The Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) thanks NZ Transport Agency for the opportunity to make a written submission on the Funding Assistance Rates (FAR) Review Options Discussion Document (hereafter Discussion Document).
See attached pdf for full text.
The Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding (GPS) sets out the government's priorities for expenditure from the National Land Transport Fund over the next 10 years.
The Transport Agency says a programme which promotes cycling as a fun, healthy and safe way to travel will continue, despite it losing Government funding.
The agency has told Radio New Zealand News that the Ministry of Health has withdrawn about $150,000 from the Bike Wise programme, and is instead putting money into injury prevention.
Transport Agency spokesperson Andy Knackstedt says the agency will still commit $300,000 to the programme next year.
Bicycle transportation is good for a lot of things-it's healthy, it's green, it's quiet, it's fun, it builds community. It also makes financial sense, and the magnitude of bicycling's economic impact gets far less attention than it deserves. In the Bikenomics series, Elly Blue explores the scope of that impact, from personal finance to local economies to the big picture of the national budget. In the grassroots and on a policy level, the bicycle is emerging as an effective engine of economic recovery.
"Today, bicycles continue to provide mobility and freedom to many people in the U.S. who don't have driver's licenses, don't own a car, don't have access to public transit, or simply don't want to drive.
President Obama understands that.
And when cycling advocates see me exhibiting my enthusiasm for more bicycling and pedestrian options, it's out of this Administration's desire to give people more flexible, convenient, and
affordable options when it comes to getting around.
NZ Transport Agency has $7 million over 2 years for the Model Communities programme. The funding starts 1 July 2010.
Ask your council if they are applying.
NZ Transport Agency has $7 million over 2 years for the Model Communities programme. The funding starts 1 July 2010.
An inspiration for New Zealand:
"In the foreword to our last annual
report, I referred to the day our
budget was doubled to £10m a
year as ‘a landmark for cycling’.
Just 18 months later, on 21st
January 2008, the Government
took the historic decision to award
£140m to Cycling England over the
next three years: not so much a
landmark for cycling as a genuine
endorsement of the role of the
bicycle in helping meet England’s
transport, health and environmental
challenges."
Includes funding cycle training for 500,000 school kids.
Presentation by Jane Dawson
Cycling Advocates’ Network
2004 Sustainable Land Transport Conference
The following question arose in Hamilton: Can recreational cycle paths attract funding (subsidy) from the NZTA?
NZTA (NZ Transport Agency) is the government land transport funding agency, they were formerly LTNZ, and prior to that Transfund, just in case you know them by their old names.
So, can those recreational facilities be subsidised? Strictly speaking no, because government has strange rules. They fund recreational roads (e.g. SH1 to Cape Reinga, or SH94 to Milford Sound), but not recreational pathways.
So when can pathways get subsidised? A few rules apply: