Hamilton Urban Blog

Like most cities, Hamilton has had a good number of bike plans, such as the 5-year plan in the 1988 ‘Cycling in Hamilton Study’, followed by the 20-year plan in the 1999 ‘Hamilton Cycle Network Strategy’, then a 10-year plan in the 2010 ‘Access Hamilton Active Travel Plan’, and most recently the 30-year plan in the 2015 ‘Hamilton Bike Plan’. The rankings below measure how effective Hamilton’s bike investment has been compared to other cities in New Zealand.

In 2001 Hamilton was ranked fifth; by 2006 Hamilton dropped to seventh in the census, and then in 2018 census travel to education was added: Hamilton dropped to eighth. This change in ranking is not about central government. This is all to do with local leadership. As an example the new shared-use path from the new Rotokauri Station ends at Arthur Porter drive, 200 metres short of the Wairere Drive shared use path, forcing cyclists to share the road with trucks and trailers on Arthur Porter drive. This not a funding issue, this is about decision makers’ inability to understand the needs of people new to biking.

We also know that when you make it safe to bike to school, parents will let their children bike to school. At Rototuna Junior High School ‘about 60 per cent of them cycle’, and at Nelson’s Broadgreen Intermediate School ‘60–70% of students regularly cycle’*. The change in ranking is about leadership being focused on people new to biking. What the ranking also shows is that Hamilton is not holding on to existing cyclists. *NZTA Report 380 ‘I want to ride my bike’ page 11

Nelson has an excellent cycleway along a converted disused rail corridor, which runs along the back of the school. The Christchurch railway cycleway connects a number of schools and shopping centres. Hamilton has the western rail trail, but try to map how it connects to Hamilton Girls’ High’s bike parking area.

Hamilton has a long history of building paths for school students that do not connect to schools. In the 1988 ‘Cycling in Hamilton Report’ Donny park was to be part of ‘Cycle Routes off City Streets – There are a number of opportunities for developing cycle-ways through recreation reserves so as to provide more direct connection from main routes to schools’. Today, after 3 decades, Hamilton’s latest long term plan still puts the ‘Parks Connections Programme’ as unfunded.

There is hope: the ‘Eastern Pathways Project’ plan of ‘connecting 19 schools and over 9500 students and provides safer transport options for local communities’ and the Uni link, which aims to ‘connect the city centre, University of Waikato and surrounding schools’. The challenge is whether our city leaders can build a connected bike network designed for people new to biking. If it succeeds, Hamilton will be ranked within the top three bike-friendly cities in New Zealand.

P.S. ask for the ‘Parks Connections Programme’ to be funded in your submission to Hamilton’s Long-Term Plan.