The youth organisation has begun a petition, backed by Cycle Action Auckland, for Auckland Transport to complete half of a proposed 900km regional network of cycleways by 2016.
That compares with 270km (30 per cent) which the council transport body estimates is complete now, an assertion challenged by Cycle Action, which in a blog yesterday claimed that existing routes were "littered with stop-start and substandard facilities".
Generation Zero spokesman Sudhvir Singh said a major investment in separated cycleways by New York City from 2006 to 2011 was followed by a 40 per cent reduction in injuries to all road users - and a significant boost to retail spending in shops along streets which had been made more pleasant for everyone.
"Auckland needs to complete the regional cycling network if we are to become the world's most liveable city," said Dr Singh.
Go here for the Herald's full Cycle Safe series.
But Auckland Transport chief operating officer Greg Edmonds said Generation Zero's figures told only "part of the story" and did not include cycling facilities being built in association with major roading projects such as the $1.4 billion Waterview motorway project and a $30 million road-widening effort from New Lynn to the Southwestern Motorway. Mr Edmonds said the Auckland Plan had earmarked $10 million for cycling and walking this year and next year, a sum that would be boosted by "several million dollars" through other transport projects.
Wellington City transport portfolio leader Andy Foster said his council intended to boost cycleway spending from $1.8 million this year to $4.3 million in 2014-15.
Proposed new cycleways included a route from Island Bay to Wellington's CBD, where an extension of a 30km/h speed limit was being considered.
Free courses for pedallers
Auckland cyclists and would-be pedallers are being offered a summer of free training.
Auckland Transport is offering 34 cycle skills courses throughout the region in February and March. Each course is between two and five hours' duration.
They range from beginner to intermediate cycling skills for adults - with further training for those who want to bike into the Auckland CBD - as well as sessions on bike maintenance.
The transport organisation hopes the courses, part of a new "Cycling's the Go" campaign, will help to raise the profile of cycling as an efficient mode of transport and encourage people to get on their bikes. Forty-five per cent of Aucklanders have access to a bike but only 20 per cent use a bike at least once a month, Auckland Transport says.
In the last series of free cycling courses, late last year, 587 people took part, more than doubling the numbers who took advantage of a similar series at the same time in 2012.
Cycle Action Auckland has embraced the free training, which it points to as one of the reasons for the increasing number of pedallers in the region.
Auckland Transport has reported 9 per cent more cyclists were counted on the region's roads and cycleways in a survey last March than in March 2012.
Register for the courses at: www.cyclingsthego.co.nz
