Transport in Auckland - Walking and Cycling

Walking and Cycling

Auckland has a much less positive popular attitude towards cycling and new cycling infrastructure than cities like Wellington and Christchurch. This, and to some degree the hillier nature of Auckland, have caused cycling to so far remain a marginal pursuit - only 1% of all morning peak trips are being made by bicycle. In Wellington, with an even hillier topography, the cycling numbers were approximately twice as high as of 2008. However, in the early 2010s, indications of a reversal appeared, with a regionwide gain in cycling numbers in 2010 by 27% over the year before, and an increase of 11% in the number of people who feel cycling is a safe way of travel in the region.

Low numbers are reported for walking, with work commute trips in the Auckland Region having declined from 3.7% to 3.5% from 1996 to 2001, substantially below national levels of 5.4% in 2001. To compare with other urban areas, in Wellington more than twice (8.1%) of all trips to work were done by walking in 2001. Similar to the situation for cycling, the walking environment in Auckland is considered badly degraded due to the car-centric design of most areas.

Some efforts are being made to change this environment, with, for example, a number of shared space projects planned by Auckland City Council in several of the streets in the Auckland CBD, to improve the ability of pedestrians, cyclists and (slow-speed) motor vehicles to share the same transport spaces.