Cycleway more robust than ever

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.”


For more information (and data) on the UK cycle network:
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/rmu/sustrans_ncn_monitoring_report_end08.pdf