Comment: Small fee needed to maintain cycling trails

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It looks like the New Zealand Cycle Trail is turning out to be worth the taxpayers' investment, especially if you take the broader vision; it incites Kiwis to do something that is healthy and affordable (really - you don't need those thousand-dollar showbikes) and in time that should roll over into reduced medical bills.

It is great for family and team-bonding, bridging generation gaps and it is only moderately damaging to the environment bringing me to the debate about trail maintenance and the cost thereof.

I know that the holy laws about free public access to public land are dear to our hearts, but there is certain logic to having the user pay for maintenance of our national assets. It would be dead-simple to introduce a rule and install the etiquette connected to the use of the New Zealand Cycle Trail - all that is needed is educating punters to go online, to the Department of Conservation office, or to a local trail centre (if there is one) to register their ride.

For starters, it covers some of the health and safety aspects because, in addition to the previously mentioned ACC costs for cycle accidents, some of the trails are remote and the cost of search and rescue actions are already an issue.

Importantly, it would allow getting some figures of use that help back up the economic feasibility of the whole project which was supposedly intended to help create jobs for all potential service providers around the trails - something that is much needed to give rural New Zealand a boost.

And lastly, by getting the cyclist to pay a koha or small fee for using the trail, a start would be made to a systematic contribution system for a maintenance budget of the trails. I suggest a fee because I believe that in New Zealand today we have to snap out of the pioneer mentality which remains focused on proudly forging creative ways into the new and unknown (number 8 wire) yet kaitiaki and Pakeha alike ... happily turn a blind eye to the consequent reality and responsibility for the cost of guardianship and maintenance.

It can be a small fee - let's say the price of a parking ticket in town or one cup of coffee. The budget could be directly allocated to the local iwi, Department of Conservation or a local business best suited to handling the upkeep of the tracks, presumably those who were involved with the construction would be a logical choice.

A simple system can be put in place using online reservation numbers or tickets to be purchased and carried by the cyclists as proof of registration and payment. Then whoever handles the track maintenance can be issued with a permit to ask for the proof of payment, a bit like a traffic warden or the rangers who check on guests at DoC huts can fulfil that role. At the moment, this system is successfully used for department huts because funnily enough these are regarded as being an asset, but the trails themselves are not.

Monica Louis is a freelance writer.