Professor: why we should be cycling more

When an open day was held at Auckland’s new Waterview Tunnel, one of the first to cycle through was Professor Alistair Woodward.

“Hundreds of people came down to ride through before the cars, old and young, fast and slow,” said the avid cyclist and Auckland University head of epidemiology.

“Some seldom used bikes to get around the city, because of safety concerns, but wanted to seize this opportunity, and they had so much fun riding on wide, smooth roads without threat.”

Woodward sees “huge potential” for more cycling in Auckland, where an estimated 31 per cent of residents ride but less than half of those people bike to work or cycle at least once a week.

He would love to see a system like Paris’s bikeshare scheme, which he has used.

“The majority of the population has access to bikes, and most people with access would like to ride more often. The biggest barrier is the quality of road space and traffic speeds.”

But Woodward reckons things have improved over the 12 years he has cycled, with new gold standard routes including the northwestern cycle path, the hot pink Lightpath and Grafton Gully cycleway.

Woodward suspected there was a lingering expectation that what was done in the past would carry on — but promising signs, such as the Government’s $100 million Urban Cycleway Programme, suggest historical spending patterns were not set in stone.

More cycling would mean freed-up city space from less demand for parking, a smaller carbon footprint and health benefits for conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

If only 11 per cent of Aucklanders biked to work each day, it would have roughly the same effect on congestion as the school holidays.