Getting on your bike is not a viable answer to the Bay of Plenty's traffic woes, with a recent fatal accident highlighting the danger of using two wheels on the region's roads, says a cycling advocate.

With Tauranga revealed as the worst city in New Zealand for traffic, desperate commuters are moving house and eyeing up jet skis to avoid hours of jams, while the council is encouraging people to cycle.

Tauranga City Council's transport director Brendan Bisley says other modes of transport are key to reducing congestion.

'Tauranga is one of the most car-dependent cities in New Zealand...we're targeting the 10 to 15 per cent of the population who have a choice to walk, cycle, scooter, skateboard or catch a bus.”

But the amount and type of vehicles using the city's roads makes cycling less safe than other cities such as Wellington and Christchurch, and a hundred times more dangerous than cities in Europe, says cycling advocate Shayne Plummer.

'Tauranga Council's strategy doesn't support safe commuting by bike. Tauranga is a heavy transport port city with mega trucks permitted to pass schools without proper safety assessments.”

Shayne is currently in Europe, documenting safety on roads there, compared to his home town.

'Trucks (above the usual 44-tonne limit) are illegal in Europe, as they are too big and don't have side protection...yet we've allowed these loose on NZ roads without any road safety audits...and European drivers are much, much safer towards vulnerable road users.”

Shayne, who established a group for cyclists in the city in 2015, says the group is pushing for an independent review of safety of cycleways, after the recent death on the roads of a member.

'We lost a cyclist the other month. NZTA doesn't do enough to limit risks.”

Pāpāmoa cyclist Bryan Marris, 59, died in a collision with a vehicle in Mount Maunganui in April.

Cycling Action Network has listed six deaths of cyclists on New Zealand roads so far this year. In 2022 there were 16 deaths.

Although statistics include fatalities involving just the cyclist, most were the result of a collision with a motor vehicle, said the network.

More choice in modes of transport is essential in good city planning, but it needs to be safe and feel safe, says University of Waikato environmental planning professor, Dr Iain White.

'Many people might like to cycle, but they're not going to if they don't feel safe, and you often hear people commenting they wouldn't let their children cycle to school. A good safe cycle network should be the base layer of any good city planning to give people a choice of the way they get around.”

Tauranga has a reputation of being a poorly planned city, which is now manifesting by hurting businesses and individuals in the time it took to move around the city due to traffic, he says.

'There's been bad planning where transport planning and city planning has not been considered together, so you have the city sprawling to outer corners, with no infrastructure to support it.”

Increasing the city's diversity of housing stock with more medium density housing close to transport networks would also help, but like building a cycling network, solutions take time.

'They may be long term solutions, but the longer decisions are put off, it's going to be harder and more expensive.”

Lack of action is a frustration for architect Phil Green, who volunteers time as a member of Tauranga's Urban Design panel.

'There are potential transport alternatives on the commercial rail network to the port, or using ferries to the Mount, but over the years council hasn't developed these options, and seems to be spending money and time on individual projects with no seeming big picture planning.”

The significant reduction in congestion during school holidays pointed to another solution, says Phil.

'The traffic has almost halved because you don't have people dropping off kids to school, or older students driving. If you got everyone on a bus or bike and schools enforced this, then that would get cars off the road – but they would need to bring back proper school buses and make cycle routes safer.”

Tauranga's traffic woes are so dire, it'as time to bring in overseas consultants, says Phil.

'Successive councils have failed in planning – central government needs to bring in the private sector. Improving the city's networks and access to the Golden Triangle to Auckland and Hamilton should be a priority.”

With the Bay of Plenty region growing the fastest in New Zealand, city and regional councils have teamed up to produce a Smart Growth transport strategy, preparing for a projected population of up to 258,000 residents who will create one million transport movements per day by 2050.

The plan will attempt to improve 'unsafe environments” where current walkways and cycleways share the road with vehicles.

A draft of the Smart Growth strategy will be released for public consultation next month, and finalised at the end of the year.

-Annemarie Quill/Stuff.