As Aucklanders consider who they will be voting for in the upcoming October super city elections, transport is shaping up as one of the major issues.
That is why over the coming weeks on The David Shearer Show, David will be talking to a number of experts about various transport issues affecting the 1.4 million residents of New Zealand’s biggest city.
This week David talks to Barbara Cuthbert from Cycle Action Auckland.
Throughout Europe and across the developed world, cities are moving towards more bicycle-friendly cityscapes as leaders recognise the many...
News
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Tonight is the finale of a summer tour for Mr. B's Joybox Express. Blues & boogie-woogie pianist Mark Lincoln Braun (a.k.a. Mr. B) has been pedalling his custom-designed, piano-tricycle nearly 300 miles across Michigan, in what is described as "one of the longest human powered piano moves in history."
The tricycle hauling Braun's 160 kg (352 pound) acoustic 'joybox' (an early American term for the piano) was made by Nobilette Cycles, who also craft handmade custom bikes, such as racing frames.
Also accompanying Mark Braun on this musical odyssey have been Pete...
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Storage for 150 bicycles at Bike Park. Photo: Bike Park
Whenever we do a story on bike commuting there'll always be a commenter concerned about what happens when they arrive at their workplace. How do they scrub up from a sweaty or rainy ride? Where do they safely and securely store their bike? And all their cycling clobber?
Fair questions, but for potential city work riders in Melbourne, Australia those excuses have been made redundant, with the opening of facilities such Bike Park. Recycled from a former nightclub, Bike Park offers room for 150 bikes...
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Images from the Guardian Good for You, Green For London by Rachel Lillie
London's Transport Museum held a competition: asking designers and artists to create posters to push cycling and all its benefits. We know what they are: cleaner environment, healthier people, and fewer cars. But take a look at the many and delightful ways that these winning designs have illustrated the joys of cycling.
The timing is perfect: London's bicycle rental scheme, the Barclays Cycle Hire will be starting up this month, and the first of the new Barclays Cycle...
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Cycling advocates are calling for a ceasefire in the latest skirmish between some drivers and cyclists.
Two Dunedin men say they were attacked while riding near Outram on Saturday.
Cycling is a great way to get around, and an activity enjoyed by more than a million New Zealanders says Cycling Advocates’ Network (CAN) spokesperson, Patrick Morgan.
Mr Morgan says, “While riding two abreast is legal, cyclists need to show courtesy to other road users. This means riding in single file on busy roads.”
“Our advice for drivers is to show similar courtesy:...
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Police have charged a 41-year-old Outram woman with unlawfully taking a bicycle, dangerous driving, and assault with a weapon after an altercation with two cyclists at the weekend.
Senior Sergeant Darryl Lennane, of Mosgiel, said the woman was charged yesterday and would appear in the Dunedin District Court on Friday.
Police were still seeking one other person - the woman's 17-year-old daughter - in relation to the incident, and it was likely she would also be charged.
Snr Sgt Lennane said the teen had not made herself...
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Attendance: Stuart Edwards, Tom & Jane Halliburton, Derek, Pat van Berkel, Michael Ellis, Neville Whitlock, Derek Richardson.
Apologies: Jan Simmons (HCC), Graeme Lyons
Followed a loose series of topics:
1) NZTA Attendance and Ngauranga Trianagle Study.
NZTA were invited to attend the meeting but after an initial enthusiasm declined citing the impending release of the Ngauranga triangle study (Due end of July 2010). NZTA representatives noted this would include content relevant to cyclists.
The group were...
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Lloyd reported back in 2007 that the City of Toronto was using bait bikes fitted with GPS to trap would-be bike thieves. Apparently the idea is catching on, and London is now following suit. In fact, British police are going to be deploying bait bikes across the country after a series of successful trials cut theft rates by as much as 45%. All well and good, you might think, but it seems some people are concerned this tactic amounts to entrapment.
As Frederika Whitehead reports over at The Guardian, British police are deploying unlocked and poorly locked bikes fitted with GPS...
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Libraries are going through existential crises these days as they try to figure out their role in a digital world. Meanwhile, cycling for fitness and transportation is growing in popularity. Therefore what could be more obvious than turning a library into a velodrome.
At least it was obvious to Pomona College graduating student Samuel Starr, who built the velodrome as his final year thesis.
Circulus is an installation and performance, a miniaturized bicycle track designed to fit inside the decommissioned Seeley G. Mudd Science Library. The track offers...
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A driver who killed a German cyclist after falling asleep at the wheel of his heavily laden logging truck and trailer has been jailed for two years and three months.
Troy Roberts was sentenced in Tauranga District Court on Friday after pleaded guilty to reckless driving causing the death of Stephan Stoermer, falsifying his log book and several breaches of regulations, relating to exceeding his restricted driving hours, the Bay of Plenty Times reported.
Mr Stoermer, 38, of Frankfurt, was on the final leg of a 26-country cycling holiday when he was hit and...
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"Since the programme's launch in 2009 more than 280 children from Vogeltown, Welbourn and Highlands Intermediate have learnt skills ranging from bike maintenance to using hand signals."
See full article by Sarah Foy at:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/3895761/Cycling-skills-training-for-students
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Before there were cars, cyclists agitated for smooth, paved roads. In 1896 there was a massive protest in San Francisco with five thousand cyclists, demanding that roads be improved, with the motto “Where There Is a Wheel, There Is a Way.” The roads belonged to the bike.
And the bike changed the way people lived; in Hank Chapot's article "the Great Bicycle Protest of 1896" he concludes:
The bicycle remained an important option for workers and businesses for decades before being redefined as a toy following World War II. Its popularity rebounded in the 1930’s and again...
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The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car. Bicycles increase mobility while reducing congestion and the area of land paved over. Six bicycles can typically fit into the road space used by one car. For parking, the advantage is even greater, with 20 bicycles occupying the space required to park a car.
Few methods of reducing...
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There is a highway code - a set of expected rules, best practices, and behaviors when manipulating your vehicle on those long ribbons of public road. There isn't, as of yet, much of a corresponding city street code - a set of guidelines that help walkers, bikers, scooter, truck, and car drivers - maneuver the streets of a city in a safe and (as important) polite way. New mobility consultant and WorldStreets editor Eric Britton is proposing the street code start with a fairly simple rule.
The biggest vehicle bears the burden of responsibility, and in the case of an accident,...
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On Sunday, June 27th, Downtown Oakland opened two miles of its streets to fun and activities—zumba dancing, circus arts, BMX bike competitions and performances from local musicians. Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) partnered with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Oaklandish, Oakland YMCA, Cycles of Change, and other civic organizations to create the East Bay's first “Sunday Streets” style event. Preparations are in the works for another Oaklavia in the coming months.
See video here at Streetfilms.org
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Increased bicycle riding and brisk walking may be the secret for preventing weight gain, women have been told.
A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that cycling or a brisk walk was associated with less weight among pre-menopausal women, particularly those who were already overweight or obese.
The US study calculated that about two-thirds of American adults were overweight or obese, while 16 per cent of children and adolescents were overweight and a further 34 per cent were at risk.
Study authors suggested that this may be...
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If it looks like a moped and goes as fast as a moped, is it actually a moped?
Not according to a Blenheim defence lawyer.
That was the argument lawyer Mike Hardy-Jones made at a seven-hour defended hearing for former Blenheim traffic policeman Anthony Dale Bridgman, who faces a charge of driving while disqualified and driving an unregistered vehicle.
Mr Hardy-Jones argued that what his client was riding to work when police stopped him in September last year was a vehicle classed by the Land Transport Safety Authority as a type of bicycle and did not need a...
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Thank you to Pat Watson of Community Waitakere for that kind introduction.
I want to firstly share my excitement that when the panui was sent throughout the country, hundreds of people immediately put up their hand and responded to the call.
I'm not at all surprised. In this room is the heart of Aotearoa - the people who give our nation the reputation of being a country that cares.
Last week was Volunteer Awareness Week; a time to celebrate the mass movement of 1.2 million volunteers aged ten and over; who give so much of your time to health, social services,...
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Funding has been confirmed ahead of schedule for the construction of eight new cycle trails under Nga Haerenga, The New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT) project.
The government has confirmed $18.85 million for the construction of the eight trails. These trails, together with five trails already approved, are expected to provide 1,700km of trail once completed .
The funding approvals follow the evaluation of 13 phase two trail feasibility studies submitted to the Ministry of Tourism in May. Of the 13, eight have now had their funding approved, four are still under review and...