Just before the latest lockdown, a number of Auckland Resolve Group staff got together for a cycle ride as part of the Aotearoa Bike Challenge, a free competition to encourage staff to experience the benefits of cycling. Over 9000 people from 800 organisations participated during February, and over 1 million kilometres were ridden collectively, making it by far the biggest year yet.The combined kilometres cycled by our team helped us come 10^th place in Auckland for our size of organisation.

The team were Kathleen and Stuart, who did the full 100km ride and Duncan, Dawn and Tim, who cycled parts of it. Martin didn’t ride but made sure he was there at the end to meet the team at Churly’s and give them a bit of moral support.

Resolve Group are committed to encouraging the use of carbon free transport wherever possible. The Auckland office has a bike and an e-scooter for staff to use around town and is planning to get an electric car this year.

Senior Consultant Karen Fehl recently attended a seminar in Auckland presented by the NZTA National Cycling Team, a group designed to promote and streamline planning and procurement, cycle safety and the optimisation of transport networks.

Cycling is currently the fastest growing mode of transport in Auckland and with the government announcement in March of a further $100 million in funding for cycling through the Urban Cycleways Fund (UCF), there is now an associated emphasis on delivering cycle projects.

The seminar was aimed at assisting future programming and planning for cycle projects in light of this investment and was attended by people from a range of backgrounds, including consultants, cycling advocates, coordinators and educators, project managers and funding specialists.

Topics of discussion included the current state of play with cycling and cycle strategy in NZ, funding and the business case approach, types of people on bikes and their needs, overview design concepts, community involvement and promotion, and evaluating the benefits of cycle schemes.

Karen, who worked on cycle facilities early in her career in Wellington, and is interested in how different road user’s needs are managed on arterial road projects such as the bus lanes project on Great North Road, found the seminar both stimulating and worthwhile.