Subscribe to RSSGreens On Dominion Rd
The Greens have joined in the debate about Dominion Rd.
David Clendon, Green Party spokesperson on Auckland issues says he thinks Auckland City Council has put forward some good ideas for redesigning Dominion Road - their proposal for a separated on road cycle-way is “excellent and would be a New Zealand first.”
“But binning the bus lane would be a real mistake.” He said the council proposal to allow cars in the bus lane would be a leap backwards, leading to more congestion in the area and slower travel times for everyone.
He says the trial allowing cars with two passengers or more to drive in the bus lanes on Tamaki Drive led to slower journey times, on average, for all travellers on the road. Mr Clendon said he believed that “Dominion Road carried almost twice as many buses as Tamaki Drive.”
“The current debate over tickets for driving in bus lanes mustn’t distract us from the advantages of having them. Auckland City Council may need to adjust their policy on bus lane fines — but we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.
“Having a separate cycleway and a dedicated bus lane will be good for local businesses because it will make the area more pedestrian friendly. Research demonstrates that shoppers spend more time and money in areas that are more pedestrian friendly.”
There is only one week left for residents to make submissions to the council on their plans for Dominion Road and he urged them to ask for a separate bus and cycleway.
On Monday night, over 200 people attended a public meeting in Balmoral about the issue.
3 Comments
Almost twice as many buses? Currently Dominion Road has a 12bph off-peak schedule compared to 5bph (IIRC, could be 6bph) off-peak on Tamaki Drive — so there is at *least* twice as many buses!
This is not the first separated on road cycle lane in New Zealand and I hope it doesn’t go the same way as the first. In the late 1950′s I remember a cycle lane on the Great South Road between Otahuhu and Papatoetoe near Dominion Breweries. It was next to the footpath and separated from vehicle traffic (what little there was) by a raised barrier.
Cyclists, and there were many utility cyclists then, never used it WHY…..?
It was never swept and it was full of the broken glass from the Saturday night bottle throwers and general road rubbish. The usual marked cycle lanes can be bad enough because they dont get the usual flow of vehicles blowing/flicking the rubbish off the surface.
I understand suburban roads only get swept about monthly. This is not enough for cycle lanes which need to be swept every Monday morning after the weekend onslaught. If the lane is well away from the bottle throwers as the NW lane is then a month might be adequate.
I found when in England in the 60′s there were some lanes of this type and they were unusable too.
To my understanding, the Dom Road cycle lanes would be raised higher than the normal traffic lanes (about half the height of a normal kerb, rather than have a separation barrier as such) so there would be some improvement in the trash issue, especially if the cycle lane has a bit of crossfall towards the gutter side.
Still, a fair point.