Palmerston North businesses not sold on benefits of cycle lanes

Anchor Barbershop owner Tammam Tamim says his takings are well down. Photo / Jimmy Ellingham, RNZ

By RNZ

Changes to a 900m stretch of road in Palmerston North have exposed the battle lines between cars and bikes.

On Featherston St, officials are sticking to their plan to introduce cycleways as part of the city’s envisaged cycle network, much to the chagrin of some.

The street is a typical busy provincial city route for commuters, but the $1.3 million facelift is splitting opinions.

Among the changes are the loss of some car parks, while others move towards the road carriageway, as the cycle lanes pass between the parks and the footpath.

The cycleway will have barriers between it and the road, or parks; buses will now stop on the road, meaning traffic behind them will have to wait; and a central median strip is gone.

Anchor Barbershop owner Tammam Tamim said the changes were putting off customers.

“I think I’ve lost, I’d say until now, about 40 per cent of my customers. Luckily, I have another shop on Albert St.

“Most of my clients now would rather go all the way to that shop, but not here.

“Normally at this time we are packed, we are fully booked, but at the moment we are struggling.”

Tamim said the changes to the road were different from what he had imagined.

“My staff are complaining they don’t have enough customers because they are on commission pay.

“If that’s going to be for the long term, I’d rather just give the shop back to my landlords and just go to Albert St.”

Ebony Coffee owner Brian Holmes said some change was needed, but what had happened was not hitting the mark.

“Customers who come in are quite nervous to park on the road because it feels quite unsafe, and [they’re] concerned about buses stopping,” he said.

“They’re more nervous about the street becoming unsafe, when they thought it was going to become safer.”

Razak's Sewing and Alterations owner Rawina Razak. Photo / Jimmy Ellingham, RNZ

Razak’s Sewing and Alterations owner Rawina Razak said her customers were also complaining about how hard it was to find a park.

The traffic ‘scared me a bit’

Proponents of biking are in favour of the changes - including Charlotte, who recorded an interview with the city council.

The schoolgirl said she wanted to feel safe enough to bike the stretch of road again.

“The traffic just kind of scared me a bit, I’d say. I always had the fear in the back of my mind: ‘Is someone going to run me over?’” she said.

“I’d probably feel safe if it [the cycleway] was a wider space and [closer] to the footpath than it is.”

City councillor Pat Handcock - a former police area commander - said Palmerston North streets were not safe for all users.

He said it was difficult to “retrofit” existing roads to achieve this.

“The cycleway on Featherston St, really, is part of a larger piece of work, which is the regional cycleway network. That’s been slated for many, many years,” he said.

“If you only complete part of the cycleway network, you render what’s actually been done less effective.”

Cars now have to wait for buses picking up and dropping off passengers in this section of Featherston St, Palmerston North. Photo / Jimmy Ellingham, RNZ

About 14,000 vehicles, 220 cyclists and 1600 pedestrians use the road every day - many going to and from schools, such as Central Normal School.

Most parents on pick-up duty RNZ spoke to - some of whom were in parks that would soon go - did not like the changes, including how the removal of a left-turning lane at traffic lights at the intersection with State Highway 3 meant longer queues of cars.

“I’m not a fan, but I also don’t ride a bike. Maybe it is handier for people,” Renee Ferry said.

“I don’t really like it at all, to be honest. It’s way narrower, and when school finishes it takes twice the amount of time to get through the lights because of the build-up of traffic,” Karlyn Sullivan-Jones said.

The changes would soon extend to outside Palmerston North Boys’ High School, where rector David Bovey was not convinced they would work.

“I think it’s hopeless, and it could be part of a grand plan to get people so annoyed that they won’t use those roads, in which case I think it’s going to be a roaring success.”

City council chief infrastructure officer Chris Dyhrberg acknowledged the changes, which were 90 per cent funded by New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, were causing concern.

“Whenever you’re doing any change, there’s a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

“There’s a lot of design [work] that has gone into this. There’s a lot of consultation across lots of different groups, and what we’ve tried to do is come up with a compromise that’s going to prioritise safety but is still as practical as we can be.”

People had a chance to have a say during that process, he said.

“This has probably been the most significant consultation we’ve ever done on any infrastructure project in this city of this type.

“We’ve had three co-design workshops. We’ve involved groups ranging from car-oriented groups to bike-oriented groups. We’ve had schools involved. We’ve had businesses involved.”

Dyhrberg said the work was only partly completed, and included upgrades to the intersection with State Highway 3, the city’s most dangerous.