This blog post is about more money for cycling in Auckland and overseas. Let’s start with Auckland:
I blogged a few days ago about how the Regional Land Transport Programme was out and it looked better for cycling and walking but nobody really knew for sure.
Barb Cuthbert has been investigating and she’s confirmed with Auckland Transport that there has been a significant budget increase.
I won’t repeat everything her blog post says but the key line is this:
In first 3 year Draft RLTP walking + cycling = $17.5M (uninflated). In the first 3 years Final RLTP = $29MÂ (uninflated).Â
The numbers aren’t quite the same as those I blogged earlier – apparently it’s to do with uninflated versus inflated figures and other complicated things.
But the key point is that the budget has almost doubled.*
We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that these increases still only take the walking and cycling budget up to about 1.5% (I think?)Â of the total transport budget. But we should also celebrate this win as it is great news.
I have seen so many different planning documents come and go and it is really, really rare for the funds in them to change significantly during the submission process.
This is a credit to Cycle Action Auckland, to everybody who made a submission asking for more funding for walking and cycling, and the civil servants and politicians at Auckland Transport/Council who approved the increase.
Pop over to the CAA blog to comment.
Development Banks pledge $175 billion for sustainable transport
In overseas news, the Rio Summit has been grinding on for days now with little real progress. Our global emissions are up 48% since Rio 92, and as Ban Ki Moon puts it “we are running out of time.“
But one good thing which has happened at Rio is that the world’s 8 largest development banks have announced a major shift from funding roads to buses, trains and cycling.
They’ve committed over $175 billion to sustainable transport modes over the next ten years.
If you are as iggy about global development as me (no mean feat) until a few minutes ago you didn’t even know that development banks existed. But they do and they have lots of money.
You can read more about the Asian Pacific Development Bank here.
The friend who sent this story to me actually does know a lot about international relations and she thought it was great news.
So, a little bit of progress in New Zealand and a whole lot more in the developing world! That’s a nice start to your Friday, don’t you think?
* Alert readers might note that Auckland Transport achieved this increase by taking money for walking and cycling out of the last 10 years of the RLTP and loading it into the first 3. I don’t think this is something to worry about because the RLTP will get rewritten in 3 years time. We just need to ensure at that point that our government has a more progressive transport policy in place that is not starving walking and cycling of funds.
I’ve commented over at CAA to say GREAT news. The condensing of 10 years’ worth into 3 years is my favourite bit. I reckon there’s a compounding factor in early investment that will provide a bit of proof and some momentum early. Imagine more-than-doubling this again in three years’ time.
At risk of repeating my comment at CAA: spend a bunch on visibility, please! Complete the NW cycleway by all means, but the route it takes is largely hidden (which makes it lovely for biking, but less lovely as a political piece of work) — perhaps blow some cash on advocacy to take a lane off Ian McKinnon? And bike racks outside bikeshops (specially that Giant shop on the waterfront, sheesh). A couple of test Bike Parking Spaces replacing carparks. Bike lockers at railway stations. And put a bit aside so someone can buy the CAA team a beer!