For 150 years, Aucklanders on bikes have been bringing our city’s streets to life, and vice versa.
Our vision all along: safe routes and good roads, so we can travel freely under our own power. Here are some highlights of our journey so far – and the healthy, happy future we’re moving towards!
Bike Auckland Timeline
As part of the ‘Links to Glen Innes Cycleways’ project, an almost-Dutch-style roundabout has been built at the intersection of Taniwha Street and Elstree Avenue. The project also includes protected cycleways along Taniwha Street (between Line Road and West Tamaki Road), new bus shelters, and pedestrian crossings. Slowly but surely a safe cycle network is forming in Glen Innes!
More about this project here.
Waihorotiu is a shared pathway along Queen street in the CBD, stretching from Aotea Square to Te Komititanga (the square outside Britomart station). Its name and design features refer to the awa (river) that used to run through this area and continues to run under the roads surface. The Waihorotiu pathway was made quickly by reallocating roadspace; where there used to be 4 motor vehicle lanes there are now a whole lot more people walking and cycling, as well as two special vehicle lanes (for regular buses, service vehicles and mobility vehicles), and beautiful planter boxes. This has created a quieter, safer, more pleasant and vibrant street space.
On 3 July 2023 Bike Auckland released an independent engineering report confirming that reallocating a lane to walking, cycling and wheeling on the Auckland Harbour bridge is safe and viable; kicking off our latest campaign to Liberate the Lane and connect this missing link. Read about this report here, and see our campaign site here.
Although preparatory works had already begun for the Great North road improvement project, it was put on pause by a newly-elected councilor, along with the two other inner west projects. More than half a year of strong advocacy led by the local community (and reinforced by Bike Auckland) successfully got two of the projects to get the go-ahead (again!): Great North Road and Pt Chevalier to Westmere improvements will begin later in 2023! The third project, the Grey Lynn and Westmere Improvements, has been paused due to lack of funding. Auckland Transport are investigating a staged approach for its delivery. More about this campaign here.
This section of the Northern pathway shared path connects schools and – almost – connects to the Upper Harbour Drive cycleway. Originally designed to connect into Skypath, the Northern Pathway will eventually connect all the way from Albany to Westhaven. It’s being built in stages – so Constellation Drive to Akoranga is next! Of course we have a suggestion for them to help connect across Te Waitematā to Westhaven: they could liberate the lane on the Auckland Harbour Bridge! Read more about the Northern Pathway here, and our solution here.
Over 2023 we’ve focused on reducing barriers to cycling for people with disabilities, so that, as Cycling Without Age say, everyone can feel the wind in their hair. We’re also spreading awareness that more than 28% of people in Tāmaki Makaurau don’t drive; whether due to age, disability, seizures, ADD, medication, or simply because they don’t want to. Bikes can be a crucial transport mode for these communities if there are safe places for them to ride.
Read more here.
Strong feedback from Bike Auckland and the community led to a separated bi-directional cycleway being built through the Mission Bay town centre (instead of a shared pathway). Although it will make more sense in the context of a linked up network, and there are still a couple of things which need to be improved, it is lovely to have a separated space to be in in this busy area! We’ve seen people enjoying bikes and scooters in this space, and it’s easy to hop onto the shared path at either end! More here.
The new Māngere bridge’s name, Ngā Hau Māngere, was gifted by local Iwi Te Waiohua and is described by Kathleen Wilson as meaning ‘gentle lazy winds’. It replaces the old concrete bridge which had opened in 1915 for vehicle traffic, and since 1983 had loyally served as a popular fishing spot and vital walking and cycling link between Māngere and Onehunga. We supported the resource consent application in 2016, and worked with Waka Kotahi to ensure there would be safe access for people walking, cycling, and using mobility devices while the bridge was being built. Read more here.
Stage 2 connects together the already-completed stages 1 (from Glen Innes train station) and 3 (Ōrakei Basin Boardwalk) of Te Ara ki Uta ki Tai, the Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive pathway. Bike Auckland has spent hours giving feedback on draft designs, reviewing progress, asking questions, pushing for more funding behind the scenes, and calling for faster delivery, as well as advocating for local connections. These would link the cycleway to nearby streets making local journeys possible. John Rymer Place and the Gowing Drive connections, once they are built, will enable local kids to walk and cycle across the Pourewa Valley safely to St Thomas’s School and Selwyn College. Read more here.
Initially designed in 2017, this extension of the protected Quay St cycleway eastward along Tāmaki Drive was redesigned after the Bike Auckland community asked Auckland Transport to aim higher. It extends to Ngāpipi Rd with clip-ons on the Ngāpipi Bridge, and will eventually link into the coming pathway from Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive, creating a seamless journey from the East into the city. You can also continue along Tāmaki Drive on the existing shared paths for a beautiful ride by the Waitematā. Read more here.
With bike theft becoming a growing concern in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Bike Auckland investigated a range of potential solutions. The investigation pointed to community bike registration platform 529 Garage as being the most successful for deterring bike theft and reuniting people with their stolen bikes. Together with Christchurch City Council and Wellington, Bike Auckland brought 529 Garage to Aotearoa for a 6 month trial. Auckland Transport funded promotions and registration events across the region to help grow awareness about the initiative. The trial showed great success, and Waka Kotahi is investigating adopting it Nationwide. If you haven’t already, you can learn more about 529 Garage and register your bike here.
Auckland Transport commissioned fresh designs for neighbourhood walking and cycling for the Waitematā Safe Routes project (originally scheduled for delivery by 2018, but delayed by a small pocket of resistance). The redesign drew warm public enthusiasm, and sets a strong new vision for how we live and move around our communities. We look forward to seeing these healthy streets in real life soon.
The Karangahape road enhancement project added protected cycleways along the length of Karangahape road, as well as beautiful rainbow pedestrian crossings, more trees, rain gardens, and improved bus access. The cycleways were hard fought for with a fantastic campaign by Generation Zero! We continued a positive relationship with the business association, and shared insights with Auckland Transport throughout the project. It has been embraced by the community, and the Karangahape road business association have stated that the first beneficiaries of the cycleway are actually everyone else using the street space – they have made the street quieter, and feel more welcoming to be in. Read more about this project here.
A stunning connection from Karaka and Papakura over to Takānini and Conifer Grove, the Southern Corridor bridges these communities together. At the opening we heard from a teacher who was excited her students would now be able walk and cycle to school – previously, because of the motorway, the only way to get from Karaka to Conifer Grove was to drive! This pathway will eventually extend to Drury, as part of NZ Upgrade Programme’s Papakura to Drury South project. More here.
Originally a trial as part of Waka Kotahi’s ‘Innovating Streets for People’ pilot in 2021, by 2023 Project WAVE became a permanent (and much improved) connection between Nelson street and Quay street, completing the city centre loop! Read more here.
In March 2021 it was announced that Waka Kotahi’s Skypath was almost certainly cancelled. Bike Auckland launched a campaign to liberate the lane on the Harbour Bridge instead so that people can walk, cycle, scoot, and wheel. More about the campaign here. Read the full Skypath timeline here.
The Northwestern Cycleway has been extended from Lincoln Rd to Westgate, connecting schools along the way!
Ridership along connected bike routes rose dramatically in response to upgrades to the SH16 Causeway, the opening of Lightpath in 2015, the opening and extension of the Nelson St and Quay St cycleways in 2016-2018, and the smoothing out of the city end of the cycleway along Ian McKinnon Drive in 2018. Each new connection delivered a quantum leap, especially on the NW cycleway, and especially on weekdays: proof positive of the network effect.
In October 2017, the Waterview Shared Path opened, completing a long-awaited link between the SH20 path and the Northwestern Cycleway. Advocated for and won by Bike Auckland and the local community, it features multiple new bridges and local connections, and has fast become a community treasure.
A model of community engagement, the Te Ara Mua – Future Streets project brought protected bike lanes, paths through parks, and calmer streets to Māngere Central. This exemplary project emerged from the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board’s vision for safer, healthier neighbourhoods – and revealed some of the system-wide barriers to more walking and cycling that will need tackling in order to achieve faster results for communities.
The Quay St interim cycleway, with its protective planters and highly visible totem-counter, opened in July 2016. As with other central city cycleways ridership quickly exceeded targets: it saw 200,000 journeys in its first year. The cycleway was extended further east in 2018, and will continue along Tāmaki Drive in 2020. Meanwhile, the current Quay St works under the Downtown Programme will reduce traffic lanes and install a permanent cycleway.
Once just a twinkle in our eye, the transformation of a disused motorway offramp into a sparkling, dynamically lit magenta pathway for walking and cycling heralded a new era of investment and vision for Auckland. Its less flashy sibling, the separated cycleway on Nelson St, rapidly became the city’s fastest-growing bike route.
Amidst a burst of bikeway building – and to help nurture neighbourhood bike activity and advocacy groups across the city – Cycle Action Auckland transformed into Bike Auckland. The new name and logo capture a clear and straightforward vision, underscoring our role as the voice of people on bikes.
The SkyPath design, a public-private partnership, surmounted numerous hurdles including gaining resource consent in 2015 (upheld on appeal in 2016), in an extraordinary testament to Aucklanders’ determination to win walking and cycling access across their harbour. In 2018, the Labour-Green-NZ First Government committed to delivering a shared path via the NZ Transport Agency.
The cycleway linking Upper Queen St to Beach Road via Grafton Gully was opened in September 2014. At the ribbon-cutting, Prime Minister John Key promised our then-chair Barb Cuthbert that more cycleways were on the way. The following year, that promise was delivered on in the form of the Urban Cycleways Fund, $100m of Crown funding that strategically unlocked local investment and launched a cycling renaissance in Auckland.
Max Robitzsch and Barb Cuthbert represented Cycle Action Auckland at the Board of Inquiry into the Waterview Connection. Alongside community advocates, they successfully made the case for what became the Waterview Shared Path. This victory transformed the way the NZ Transport Agency approached all new motorway projects, ensuring better connectivity for all travel modes.
In 2010, the SH20 route was completed with a path along the northern edge of Puketāpapa/ Mt Roskill, thanks to a strong partnership between cycling advocates, the Mt Roskill Borough Board, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Auckland Council, and the Transport Agency. Shown: Board Chair Richard Barter inviting Cycle Action’s John Gregory to ride the mountainside path, on opening day. (Image: John McKillop, ACTA). Nurtured by the Puketāpapa Local Board, the Roskill Greenways continue to bloom with this collaborative approach, with the 2019 Te Auaunga/ Oakley Creek Restoration project the latest jewel in the crown.
Around 2008, the painted bike lanes on Devonport’s Lake Road came under attack. Bronwen Jones and other community cycling advocates assembled a petition from over 4100 people, which helped save the day. Over a decade later, a proposal to upgrade Lake Road with bus lanes and protected bike lanes is still in the offing. Meanwhile, the bike lanes remain paint-only, but are well-travelled by commuters and school students, with usage accelerating in recent years.
The public yearning to be able to walk and bike over the Auckland Harbour Bridge swelled as the bridge’s 50th anniversary approached in 2009. The Get Across movement drew thousands of people to rallies, culminating in a breakaway crossing, and the creation of SkyPath: a citizen-led design championed by former Cycle Action Auckland chair Bevan Woodward and colleagues.
A new bridge over Great North Road at Waterview and a path through the grounds of Unitec replaced a roundabout route on busy roads. At the time, it was seen as the last major link along the Northwestern Cycleway, a route that had been patiently won over many years by advocates including David Knight and Kurt Brehmer.
Astonishing to think that it was only in 1999 that the city’s first painted on-road bike lanes appeared on Carrington Rd, won by Kurt Brehmer and other advocacy pioneers. Even more astonishing: twenty years on, these lanes remain paint-only.
The cycling advocates of Auckland regroup as Cycle Action Auckland, under the guidance of John Gregory and Stephen Knight.
Under the umbrella of Cycle Action New Zealand, advocates led by David J. Knight campaigned for a bike path along the NW motorway. Five years of patient lobbying led to a rule change allowing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists to be built on motorway reserve land. Thus, on 6 December 1992, the causeway from Te Atatū to Point Chevalier became home to the very first off-road separated cycleway on Transit land. This watershed moment paved the way not just for the NW cycleway, but also for networks of walk-bike paths all over the country. Especially since the Waterview Board of Inquiry, motorway expansion and widening projects now generally come with walking and biking access included.
