Tauranga too unsafe for cyclists: survey

Kevin Kerr is frustrated plans to make cycling in Tauranga safer have been put off, saying the city is one of the most dangerous to ride in. Photo / Andrew Warner

There is a long way to go before the Tauranga is anywhere near cycle-friendly, a cycling advocacy group which works with transport authorities on key projects says.

And most respondents to a Tauranga City Council survey appear to agree.

Feedback to this year's council's Cycle Plan project showed 80 per cent of adults thought Tauranga was unsafe and inconvenient for young people to ride bikes, 90 per cent of people wanted more priority for cyclists, 91 per cent wanted cycle paths physically separated from traffic, and 64 per cent of cyclists would ride more if the right improvements were made.

Bike Tauranga's Kevin Kerr said in his opinion, Tauranga was probably the most unsafe city in New Zealand for cycling. Many people in the group had lived and cycled in other parts of the country and were concerned the city lagged in its facilities for safer cycling.

The group had hoped the city's Cycle Action Plan they helped create would address this but have been left frustrated at last month's confirmation the project has been put off.

"This has really created quite a bit of angst, anger and concern among the cyclists," Kerr said.

A lack of bike racks at Tauranga Airport despite a $13.9 million revamp this year was another example of the city failing to consider cyclists in its plans, Kerr said.

The airport is located in line with a proposed future cycleway to run parallel to Hewletts Rd between the Tauranga Harbour Bridge and Maunganui Rd.

"The biggest frustration as an advocacy group has been around the politics, because that's had quite a dramatic effect on cycleways and the projects that had been worked on with council," Kerr said.

"We aren't political animals. We are ratepayers, car owners, cyclists and volunteers in an organisation."

Last year Bike Tauranga formed to work with the council on future transport plans to help make the city more multi-modal friendly, meaning catering for more alternative transport types such as cycling.

Council general manager of strategy and growth Christine Jones said the council knew there were concerns "with the lack of progress on the cycle programme" but it was important such projects were considered in the wider context of the Urban Form and Transport Initiative (UFTI).

The council was working towards the development of a "defined strategic cycle network with identified corridors that ensure connectivity between key origins and destinations and that provide the greatest opportunity for more people biking", Jones said.

Jones said the feedback to the Cycle Plan showed "there was a high level of concern" regarding the safety of cycling in the city. However, this perception did not match with crash data with other cities.

"Crashes involving people biking in Tauranga is lower than the other major New Zealand cities and the uptake of people biking in Tauranga is also lower than other cities."

When asked why there were not any bike racks at the airport, despite the upgrade, Jones said two bike racks had been ordered.

Total cycle-related injury crashes from 2014 to 2018
Wellington 322
Tauranga 146
Christchurch 578
Auckland 1040
Source - Tauranga City Council