Call for bold decisions on transport

Greater Tauranga wants to accelerate transport change, like the Cameron Road concept (Mark Wassung-Design Engine).

A call for Tauranga City Council to take action on transport issues was made in Long Term Plan Submissions from lobby group Greater Tauranga.

Delivered by Bike Mount spokesperson Heidi Hughes, Greater Tauranga comprises a range of organisations with a common goal – accelerating the city council and regional council development of existing transport plans.

'Build big. Do it properly the first time, not in little chunks that just move one bottleneck a little bit further up or down the road,” says Heidi.

'We need to be able to respond quickly to change, make the most of innovation opportunities and keep Tauranga moving. That means having a clear vison and revising our old model of governance and planning to be way more collaborative and flexible.”

The three councils, the NZTA the freight industry and the Port of Tauranga and Kiwirail have focussed largely on their own interests to the detriment of better solutions that create wins for all, with Greater Tauranga saying a new model is required that includes the community in the governance structure. A suggested first step is to co-opt community representatives into the existing transport committee.

Greater Tauranga also wants the council to speed things up, bring on the cycle network development in ten years instead of 30.

'We need to be part of the cycling revolution,” says Heidi. 'We have a fantastic cycle action plan, but it will not be finished for 30 years unless we front-load the funding to get it done.

'The plan has engaged the communities and will get many people onto bikes, if it is funded so it is completed in ten years.”

Sales of E bikes are increasing exponentially and now are 30 per cent of all bike sales in some countries, says Heidi.

Prices are expected to drop closer to the costs of conventional bikes before long, removing the obstacles of ageing bodies, hills, wind and sweaty arrivals at the workplace.”

'We need to move fast to create cycle infrastructure to support this technology as it is rapidly changing the profile of the cycling public.”

Greater Tauranga also wants a focus on buses, which the Greater Tauranga partners see are the city's best shot at moving large numbers of people around cheaply.

They support the proposed city loop for buses, but say the measure as proposed by the BOP Regional Council, and will not be delivered because of the Tauranga City Council's lack of commitment to bus lanes.

There also needs to be a more cohesive approach to determining the location of bus interchanges. Local roads like Farm Street are not considered suitable.

Greater Tauranga' public poll has strong supports for six main ideas:

  • All the transport agencies singing form the same song sheet
  • A modern, quick and easy to use bus service
  • Support for reinstating an intercity rail passenger link between Tauranga Hamilton and Auckland.
  • The cycle network in ten years instead of 30.
  • Redesign Cameron road
  • Free school bus trial

'We see a huge opportunity for small scale low risk, low cost trials done in partnership with community to test effectiveness of solutions where community is at the heart of the process not the end.”

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4 comments

Cycle lanes?

Posted on 20-05-2018 16:13 | By waiknot

Sounds nice but lets workout exactly what the cost benefit ratio will be. I dont believe the numbers will stack up.


this stupid TCC

Posted on 20-05-2018 21:23 | By Capt_Kaveman

the cycle lane was on the large footpath now on the road now back on the footpath or shared space as it should have been left not the pathetic way it is now


exactly Capt_Kaveman

Posted on 21-05-2018 08:47 | By Mein Fuhrer

shared pathway for pedestrians and cyclists is the most logical way to go, but unfortunately TCC is lacking considerably in the common sense and logic departments.


Virtual cycle way

Posted on 22-05-2018 09:38 | By Ubique

Cycling is great. However funding is the problem no one wants to pay. How many cyclist will only ride in fair conditions


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