News

Regular giving helps CAN keep the spotlight on Cycling

At CAN we're united by our love of cycling and all the benefits it brings: to our health, wallets, wellbeing, family and friends, community, and our environment. CAN is committed to a broad vision:

To promote the benefits of everyday cycling: cost savings, better health, less congestion, cleaner air, reduced reliance on imported fuel, and a better quality of life.

More than ever, the tight economic environment opens the door to develop affordable, sustainable, and healthy transport opportunities throughout New...

The public will be asked their opinion on this in September, when the Council considers whether Coastal Pathway or another name is more appropriate for the award-winning shared-use route.

"There have been questions from users about whether walkers or cyclists have more rights on the Coastal Walkway, when the answer is that all users are equal," says Acting General Manager Community Assets Mark Bruhn.

See full news release from  the NPDC at:

http://www.newplymouthnz.com/CouncilDocuments/NewsReleases/NewNamePropos...

There is a rather unlikely new vogue word in cycling circles: ambassador.

I'm trying to get the images of the Ferrero Rocher ad out of my head (the euro-kitsch classic in which those almost inedible bonbons are handed round by flunkies at an embassy party: "Monsieur, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us"), because actually the cycling ambassadorial role is a fine and noble one.

Just this week, a bike shop in Portland, Oregon – which is widely seen as a countercultural cycling nirvana in the automobile-loving US – launched an initiative it's calling "21Ambassadors"....

DAMIAN Walsh is convinced of the financial windfall that cycling to work provides; it has helped pay for his home renovation and will pay his son's private school fees.

While Mr Walsh, a Collins Street lawyer, cycles to work from Brunswick, his wife, Junko Kobayashi, uses the family car for errands and school drop-offs. They have been a one-car household since 1997.

Mr Walsh said the money they have saved has helped pay for a $450,000 energy-efficient renovation to their home.

''Car insurance alone would cost us $1000 a year,'' he said.

Figures out today in...

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.

It sets out how funding is allocated between activities such as road safety policing, state highways, local roads and public transport.

Read Transport Minister Steven Joyce's statement on GPS 2012 (Beehive website)

Download GPS 2012 (PDF, 290kb)

Read questions and answers about GPS 2012

2 Walk and Cycle Conference, 22-24 Feb 2012
The first ever joint NZ Walking and Cycling conference was held in Feb 2012 in Hastings, with nearly 200 delegates attending. Over 70 speakers presented - Presentations are now available to view.

From 22 to 24 February 2012 the first ever 2 Walk and Cycle Conference will be held in Hastings at the Hawke’s Bay Opera House in the Opera House Theatre.

Whilst planning the next NZ Cycling Conference the organising committee agreed it was time to...

Study says vast majority of Britons won't cycle on urban roads as they are now. So what's the answer?

From The Guardian:
A major academic study has spent the past couple of years looking in depth into why people cycle (or don't cycle) in four English towns. I won't go into the research too much here, simply as I've written a separate news story on it, which will be up soon - I'll link to it when I can.

But I wanted to consider its main conclusion: the UK will never get anything close to a European-style mass cycling culture without some major (and to me,...

The Ministry of Economic Development is planning to expand the New Zealand Cycle Trail.

It intends to add a number of back country routes to the 18 predominantly off-road trails being built.

The first expansion ride will be on State Highway 43, known as the Forgotten Highway, which runs through the King Country and Taranaki.

Ministry of Economic Development spokesperson Sarah Berry says other routes will follow.

While there's no set funding for these routes, local authorities and the Transport Agency are likely to pay for signs and minor road improvements, such as...

Background: Bicycling has the potential to improve fitness, diminish obesity, and reduce noise, air
pollution, and greenhouse gases associated with travel. However, bicyclists incur a higher risk of injuries requiring hospitalization than motor vehicle occupants. Therefore, understanding ways of making bicycling safer and increasing rates of bicycling are important to improving population health. There is a growing body of research examining transportation infrastructure and the risk of injury to bicyclists.

Methods: We reviewed studies of...