Bike to the Future Supreme Award recognises Māngere’s walking and cycling transformation

Māngere’s walk and cycle-friendly community transformation, Te Ara Mua Future Streets, has received the top honour at the annual Bike to the Future Awards in Christchurch on Thursday night.

The Bike to the Future Awards are organised by the NZ Transport Agency and Cycling Action Network (CAN). They acknowledge New Zealand’s most innovative cycling projects and celebrate the people who are making cycling a safer and more attractive transport choice.

Five other awards went to Marilyn Northcotte, a Wellington cycle skills instructor who has encouraged almost 20,000 Kiwis to start cycling; Abley Transportation Consultants Limited, a Christchurch business that’s turned the rebuild into an opportunity to get its staff on their bikes; Auckland Transport’s ‘I Love My Ride’ campaign that showed that riding a bike is for everybody, Hamilton’s Western Rail Trail and the NZ Transport Agency’s community consultation on the Northern Corridor Improvements – Shared Use Path.

The winners were selected from a record pool of more than 80 nominations. “The fact we have received more nominations than ever is testament to the value New Zealanders are putting on cycling, as both a fun activity and a means of transport,” says Cycling Action Network (CAN) Spokesperson Patrick Morgan.

“Congratulations to all of the incredible people up and down our country who are working tirelessly to get even more Kiwis on bikes.”

Te Ara Mua was named the Supreme Winner and also took out the Innovation Hub Award. The project is the result of a unique partnership between the Māngere community, researchers and transport planners. The project aims to make the streets in Māngere Central safer and easier for people to travel around, especially by walking or cycling.

The judges said Te Ara Mua set a high standard for this year’s awards. It was helping to improve the Māngere community’s health and quality of life by taking an innovative and holistic approach to changing the environment and encouraging active transport. The project is being monitored over the next two years. Early results are promising with cycling numbers on the community trail increasingly significantly while traffic speeds in key areas have reduced.

NZ Transport Agency Senior Manager System Design Brett Gliddon says the awards are part of the Government’s wider commitment to encourage more Kiwis to embrace walking and cycling as modes of transport.

“The Government’s Urban Cycleways Programme is working well to support cyclists throughout New Zealand,” Mr Gliddon says. “More than three quarters of the cycling projects under the $333 million Programme are currently either complete or underway. By June 2018 this will mean we have over 300km of new cycleways across New Zealand.

“We want to encourage more people to walk and cycle as an everyday transport option. All of the projects and people we have honoured this evening are part of driving this shift, and the awards are an opportunity to celebrate all of their hard work.”

The Supreme Winner was announced by NZ Transport Agency Chief Executive Fergus Gammie and the category winners were announced by Te Awa Trustee and the first New Zealander to win Olympic cycling gold, Sarah Ulmer, at an awards dinner held as part of the international Asia-Pacific Cycle Congress. The Congress, held in Christchurch, started on 17 October and features both local and international speakers.

There were six category winners and a further six projects which received highly commended.

The award recipients were:

The awards were judged by:

• Pippa Coom – Chairperson Waitematā Local Board, cycling advocate and member of the Urban Cycleways Investment Panel
• Richard Leggat – Chair of the New Zealand Cycle Trail, Board Member of Cycling NZ, Chair of the former Cycling Safety Panel, member of the Urban Cycleways Investment Panel
• Peter King – Policy Research Manager / Editor, New Zealand Automobile Association

Learn more about the 2017 Bike to the Future Awards.