e.CAN 176 - The email bulletin of Cycling Advocates' Network, NZ

e.CAN

Contents:
- CAN Cycle-Friendly Awards 2009 nominations called for
- Cycleway more robust than ever
- Heaphy track to reopen for bikes?
- Rental bike scheme an option for World Cup
- Bike Futures conference, Melbourne, 15-16 October
- Make our cities like Bogota, says World Cancer Research Fund
- Safety in numbers hits the UK
- Obama's transport bill challenged by bike-friendly congressman
- Fines or jail for cyclist harassment in Columbia (USA)
- Amsterdam: more trips by bike than by car
- UK bike shops struggle to keep up with demand
- Cyclist numbers skyrocket in New York bike lane boom
- Weblinks

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CAN CYCLE-FRIENDLY AWARDS 2009 NOMINATIONS CALLED FOR

Nominations have just been opened for the CAN Cycle-Friendly Awards 2009 in five categories:

1. Avanti award for best cycle facility project;
2. NZ Transport Agency award for best cycling promotion;
3. NZ Transport Agency award for cycle-friendly commitment by a business;
4. ViaStrada award for cycle-friendly commitment by a public organisation and
5. Award for cycling champion of the year

Kiwis are being asked to put forward their favourite cycling projects or cycling champions for the Awards. Projects need to have been undertaken or completed between January 2008 and June 2009.

Awards will be presented at the NZ Cycling Conference 2009 dinner, on Thursday 12th November. Winners will receive a uniquely designed "bicycle-bell" trophy and a certificate. 'Early bird' nomination received by Friday 4th September will be entered into the draw for the nominating person to win a $150 Ground Effect gift voucher.

Nominations are due by Friday 18th September.

For further information, visit the CAN web site http://www.can.org.nz/awards to download entry forms complete and email to: awards@can.org.nz or post to: CAN CFA08, P.O. Box 6491, Auckland.

Contact Cycle-Friendly Awards Co-ordinator, Gaz Sanvicens, 021-023 1 5758, awards@can.org.nz

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CYCLEWAY MORE ROBUST THAN EVER

14 July 2009- Shifting the focus of the National Cycleway to a network of iconic rides will now deliver significantly greater economic benefits for the $50 million invested, said Green Party Cycling spokesperson, Kevin Hague today.

"Wide consultation with stakeholder groups has turned the initial Cycleway idea of a continuous route spanning the country into a robust working model garnering high levels of buy-in from the cycling, tourism, and local Government sectors," said Mr Hague. "We wouldn't be working alongside the Government on this if it didn't."

The network model for the Cycleway has a highly successful precedent overseas. The UK National Cycle Network (SUSTRANS) was started with seed funding of £43 million in 1995. The Network now consists of over 10,000 miles of signed cycle routes carrying 386 million journeys in 2008. That usage realised £270 million in health savings and offered potential carbon emissions savings of 493,000 tonnes. "For every £1 spent on the UK's cycle network, they're now realising up to £18-£40 in benefits, particularly where the cycleway runs through urban areas."

"A network of great rides is the kind of major public work that will benefit both the economy through job creation and increased tourism and the environment through creating low carbon ways to travel - a Green New Deal solution to the current recession," Mr Hague said.

"And, given today's data on the current levels of obesity in New Zealand, the encouragement of more active modes of travel and recreation couldn't be happening sooner!"

Mr Hague added, "Criticism of the Cycleway project by Labour is a bit rich given that they only spent $53 million on walking and cycling initiatives for the entire nine years they were in Government. They clearly lacked a vision for unlocking the huge benefits to be gained by the wider uptake of cycling."

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HEAPHY TRACK TO REOPEN FOR BIKES?

1 July 2009- The Department of Conservation has released its Draft Partial Review of the Kahurangi National Park Management Plan. The Plan proposes to trial seasonal access for mountain bikes on the Heaphy from 1 May to 1 October each year.

Submissions on the proposal close on 4 September 2009. Read more here:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0907/S00020.htm

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RENTAL BIKE SCHEME AN OPTION FOR WORLD CUP

17 July 2009- Auckland drivers may have to make room for Rugby World Cup fans to pedal their way to Eden Park in 2011 on a fleet of rental bikes made for comfort rather than speed.

Cycling enthusiast Julian Hulls has won support from the Auckland Regional Council for offering his bike hire scheme as a public transport option for the rugby festival, which will rely heavily on buses and trains to move crowds between the stadium and central city attractions.

But he admitted to the council's transport committee that his bikes, which have just three gears and solid suspension and wheels, were not particularly racy. They were aimed at "making cycling ordinary", he said.

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BIKE FUTURES CONFERENCE, MELBOURNE, 15-16 OCTOBER

Bicycle Victoria will host the first annual Bike Futures conference this October. Bike Futures '09 is dedicated to the people who will transform our communities into bike-friendly, economically thriving and sustainable environments.

This conference is the first in an annual series designed to assist national and local leaders, planners, designers and builders respond to the critical demands brought on by the explosion in growth of bike transportation and recreation across Australia.

Keynote speaker is Niels Tørsløv, Director of the Traffic Department at the City of Copenhagen, where he has guided the massive and unprecedented development of the bike transportation environment.

For more information, go to:

http://www.bv.com.au/change-the-world/43715/

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MAKE OUR CITIES LIKE BOGOTA, SAYS WORLD CANCER RESEARCH FUND

24 June 2009- UK towns and cities should become more like the Colombian capital of Bogota, at least in their transport policies, according to Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser at the World Cancer Research Fund.

When he became mayor of Bogota in Colombia in 1998, Enrique Peñalosa made it one of his priorities to make life easier for pedestrians and cyclists. Eleven years later, the city has expanded cycle paths and pedestrian zones and improved parks.

One of the major challenges we face as a country - and indeed all round the world - is that people are becoming less and less active. This is obviously bad news for our health generally, but what is less well known is that being physically active also reduces risk of cancer. The decline in physical activity levels across the world is one of the reasons scientists are projecting a doubling in global cancer rates over the next 40 years.

This does not mean we should all join a gym tomorrow. In fact, it is the smaller changes that fit into our existing routines, such as walking or cycling to work rather than driving that can make a difference and we are also more likely to stick to them in the long run.

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SAFETY IN NUMBERS HITS THE UK

26 June 2009- Official UK government figures just out show an increase in the number of people cycling.

Cycling levels have reached their highest point for 17 years - coupled with a record low for road fatalities in the UK.
Department for Transport reports show that cycling increased by 12% (measured in total kilometres cycled) at the same time as a substantial fall in cycling deaths, down from 136 to 115, the second lowest level ever.

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OBAMA'S TRANSPORT BILL CHALLENGED BY BIKE-FRIENDLY CONGRESSMAN

25 June 2009- A US politician has proposed a more cycle-friendly alternative to president Barack Obama's proposed multi-billion dollar transport bill.

Congressman James Oberstar, chairman of the US government's Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, wants to "thread the language of bicycles into the federal transportation bill."

Despite opposition from the US Transportation Secretary he would like to ditch the current bill and replace it with one which has such cycling highlights as the establishment of a US bicycle route system - 50,000 miles of it if a plan from October last year was to be used.

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FINES OR JAIL FOR CYCLIST HARASSMENT IN COLUMBIA (USA)

16 June 2009- From its extensive trail system to a 76-year-old mayor who pedals to work, one Missouri college town that takes pride in its bike-friendly status is threatening jail time for motorists who aren't so friendly.

The Columbia City Council heard from a steady succession of cyclists who've been victims of road rage - including a bike shop owner who was pistol-whipped - before unanimously approving a new ordinance Monday night. It makes harassing cyclists a misdemeanor, punishable by stiff fines or a year in jail.

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AMSTERDAM: MORE TRIPS BY BIKE THAN BY CAR

23 June 2009- The bicycle is the means of transport used most often in Amsterdam. Between 2005 and 2007 people in the city used their bikes on average 0.87 times a day, compared to 0.84 for their cars. This is the first time that bicycle use exceeds car use.

In 2006 the inhabitants of Amsterdam engaged in some 2 million trips a day, an 8% reduction compared to 1990. This is due to the number of trips per person per day falling from 3.6 to 3.1%. The number of transfers has fallen in the old city within the ring road in particular.

The number of trips by car, compared to 1990, has fallen in all districts (-14%), whereas the number of trips by bicycle has only risen within the ring road (+36%). The bike is used most often in the town centre (41% versus an average of 28%) and the car least often (10% versus an average of 28%). This can be attributed to the restrictive parking policies enacted here since the 1990s.

'Dienst Infrastructuur en Beheer', the infrastructure department of the city registered approximately 235,000 car movements in both directions at the city centre in 1990; by 2006 this had fallen to 172,000, a decrease of over a quarter. Over the same period the number of daily movements by bicycle rose from 86,000 to over 140,000 (+60%).

[Bike Europe, http://www.bike-eu.com]

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UK BIKE SHOPS STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND

5 July 2009- Europe is running out of bikes thanks to a British cycling boom that has caught the world's biggest bike manufacturers on the hop.

Bike shops are struggling to meet demand, which has tripled in the past 12 months despite massive price hikes. And that was before yesterday's start of the Tour de France, usually an annual sales trigger for armchair cycling enthusiasts.

Business for bike shops is booming partly because of the good weather: bike sales track ice-cream sales when the mercury rises. But bike experts also point to the popularity of the Government's "Cycle to Work" scheme - which uses tax incentives to entice employees onto two wheels - to explain the sales surge. The scheme is estimated to account for as much as half of all sales in some bike shops. One of its biggest operators, Cyclescheme, said it had doubled the number of vouchers, which are exchanged for bikes, it issued in the past 12 months.

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CYCLIST NUMBERS SKYROCKET IN NEW YORK BIKE LANE BOOM

9 July 2009- New York city officials yesterday celebrated the completion of 200 new miles of bike-only lanes in three years.

As the landmark length was laid down on the Grand Concourse in The Bronx, officials promised cyclists 1,600 more car-free miles were planned.

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. vowed to get the city's total up to 1,800 miles at a rate of 50 miles per year -- a thrill for city pedalers.

"They make me feel safer, and that makes me want to get out and ride even more," said Bonifacio Maldonado, 48, who was biking in Prospect Park yesterday.

About five miles of the lanes are physically separated from traffic.

The DOT also installed 20 sheltered bike parking units and 6,100 bike racks in the three years.

The agency has counted a 45 percent increase in people riding bikes, and there are more people who bike to work in Brooklyn than overall cyclists in San Francisco, Sadik-Khan said.

The only biker complaint yesterday was too many people using the lanes.

"Sometimes, it's so crowded on the lanes that it's hard to get around people," said Masa Omichi, a Park Slope resident.

[New York Post]

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WEBLINKS

- Sustainable Urban Transport Project: check out their 'Sourcebook for policy-makers in developing countries':

http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1568&Itemid=1&lang=uk

- The Bicycle Lifestyle Guide: this online booklet by Cyclists Inciting Change through Live Exchange (CICLE) 'gives a glimpse of just how cool life on a bicycle can be':

http://issuu.com/cicle/docs/bicycle-lifestyle-guide

- Dreamtours: a new website run by Tour d'Afrique which lets you create your dream bike tour and find people who want to come along with you:

http://www.tourdafrique.com/dreamtours

- Cycling with sharks: in case cycling in NZ cities doesn't give you enough adrenalin:

http://www.theargus.co.uk/search/4345268.Scuba_diving_mother_enjoys_bike_ride_with_the_sharks/

- Copenhagen, bike city: more to drool over in this video from the world's bicycle capital:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/06/copenhagen-bike-city.html

- The Ride: Issue One of this new magazine is available for free download:

http://www.thefreebiesblog.com/2009/06/01/free-download-the-ride/

- There's a canyon in my bike path: a novel approach to avoiding conflict on shared-use paths:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5563986/Cyclists-slow-down-to-avoid-crater-sized-hole.html

- Tour de Revs: what next? Three reverends touring the USA on a bamboo triplet to help eliminate world hunger:

http://www.tourderevs.org

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ABOUT CAN

Cycling Advocates' Network (CAN) is New Zealand's voice for cyclists. We want to see cycling become an everyday activity in NZ. CAN's membership includes experienced cyclists, advocates, engineers, planners, local and regional councils, bike shops, and local advocacy groups throughout the country.

To find out more about CAN, go to our website, http://www.can.org.nz.

ABOUT e.CAN

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