Cyclists learn from Dutch master

The first step towards creating a thriving cycling culture is getting more kids riding bikes to school, the Dutch ambassador to New Zealand says.

Netherlands ambassador for New Zealand Rob Zaagman was in Auckland on Monday to attend an Auckland Transport (AT) workshop about encouraging more children to cycle into school.

While in the city, Zaagman joined intermediate school students for a ride along the Lightpath and around CBD cycleways.

Making riding a bike to school a normal part of life would transform New Zealand’s overall transport culture, Zaagman said.

‘‘If more and more of your peers do it, it becomes normal.’’

Getting kids riding bikes from a young age would lead them to teach their children to ride once they became future parents, making cycling a more common mode of transport than it currently was, he said.

In The Netherlands, which has the world’s highest bike riders per capita, 75 per cent of children ride to school. In New Zealand, by comparison, only 3 per cent of children ride their bikes to school.

It took 40 years of government policy to bring the Netherlands to its current 75-percent level, he said.

Dutch Cycling Embassy director Mirjam Borsboom said New Zealand could follow safe standards set up by the Netherland’s cycling union, such as building child safe cycling paths and routes around schools.

‘‘First you have little satellites, then, later on, you connect them all, and then you have a whole cycling network linking every school,’’ she said.

AT walking cycling and road safety manager Kathryn King said about 70 per cent of Auckland’s morning traffic was caused by people travelling for education purposes.

‘‘If we can shift some of that traffic into people riding and walking, then we are going to have a much nicer city to live in,’’ King said.

A $200 million investment had been put forward towards new cycling infrastructure and initiatives such as Bikes in Schools and the Bike Ambassador Program to encourage this, she said.

‘‘I think the fundamental thing we will see is happy, healthy children, and that’s something we are all working for.’’

ADAM JACOBSON/ STUFF School pupils took a ride around Auckland with the Dutch ambassador.