Great year for Motu Trail cycle trails

File picture by Jim Robinson

LAST year was another good one for the Motu Trail cycle trails, following big increases in usage of its three trails.

Official track counters taken just before Christmas indicated that there had been 23,381 rides on the Dunes Trail, up from 20,965 in 2015, while Pakihi Track use also rose, with the top counter showing use rose from 2419 in 2015 to 2450. The track’s bottom counter recorded 2768 rides, a fall from 3296.

Motu Trails Charitable Trust executive officer Jim Robinson said the full year counts would be a little higher.

“The counts were taken just before Christmas, so almost the full year. They’ll go up maybe 150 for the Pakihi, maybe 500 for the Dunes.”

Mr Robinson said because for many users the Dunes Trail was a two-way trip, a "real world count” would be about 60 to 70 percent of the total.

“That means a true count of say 14,000 to 15,000. Note, of course, many of those are repeat local users, not 14,000 people visiting Opotiki.”

“The data for the 2016 year looks really solid.

“I am confident it is accurate as we have a couple of counters on each track and they align. I think as a summation it’d be fair to say the counts on the Dunes are up, the counts on the Pakihi much the same.”

A drone video taken of the Pakihi Track posted on the trails Facebook page a few weeks ago had already received several thousand views.

There was not a counter on the Motu Road trail.