Auckland is being challenged to follow top American cities in creating hundreds of kilometres of cycle lanes.
Visiting alternative transport chief Paul Steely White confessed to feeling out of place riding in inner Auckland yesterday, unprotected by the types of cycle lanes he says are helping to "humanise" his native New York and other US cities.
"Right now, riding around Auckland, you feel like you're an alien riding on your bike - like you're encroaching into what is otherwise very obvious car space," he said.
Mr Steely White, 43, is executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit organisation of about 30 staff and 100,000 supporters.
It has campaigned successfully to add about 600km of bikeways in the past five years to streets and parks as an extension of New York's public transit network, and to ban cars from Times Square and much of Central Park.