Auckland records busiest month ever on cycleways

The 500m rainbow cycle path near Unitec in Mt Albert is part of the North Western Cycleway. Photo / Chris Loufte

Auckland's cycleways were used more last month than ever before with 50,000 more trips taken.

A record breaking 430,000 rides were recorded in March 2018, up 13.5 per cent on the previous year, according to data collected by Auckland Transport.

AT spokeswoman Joanna Glasswell said March was often the busiest month of the year for bike riding as school, high school and university students were back and the weather was generally good.

That paired with the opening of the Waterview Shared Path connecting the South Western Cycleway to the North Western Cycleway, and extending the Nelson Street Cycleway through the Fanshawe Street intersection in the past year is also likely to have contributed to the surge, she said.

"Connecting up the network gives people more safe places to ride and gives people the opportunity to travel further around the region. It also makes the existing shared paths and cycleways easier to use. We are starting to see this network effect in our cycle trip counts."

Meanwhile the number of cycling trips counted in the city could rise further as Auckland Transport is in the process of building or improving more cycleways including the Ian McKinnon Drive cycleway, the Quay St cycleway extension, the Federal St walking and cycling facilities and the Seabrook Ave cycleway and intersection improvements project in New Lynn.

Bike Auckland chair Barb Cuthbert welcomed the news and said the latest figures were impressive.

It was now becoming a pattern as records were constantly being broken due to the massive uptake in cycling across Auckland, she said.

"What we know is 60 per cent of Aucklanders want to ride a bike if it's safe and Auckland Transport is building safe routes that take you from A to B. So what we see internationally is when you do this, people ride bikes."

The good summer weather and the uptake of electric bikes had also made cycling more attractive to people.

"Even Auckland's hills are no longer a factor so if you put together really safe, lovely separate infrastructure and an appetite to do something than sit in a car in a congested queue... We are now on a galloping horse."

In 2017, 45,600 people started riding for the first time.