Covid changes slow cycling growth
Hi-tech sensors hidden under the asphalt show cycling growth on new multimilliondollar cycleways in Christchurch has slowed since 2019. Charlie Gates reports.
Growth in the number of cyclists using a new multimillion-dollar network of cycle trails in Christchurch has stalled since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to six years of data collected by a hi-tech network of sensors across the city.
Cycle counts on cycleways across the city initially climbed after the first sensors came online in 2016, recording double-digit percentage rises each year, but growth has been flat since the pandemic.
Christchurch City Council sustainable transport planner Michael Ferigo said the pandemic had transformed commuter habits.
‘‘It has changed all the rules and thrown it all up in the air,’’ he said.
‘‘Even now, with the inner city, there are few restrictions, but the culture of business in town is that staff are working from home.
‘‘I would like to have seen us come out of Covid and get back to normal, but I don’t know that we are.’’
The planned 101-kilometre network of 13 cycleways is expected to cost $301 million and be completed by 2028. The council is contributing $114m and the rest is covered by the Government.
Of the 13 planned cycleways, four are completed, four are partially completed, one is being built, one is at the detailed design stage and three more are planned.
Ferigo said growth in cycling numbers had been flat since March 2020 due to lockdown restrictions and more people working from home.
Bus patronage has also fallen. In 2019, the seven-day average daily passenger count was just over 38,000, while in 2022 it was 27,000.
While information on recent traffic volumes in Christchurch is limited, counts of annual average daily traffic at Lyttelton Tunnel show a slight fall from 12,120 in 2018, and 11,928 in 2019 to 10,745 in 2020.
The council has been monitoring cycle traffic across the city with a network of 32 sensors installed over the last six years at 29 locations.
The sensors use an electromagnetic pulse to count passing cyclists and are sensitive enough to exclude other forms of transport like skateboards and scooters. Each sensor cost about $8000, meaning the total network has cost about $250,000.
But analysing the resulting data is complicated, partly because the sensors were not all installed at the same time.
The council analysed data from 25 sensors around the city. The sensors were broken down into four batches, with a different start date for each. Tracking data from the first batch was used to backfill cycle counts on the other three batches. Weekends and public holidays were also excluded from the count.
The council figures show the weekday average for the 2017-18 financial year grew 16% from the year before to 9408 cycle detections.
It grew 12% the next financial year to 10,549, but growth slowed to only 2% in the 2019-20 year (coinciding with the pandemic). The next year it surged 8% to 11,678.
In total, the council’s analysis showed cycle numbers grew 21.5% from 2017/18 to 2020/21.
The Press analysis of the sensor data shows flat growth from 2019 to 2022. The Press analysed cycle counts detected by 27 sensors from June 2019 to June 2021. The analysis counted weekends and public holidays. No data backfilling was required as five new sensors introduced after June 13, 2019 were not included in the count.
The daily average cycle count for the year to June 12, 2020, was 10,190, compared to 10,665 the next year and 10,044 for the 2021-22 year. The annual average daily count was calculated by dividing the total cycle count for a year by the number of days in the year.
The total cycle count for the 27 sensors was about 3.7 million for 2019-20, 3.9 million for 2020-21 and 3.7 million for 2021-22.
Papanui Parallel
The first major cycle route to open was the Papanui Parallel in June 2017. The 4.9km route runs from the northwestern suburb of Northcote to Bealey Ave on the edge of the city centre.
A sensor on Colombo St at the southern end of the route has collected data since July 2017.
The annual daily average in the year to July 12, 2018 was 176. This increased to 207 the next year, then fell to 203, before rising again to 222.
The 2021-22 daily average is 196, though that figure is from just 11 months as it does not include from June 14 to July 12.
Ferigo said he was confident cycling growth would return.
‘‘If we keep supplying good facilities and give people options that they haven’t had before then we will experience an increase.
‘‘The bottom-line purpose is to give people [transport] options. If people are travelling less and the numbers reflect that, it is not an issue. The point is that people are not feeling that they have no options [other than to take the car].’’
Ferigo also pointed to manual counts conducted by the council from 7am to 9am on one day in March at six sites around the city centre. The figures show the count rising from 1059 in 2016 to 1936 in 2021, then dropping to 1147 in 2022.
Are more women cycling?
The gender split has also moved from about 70:30 in favour of men in 2016, to about 55:45 in 2022. Ferigo said those figures demonstrated that people felt the new cycleways were safer, as surveys showed women were more risk-averse about city cycling.
Christchurch transportation engineer Glen Koorey analysed the sensor data in February and had a more bullish conclusion.
In a blog published in February, he wrote that counts on the four new cycleways were growing by about 10% each year. He compared changes to a rolling annual daily average across a year and calculated to exclude the impact of new sensors coming online.
‘‘Interestingly, the past six months have seen a levelling of cycling demand, with no further growth and even a little decline,’’ he said.
Christchurch city councillor Mike Davidson, who chairs the urban development and transport committee, said investment in the network would continue, despite flat growth in cycling numbers.
‘‘I don’t think that is surprising or anything to worry about. We haven’t seen a drop-off,’’ he said.
‘‘I have no doubt that the investment in cycleways will pay dividends in the future. It is important to create transport options that are safe.’’
What do cyclists think?
Third-year University of Canterbury student Noah Fenwick, 20, said he cycled all year round and believed the separated lanes encouraged more people to consider cycling to work.
While there were many cycle lanes in the city, there could always be more improvements, he said.
‘‘But I think when I go to other cities, Christchurch seems like a pretty good place for it.’’
Olaf Flint, a committed 25-yearold cyclist commuter, said the advent of cycle lanes had made little difference. The student cycled 40 minutes to his courses every morning and evening and used cycle lanes where he could. If there were no lanes he took back roads to ensure he was not among busy traffic. He thought the lanes were great because in tight streets you did not have to worry about cars.
Friends Bronwen and Paula, who didn’t give their last names, used their electric bikes for recreation, with Bronwen also cycling every day to her job at Christchurch Hospital.
They said they had a love-hate relationship with cycle lanes due to the number of pets, children and pedestrians that often used them.
Travelling at 30kph, the pair preferred to take the road rather than the lane, but agreed the lanes were important for commuters.