The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1972. The forgotten cyclist

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33096, 11 December 1972, Page 16

The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1972. The forgotten cyclist

Many cyclists and parents of the same vintage as Mr R. H. T. Thompson, will sympathise with his plea to the Regional Planning Authority for recognition of the cyclist in the city's traffic planning. Mr Thompson, who has been a dissident member of the authority since his appointment as a representative of the Heathcote County Council, is a cyclist himself. He is of an age to remember cycling in pre-war Christchurch, still known then as “ the city on *• wheels ” —two wheels, not four. Before the installation of the first traffic lights—at the Hereford Street “ bottleneck" during the war—there were many more bicycles than cars on the roads: indeed, car drivers and tram drivers complained on occasion that their minority interests were not adequately catered for.

Now cyclists complain that they are given less than sympathetic consideration by other road users and by local bodies. Parents often fear for the safety of their children cycling to school in the rush hour. Few people under 45 or 50 have known the simple pleasure of cycling to school or work chatting with some congenial companion, unworried and unharmed by the occasional passing car. Conversation between cyclists on any of the busy streets in Christchurch these days is more likely to be confined to shouted warnings of traffic hazards: usually the traffic is heavy enough to discourage cycling two abreast. Is it merely nostalgic middle-aged thinking to suggest a return to the bicycle in Christchurch? The city is ideal for cycling, and. even aUowing for the suburban sprawl over the last 20 years, most of those who work in the middle of the city still live withm 20 minutes ride of their work. That so few city workers cycle to work is probably a reflection of changing mores rather than of any need to save five or 10 minutes in transit. Indeed, as traffic congestion increases, the time saved by motoring has diminished: unless he has parking reserved at his place of work, the city worker will probably get there quicker by bicycle from up to four miles away.

To encourage a return to cycling, the local bodies and the planners would need to provide more adequately than at present for the cyclists’ needs. Cycle access to the relocated Girls’ High School on the Fleming’s mill site—the subject under discussion by the Regional Planning Authority—would be greatly improved by a subway under, or a bridge over, Harper Avenue. Twin bridges from Fendalton Road into Hagley Park would give cyclists and pedestrians a safe crossing of the busy Intersection, leaving the roadway for motor vehicles—and providing users of the bridge with a new elevated view of the park, the school, and “ Mona Vale ”. Elsewhere in the urban area other provision would need to be made to tempt the cyclist back on to the streets: defined cycle paths, cycle bridges and subways, the restoration of cycle stands in streets and buildings. Today’s middleaged planners who regard the bicycle as incompatible with heavy motor traffic may find themselves out of step not only with their nostalgic elders but with their pollution-conscious juniors.