the left side, past the Renouf Tennis Centre, then turning left into Nairn Street, then right into Nairn Street Park, even constructing a few metres of new and less steep dedicated path into the park. Then, at the top of Bidwill Street, the cycleway either rejoins the upper half of Brooklyn Hill, which then loses one lane to the cycle-way, or the cycle way continues up Bell Road, using the walkway, then becoming Heaton Terrace. Cyclists heading south can then either head up Washington Avenue, or proceed through Brooklyn Village and down Ohiro Road to Happy Valley. Another alternative is to have cyclists cross the road at the bottom of Brooklyn Hill and proceed up the footpath past the Renouf Tennis Centre (cyclists riding uphill are slow and not a hazard to the occasional pedestrian). The footpath could be widened. Or, cyclists can be directed into Central Park to use a cycle path that’ll need to be constructed to gently meander its way to the top of the hill, followed by a crossing with traffic islands. Another option is to build a track from the bottom of Central Park that gently climbs to intersect with Ohiro Road, about one-third of the way up, thus bypassing the narrow bottom of the road where it connects with Aro Street. With its footpath widened, it’ll safely take cyclists to the top of Brooklyn Hill and without impeding traffic flow.
What I’m saying here is that cycleways should be separate from main arterial streets and not impede traffic flow or lead to the loss of parking spaces. Merely removing traffic lanes and carparks to make way for rarely-used cycleways is nonsensical. We need to carry out a proper and independent cost-benefit analysis of cycleways, not just plucking figures from the air or from the experience of cities such as Amsterdam. Wellington is unique. We need to factor in the congestion and inconvenience of the narrowing of already narrow streets, the loss of car parking, and the effect these cycleways have on small and medium-sized businesses. We must also properly assess and factor in the cost of injuries from cycle accidents. Only then can we make informed decisions that truly benefit our city.
I’d much rather have children and grandparents being transported in a fuel-efficient vehicle, encased in a protective cocoon, with seatbelts and airbags, and warm and dry. When the wind is blowing wildly, when it’s wet and freezing, as it often is in Wellington, few other than the hardiest and most skilful cyclists are on their bikes. The cycleways, which are sparsely used in the best of weather, are deserted most of the time, while the roads that run parallel are congested.
For motor vehicles to operate efficiently, they must be operated smoothly. Installing speed bumps on inner-city arterial streets, traffic congestion, and forever driving back and forth seeking a carpark end up contributing to fuel wastage, increased mechanical wear-and-tear, while fuelling anger and frustration. As soon as the weather turns foul, cycling ends and the congestion increases. The cycle-ways of Wellington are increasing carbon emissions.
Wellington’s unique topography and weather conditions necessitate a tailored approach to urban planning. Instead of forcing cycleways into a city ill-suited for them, we should focus on enhancing our existing infrastructure. Improving traffic flow, better public transport, increasing the availability of parking, while creating better-considered cycling and pedestrian-friendly zones are just a few ways we can support the needs of our residents and businesses.
There needs to be more investment in promoting cycling skills training, just like motorcyclists are encouraged to voluntarily undertake defensive riding skills training as part of their licensing. We need funding for more cycling skills programmes in our schools, and how about vouchers for training courses to go with new bike purchases? The Council and the ACC will surely accept the cost-effective merits of funding these programmes.
It’s not that cycling should be discouraged, but rather that our city needs a balanced approach. We should provide safe cycling routes where feasible, but not at the expense of the city’s overall functionality and accessibility. By doing so, we can ensure that Wellington is restored to being a vibrant, thriving city that caters to the needs of all its inhabitants.
In conclusion, Wellington’s cycleways, while well-intentioned, aren’t the panacea for our city’s transportation and urban planning challenges, nor will they save the planet. To the contrary, I think the city’s current cycle way programme isn’t cost-effective. It’s contributing to more carbon emissions, increasing stress, causing inconvenience, and injuries, while ruining businesses.
By prioritising ample parking, improving traffic flow, and addressing the unique needs of our city, we can create a more liveable, vibrant, and thriving Wellington. Let’s focus on what truly makes sense for our city and its residents, ensuring that Wellington can regain is soul and prosper.
Reading about Cycling:
https://www.garymoller.com/blog/categories/cycling
This article was originally published here.
