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# Time for Bicycles to Be Registered
- URL: https://goodoil.news/time-for-bicycles-to-be-registered/
- Published: 2020-02-04T22:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-02-04T08:53:50.000Z
- Author: Guest Post
- Tags: NZ, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 03:24

**Steve**

Yesterday I did a lot of driving around Auckland, both downtown (a nightmare) and through a number of suburbs.

Something was very noticeable. Other than in downtown Auckland there were virtually **no cyclists** and certainly not on that pink monstrosity near Spaghetti Junction.

The further I went in the suburbs and especially through the new suburb of Millwater there were no cyclists at all.

It got me thinking and also a little googling. There are approximately 730,000 cyclists in NZ. Only 45,000 of them use a bike to go to work which is 6.1% of cyclists and only 2.9% of all commuters.

Anecdotal evidence from the feedback on the Auckland council website re cycleways (all positive!?): the people responding all appeared to be in and around the city.  
So here’s what this means to me:

1) The only people seriously using bicycles to go to work are those that already live within a close radius of the city.  
2) During the week very few people are using any of the newly created and vast number of cycleways around the suburbs. (In two years I’ve only seen three cyclists using the cycleways through Millwater)

Which brings me what I think is a sensible point. The cycleway that has now been approved to be built and attached to the Harbour Bridge at a cost estimated at $350 million (read $700 mill) will not be used by people wanting to cycle to work downtown other than say from Takapuna or Northcote. So basically it will be a recreational bikeway and tourist attraction.

Off course all the cyclists love what is happening

Based on this I believe the time has come given all the money being spent that all bicycles in New Zealand should be registered as either a recreational or work bike, along with a registration sticker.

The recreational bikers should pay a licence fee of $75 per year including an ACC levy and the work bikers should pay a registration of $100 per year.

This would provide $56 million a year as a partial subsidy of all the cycle lanes they are getting.

I wonder how many cyclists will all of a sudden believe that we don’t need so many cycleways?

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