Remember all the naysayers who objected, opposed, criticised the Cameron Rd cycle way before it went in. What a lot of bellyaching? I was one of them … wondered if it was needed, whether it justified all those added dollars. Didn’t the city planners get it in the neck – the media was full of carping ratepayers, Tauranga doing what it does best. That’s complain! It got so bad, it probably cost one man very close to the project his job. 

Now what do we hear? …. not a squeak. TCC just may have got it right, but you will never hear people say it. Cameron Rd’s working as near to perfect as is possible. Maybe. And from my work perch, on a first floor above Cameron Rd, I watch it working nearly perfectly. From first light there’s a steady stream of cyclists in either direction. And there appears to be more of them as the weather improves, quietly moseying their way up and down Cameron Rd…congestion free, cost fee, carefree. The Cameron Rd cyclists don’t know it but they have almost sold me the idea. Come summer I might trade my car park for bike park.   

And despite motorists moaning about concessions be made to cyclists, and the cost of providing added cycling infrastructure, it seems to be the way. Just ask Amsterdam, ask Copenhagen, Barcelona, Berlin, Antwerp, all major bike friendly cities - Portland, Strasbourg, Montreal, Bogota and Bordeaux. They can’t all be wrong. Bring on the bike ways. 

Ian Goldsmith, Otumoetai