Sustainable transport for Christchurch
Christchurch has such an extraordinary opportunity, given to very few cities, to rethink how to create a central city that is more people friendly with sustainable transport options. By world standards, Christchurch is a small city in terms of population although it sprawls across a large geographic area and is sprawling more with the shift to the west from the badly damaged suburbs of East Christchurch. It does not have enough population to sustain a metro system, but it is certainly big enough for a good public transport system, well integrated with human powered transport (HPT) such as commuting cyclists.
So we were particularly interested on this trip to Europe to visit cities that have developed sustainable, green transport systems. Only 50% of Parisians have a car and Amsterdam is well known as a cyclists heaven. Gothenburg and Uppsala in Sweden have also achieved green transport systems, despite their severe winters. All these cities provide safe, fast and efficient routes for commuting cyclists with easy parking. The use of cars is dis-incentivised with more roundabout routes, and more difficult and expensive parking.
The physical separation of HPT users from both pedestrians and cars is an important step in improving safety which is a key concern for all HPT users. Cities such as Amsterdam and Gothenburg have divided their main thoroughfares into lanes for trams, cars, bicycles and pedestrians with buffer zones between each to allow each means of transport to move safely at their different speeds. That space that could have hosted 3 lanes of cars now provides more sustainably for buses, trams, bicycles, scooters and pedestrians with only one lane for cars.
We noticed that cycling is treated as a business-as-usual activity with more work-a-day bicycles and no special clothing. The bicycles are simpler, easier to ride and maintain and adapted to carry children as well as shopping or goods. The cyclists wear the same clothes to ride as they wear to work, including high heeled shoes. Helmets are not mandatory and seldom worn by commuting cyclists.
Another green transport initiative we observed is where the city provides a car hire scheme for citizens without cars to allow them to hire a car at reasonable rates for occasional journeys. Paris has a particularly popular scheme with small electric cars with designated parking & charging spaces. Many cities also have similar bike hire schemes. Paris’ version is called Velolib and is so popular that we saw many Parisians on the distinctive Velolib bikes and empty bicycle ranks, especially one fine Sunday afternoon. These two green transport systems have contributed a lot to the popularity of Paris’ current mayor.
In comparison to these green transport initiatives, Christchurch’s plans for transport for the new Christchurch seem very conservative, with only small changes from the current arrangements. We would like to see much bolder moves towards sustainable transport options that make the city safer and pleasanter and more oriented towards people rather than cars. What are your dreams and hopes for transport systems in the new Christchurch?
