Gary Moller on Wellington cycleways
Garry Moller writes:
If I had it my way, I would scrap many of Wellington’s cycleways, and do it better. Allow me to elaborate. …
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 is not helping the situation. To the contrary, they are making things worse.
The cycleways were made with good intentions, but they have taken away many parking spots for residents and businesses. They are now hurting small and medium-sized businesses and degrading property values.
Small businesses depend on customers being able to find convenient parking. Without it, they suffer — we all do — and the vibrancy of our city diminishes, as it is.
Cycleways are good but parks are also good. We shouldn’t do one at the expense of the other.
Dedicated cycleways that do not 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, to name a few, are problematic.
We have some good ones and some awful ones.
What I am 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.
Absolutely. Do cycleways away from main streets, like the one to Petone which looks to be amazing.
And for those not familiar with his name, Gary Moller can’t be described as someone who is anti-cyclist. To the contrary he is the current UCI Masters world champion cyclist for his age group!