What Happened To The City of Bicycles?

On current trends, the next 15 years will see 25% more traffic on our roads. Yet this increase can be cancelled if each household makes only one less car journey each week. "Everyone benefits," explains Terry Howes, the Council's Asset and Network Planning Manager. "Traffic volumes decrease, congestion eases. The Council's strategy is all about getting more people to walk, more people to cycle, to use public transport. At the moment those percentages are very low."

Only one in twenty-five cars takes a passenger to work. Students have double that rate of carpooling, and most students who live within 5km walk or bike. Terry considers the University to be a flagship of sustainable transport, and is proud of the work the Council has done with UC. "We're continuing with a high degree of success in school travel plans – where we have people go into the schools and identify safe routes; help them develop their plans."

Once over that psychological hurdle, it is easy to choose sustainable transport options. One reason many people find it hard to make the shift away from cars is this lack of awareness. The University has plenty of showers, lockers and secure cycle areas complete with bike pumps free for student use. The security office will even loan out puncture repair kits. But in many cases, particularly the showers, students don't know how well they're catered for. "The infrastructure is very good, but there could be improvements in the signage and people knowing about it," laments UC Sustainability Office summer scholarship researchers, Kelli Campbell.

Another hurdle is that citywide, long-distance cycling can be difficult because the various cycleways are not connected up. Often cyclists on a cycle lane will reach an intersection, then have nowhere to go. Terry agrees that some cycle routes are very well connected while others are quite poor. The city's roads are a patchwork of development from different eras with differing goals.

These days, sustainability headlines the Council's traffic plans. While the earthquake has disrupted these plans, it's also literally opened up new spaces for development. "We just have to recognise that we've had some major events and some of the targets we had will take a while longer," says Terry. "But having to almost rebuild the central city gives us an opportunity, perhaps even to get it done quicker than we would otherwise."

Check out UC's cycle services and facilities at http://www.sustain.canterbury.ac.nz/transport/cycling/facilities.shtml