Yesterday was a major milestone for the pink path – and it happened sooner than anyone predicted! We hear next week was the anticipated timing for the 100,000th trip across Lightpath… but after an even busier Easter than imagined (an average of a thousand trips a day!), the celebrations were quickly brought forward.
So satisfying to hit the mark so quickly! In the 118 days since the opening, reports Auckland Transport, there’s been ‘an average of 848 cycle journeys each day across the Lightpath, leading to a five-fold increase in people cycling on Nelson St during the week.’
We can only imagine how much higher the numbers will soar once Nelson St Stage 2 continues the protected bike lanes all the way down to the waterfront, and when Quay St‘s protected lane opens (latest indication for that is July) to create a full loop around the central city.
The milestone made the evening news – and Auckland Transport was at the Nelson St end of the path yesterday giving out free ice cream to celebrate.
Uh oh, a victim of our own success… Congestion on the Light Path today! pic.twitter.com/3imAfEkVRw
— Kathryn King (@KingCyclesAkl) March 30, 2016
https://twitter.com/AnjaVroegop/status/715052883063017472
The official #100,000 was Nathan Spoonly from Mt Eden, but he had plenty of company to celebrate with, as captured by AT’s Cycling’s the Go team:
At this rate, we’ll see half a million bike rides before Christmas – or maybe even before the one-year anniversary of Lightpath’s launch. Feels like only yesterday, eh?
As a special treat, here’s some stunning fresh aerial footage of the path the night before it opened, courtesy of our mate Kyle Donegan of Resin Surfaces (responsible for the pink surface) and the engineering and construction geniuses who put it all together. Enjoy!
And let’s relive that first night all over again, just because…
