Council elections in September and October present a once in three years opportunity to achieve more bike-friendly cities and towns.
How you can help:
Check your enrolment at elections.org.nz
Vote for candidates who support the transport policies you want
Raise transport and cycling issues at candidates' meetings, send letters to editors, to Facebook or post online
Invite candidates to a meeting and ask about their priorities
Invite them on a ride for a first-hand look at cycling issues
Make a banner, sign, or Facebook image
Ask candidates about their policies at http://www.vote.co.nz/
Questions:
1. What is your transport policy?
2. What have you done, and what will you do, to make my town more bike-friendly?
3. Do you support safer speed limits in shopping and residential streets?
4. Do you support making on-road cycle lanes or separated cycle facilities?
Jill Ford from Cycle Aware Wellington took up the challenge. She put out a call to all Wellington bikers, inviting people with skills in PR, media, online advertising / petitions, design, crowd sourcing, social media and photography to get councils around the region to lift their game. The campaign's working title is ‘Love cycling'. See http://lovecycling.co.nz/
‘We need to get all councillors to realise that loads of people, from small kids to retirees, love cycling and want more and better bike lanes, tracks and safety campaigns', says Jill.