Cyclists ride high to mark 30 years of bike advocacy

Monday, 2 December 2024

Cycle Wellington celebrated 30 years of city cycling by hosting five afternoon rides converging on the waterfront on Saturday afternoon.

Wellington cyclists from all corners of the city converged on the waterfront on Saturday afternoon to celebrate 30 years of biking progress in the capital.

Five different rides were organised from Seatoun, Island Bay, Karori, Johnsonville and Petone.

Cycle Wellington promoted a number of guest speakers including mayor Tory Whanau.

Former Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown, who was at the first meeting of the cycling advocacy group, is pictured here at Saturday’s celebration with Cycling Action Network advocate Patrick Morgan.

Cycleways have been a flashpoint in the city recently with some business owners blaming them for a lack of parking but Cycle Wellington says bike commuting is “booming, especially where connected bike lanes have been built”. By its count, there are 7000 bike trips in the city each day.

One of those taking part was former mayor, now Green MP, Celia Wade-Brown. She has been at the first meeting of the cycle lobby group 30 years ago.

In 1994 there was no bike network in place but in that year the Wellington City Council adopted a transport strategy that recognised for the first time that bicycles needed dedicated facilities with a priority given to the route from Ngauranga to the airport.

In 2008, the council adopted a cycling policy. That year there was a budget of $65,000 for bikes, according a council spokesperson.

From 2010 onwards a programme of bike improvements began and in 2022, the council adopted Paneke Poneke, the bike network plan and now has more than 50 kilometres of bike network in place.