New Zealand walking and cycling strategies – best practice

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3. Recommended strategy content

• 3.1   Foreword
• 3.2   Introduction
• 3.3   Vision
• 3.4   Objectives (or goals)
• 3.5   Policies
• 3.6   Targets (or indicators)
• 3.7   Strategy monitoring and review
• 3.8   Network plans
• 3.9   Implementation programme
• 3.10   Appendices
  • 3.10.1   Data and trends
  • 3.10.2   The four Es: engineering, education, enforcement and encouragement
  • 3.10.3   Other appendices
• 3.11   Examples of good practice

The Cycle Network and Route Planning Guide (CNRPG) (LTSA 2004) is an essential resource for developers of cycling strategies. Among other things, it provides a comprehensive list of elements to be included in these strategies. These elements are reproduced for convenience in this report as Appendix 5. This list should be used to check that all key elements of a strategy are included.

The Pedestrian Planning and Design Guide (Land Transport NZ 2005) promotes consistent best practice in the planning and design of walking facilities. It is an essential resource for those developing walking strategies. It contains effectively the same elements as the CNRPG and as identified in Figure 2.1.

In addition, the national walking and cycling strategy Getting there – on foot, by cycle (MOT 2005) includes a one-page summary of its vision, goals, priorities, focus areas, key principles, and implementation framework. This is a useful starting point for those involved in developing walking and cycling strategies. It is reproduced as Appendix 6.

3.1   Foreword

In practice, many strategies have a foreword signed by a prominent supporter of walking and/or cycling such as a councillor or the mayor. This helps to reinforce the status of the document and provides an opportunity (preferably within one page) to impart some of the key imperatives and council aspirations for the strategy. The date of publication can be placed here or elsewhere.

3.2   Introduction

The introduction to a walking and cycling strategy should be as short as practicable (say two pages). It should explain the purpose and scope of the strategy, by and for whom the strategy has been prepared, its formal status within the council, and its relationship to other council documents such as land use plans and transportation strategies, codes of practice and the LTCCP. Its relationship to Transit’s and other organisations’ processes and plans should also be explained.

The introduction should also briefly describe the local context for walking and cycling, such as the amount of walking and cycling currently being undertaken (from national or local surveys), overall crash statistics for these modes, and existing networks, facilities and programmes. If desired, this material can be placed in a separate section following the Introduction, entitled ‘Context’ or similar. Alternatively, more detailed background data can be placed in an appendix.

Getting there – on foot, by cycle should be referred to in any local or regional walking or cycling strategy. It sets the context in New Zealand for these documents and is an essential resource for the development of walking and cycling strategies.

A diagram similar to Figure 2.1 may be useful in the introduction to the strategy to explain the structure to readers.

3.3   Vision

A vision is an important statement of a shared future view of walking and/or cycling for those involved in developing the strategy, and for the affected council and community. It is a relatively easy component to include in a strategy but is a valuable starting point for all involved parties, whether councillors, staff, other agencies, stakeholder groups or residents.

An internet search of ‘vision statement’, ‘strategic planning’, ‘vision mission goals’ and similar will provide extensive background material and advice on the requirements of good visions, goals and targets for any planning document. In addition, the visions of the New Zealand and overseas strategies researched through this project give plenty of options for consideration. Good examples of visions (in order of increasing length) are shown in Table 3.1.

These visions range up to 29 words. Some (not included here) were much longer and were not considered to be as effective as the shorter ones. The vision is usually sufficiently brief that it can be combined in a single one page section covering both the vision and objectives. The two are closely related.

3.4   Objectives (or goals)

The terminology around objectives, goals and targets is often overlapping or conflicting. For the purpose of this research, objectives are considered to be synonymous with goals. They have been taken as important (but somewhat general) intentions that will help achieve the vision, whereas targets (or indicators) are specific and quantifiable. Some of the better examples of objectives found are included in Table 3.2.

3.5   Policies

Policies are commitments in principle by a council to do particular things. Policies should be achievable by the agencies responsible. To emphasise this, the agency or agencies responsible for implementing each policy could be identified within the strategy. Examples of useful policies from selected strategies are shown in Appendix 7.

Table 3.1 - Examples of visions

Strategy	Vision
Taupo District	Taupo: The cycle-friendly town
Tasman District	A safe and enjoyable place to walk and cycle
Hastings District	To be a safe, convenient and accessible district for cycling
Auckland Region	The Auckland region is safe, easy and enjoyable to walk in
Portland, Oregon, USA	To make bicycling an integral part of daily life in Portland
Wellington Region	More pedestrians in a convenient, safe and pleasant environment
Bayside, Victoria, Australia	To make cycling the chosen form of transport for more people, on more trips, more often
New Zealand	A New Zealand where people from all sectors of the community walk and cycle for transport and enjoyment
Christchurch City	That Christchurch is the most friendly, safe and accessible city for pedestrians, where all pedestrians are able to move about freely with confidence
Canterbury Region	An attractive, safe, pleasant and comfortable place for cycling, where people of all ages choose to cycle for transportation, tourism, sport and recreation
Waitakere City	For Waitakere to be a “walking and cycling friendly” city, where walking and cycling are safe, enjoyable and popular forms of transport and leisure
Wellington Region	The evolution of a cycling culture where cycling is a recognised and valued transport mode that is safe, accessible and pleasant throughout the region
Toronto, Ontario, Canada	To create a safe, comfortable and bicycle friendly environment in Toronto, which encourages people of all ages to use bicycles for everyday transportation and enjoyment
Central Otago District	Central Otago is a safe, pleasant and comfortable place for walking and cycling, where people of all ages choose to walk and cycle for transportation, tourism, sport and recreation
SE Queensland, Australia	A sustainable transport system in which cycling is a safe, convenient, efficient and attractive transport mode, that encourages more people to choose cycling as their preferred travel mode
North Shore City	To provide a safe, convenient and enjoyable cycling environment that meets the needs of cyclists and encourages cycling as a mode of transport and as a means of recreation

Note: Visions in this table have often been written for either walking or cycling but are usually easily modified for either or both modes.

Table 3.2 - Examples of objectives

Strategy	Objectives
Christchurch City	1.   To increase cycling in Christchurch 2.   To increase the enjoyment of cycling in Christchurch 3.   To improve safety for cyclists in Christchurch
Rotorua District	1.   To make cycling in Rotorua District safer 2.   To increase the number of people cycling in Rotorua District
Tauranga District	1.   To promote and enhance the opportunities for recreational walking and cycling in Tauranga District 2.   To make walking and cycling a more viable and convenient way of getting around Tauranga district 3.   To improve the safety of walking and cycling in Tauranga 4.   To ensure that adequate funds are available to implement the objectives and actions of this strategy
North Shore City	1.   To increase the number of people cycling to work 2.   To increase the number of people cycling to school 3.   To improve safety for cyclists 4.   To improve convenience for cyclists 5.   To improve enjoyment in cycling
Wellington Region	1.   Ongoing development of pedestrian route connectivity and accessibility 2.   Improved safety (perceived and real) of pedestrians from traffic, the physical environment and crime 3.   Maintain advocacy towards best practice pedestrian provisions and funding availability
Tasman District	1.   To increase the percentage of people who cycle or walk to work (measured by census) and the number of children walking and cycling to school 2.   To reduce the number of injuries involving pedestrians and cyclists 3.   To increase the understanding of cyclist and pedestrian needs
Oxfordshire	1.   To increase the proportion of travel within Oxfordshire on foot 2.   To reduce the actual and perceived dangers from road traffic faced by pedestrians irrespective of mobility or sensory ability 3.   To develop a safe, convenient, efficient and attractive infrastructure for pedestrians 4.   To ensure that the needs of pedestrians are always fully taken into account in the County Council’s land use and transport planning, engineering and development control processes 5.   To improve actual and perceived personal security for pedestrians

Note: Objectives in this table have often been written for either walking or cycling but are usually easily modified for either or both modes.

3.6   Targets (or indicators)

Targets (sometimes called ‘indicators’ or ‘progress measures’) are useful to allow progress to be measured in achieving the vision and objectives of a strategy, and in implementing its policies and actions. They should identify milestones as well as timeframes for their accomplishment. In the development of targets, the widely-used ‘SMART’ concept is useful. Targets should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

The development of targets should be customised for each region, district or city. Local characteristics will dictate what sorts of issues are most important. In some areas, encouraging walking and cycling to school will be considered most important, so targets should be developed to quantify school travel modes. In other areas, completion of a network of cycling facilities, or the safety of pedestrians will be the highest priority, so different targets will be needed. Targets should be consistent with the vision, objectives and policies of the strategy. If the vision is ambitious, the targets should reflect this. The choice of targets in a strategy should influence data collection needs during strategy development and ongoing monitoring. It may also influence the implementation programme.

Care needs to be taken in setting achievable targets. If they are too optimistic, community expectations may be unrealistically high, resulting in dissatisfaction with the strategy and possible policy reversal, if the strategy does not appear to be working, after a few years. Conversely, targets set too low may disillusion community members anxious to change walking and cycling conditions.

Examples of useful targets from selected strategies are shown in Appendix 8.

3.7   Strategy monitoring and review

Monitoring of a strategy will be important to determine whether it is working or whether revisions are needed. An important part of monitoring will be to evaluate performance against targets. Revisions may be needed to the strategy itself, or to the implementation programme or resource levels (including funding and staff). Monitoring tasks can be built into the implementation programme to ensure they are funded and undertaken. Discussion of various types of monitoring activities is contained in Appendix 9 of this report.

Strategies should be reviewed according to the timeframe of the LTCCP process. This ties them strongly to implementation programmes and budgets, and is consistent with advice in the LTMA, which provides for District Land Transport Programmes to be integrated with the LTCCP review process. Councils have some discretion over when they review their LTCCP, so tying walking and cycling strategy reviews to the LTCCP is more appropriate than establishing a different period just for the strategy.

The strategy review should also align with the review of the relevant Regional Land Transport Strategy (RLTS). This will ensure that the strategic direction, policies and implementation plan align with the RLTS. Conversely, when the RLTS is reviewed, walking and cycling strategies need to be considered. The RLTS is used by Land Transport NZ in developing the National Land Transport Programme.

Implementation programmes may need to be revised annually to reflect the budget cycles of councils. Strategies, however, should only need revision every three to five years or more (with the LTCCP and/or RLTS), so there needs to be a clear mechanism articulated in the strategy as to how implementation is to be monitored and fulfilled. This can be facilitated by including specific monitoring tasks, such as surveys, in the implementation programme.

3.8   Network plans

The two levels of walking and cycling plans to consider are:

• In the context of strategies, a plan showing existing and proposed facilities or ‘desire lines’ superimposed on the street network is strongly recommended, to explain and document the spatial implications of the strategy and implementation programme.
• A specific action item within an implementation programme may be the preparation or revision of a mass-produced public walking or cycling map (typically free for users). These are also a good idea, but are not considered to be a component of a strategy. Christchurch City and Wellington Region, among others, have produced cycling maps and Wellington City (with Living Streets Aotearoa) and Palmerston North City have produced walking maps.

Routes for cyclists are an essential component in ensuring that cycling is a viable mode of travel. The geographic coverage and ‘connectivity’ of routes in the context of the city or district is most easily comprehended by reference to a network plan (as opposed to a list of facilities, for example). A network plan can also show main road, river and railway crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists, as the absence of these often creates barriers to travel by these modes. Physical barriers such as rivers, lakes, motorways, railway lines and steep hills are key features to assist in planning facilities.

Key destinations such as the central business district, schools, shopping malls, parks, recreation centres and swimming pools are useful additions to cycling network plans. These plans can also be helpful in determining whether off-road or on-road facilities are likely to be beneficial in linking different parts of the town, district or region.

Plans should show both existing facilities as well as proposed. A good technique for distinguishing between the two is to use solid lines for existing and dashed or dotted lines for proposed. Different coloured lines are useful for different types of facilities. It may be necessary to have different maps for walking and cycling to prevent the maps becoming too ‘busy’.

Proposed facilities may be of differing levels of certainty and it is desirable to distinguish these on the plan. In developing walking and cycling network plans, plots of crash locations and detailed crash analyses are useful to help understand existing network issues and problems.

Walking routes tend to be more diffuse, relying on virtually every street to have basic facilities (footpaths) and crossing opportunities (both at intersections and at mid-block locations). Walking trips are typically shorter and consequently do not lend themselves to concentrating trips on particular facilities, as is typically a goal of vehicular (both cycles and motor vehicles) transport planning. Accordingly, a plan may not be as necessary for a walking strategy as for a cycling strategy. Virtually every street is a walking and cycling street.

Mass-produced cycling maps, besides being useful for cyclists, are often useful for motorists too. They then perform a useful marketing function to a target audience of potential cyclists. Cycling and walking maps can also provide useful information about the council’s cycling and walking programmes, advertisements from local bike or sports shops, safety information, and references to appropriate contact details for council and local walking and cycling groups. Mass-produced cycling or walking maps need to concentrate more on existing facilities and features, whereas planning maps should contain more planning information.

The plans included in the strategies reviewed were generally of poor quality or non-existent. The network plan in the Napier cycling strategy, however, was reasonable, showing on-road routes, off-road paths and recreational routes. The plans in both the Dunedin and Rotorua cycling strategies are printed at a larger scale than most (folded A3 within an A4 document) and show a variety of useful data, including both existing and proposed paths and routes. This larger-size format is recommended so that adequate detail can be shown.

3.9   Implementation programme

Implementation programmes (or ‘Action Plans’) translate the ideals of the strategy into action on the ground and in the community. Implementation programmes should identify specific projects and programmes (covering the full range of engineering, education, enforcement and encouragement activities) with cost estimates and timeframes. Implementation programmes necessarily change from year to year for a variety of technical, political and financial reasons. By contrast, strategies can and should be more long-term, needing revision only every few (say three to ten) years.

It is recommended that implementation programmes should be included within LTCCPs and land transport programmes to help ensure that they get appropriate public scrutiny and full approval through the political process. By embedding the action items into mainstream council business, this ensures that walking and cycling strategies are implemented. This is consistent with the LTMA, which provides for Land Transport Programmes to be integrated with the LTCCP review process.

Prioritisation of projects is an essential component of an implementation programme. Some projects should be done sooner than others to address key issues or to demonstrate clear council support for walking or cycling, but there will never be enough money or staff time to do everything on the wish list in the first year. Prioritisation methods range from benefit-cost analysis rankings (although these are dependant on assumptions within the standard benefit-cost methodology) to subjective preferences of key participants and stakeholders. For engineering facilities, consideration of usage numbers, crash records, blockage removal, and provision of high quality demonstration projects are all possible techniques to assist in prioritisation, although in most cases a variety of factors should be used to prioritise projects. Chapter 11 of the LTSA Cycle Network & Planning Guide (2004) provides further advice on prioritisation in the context of cycling projects.

Implementation programmes typically contain more than infrastructure projects. Consequently, other components of the programme will need to be prioritised against each other and against the network elements. This is expected to be a subjective exercise for some time, until reliable quantitative methods can be developed and tested. The political process is a legitimate method of allocating priority to projects within an implementation programme, but the views of staff and stakeholders should always be sought to inform the political debate.

3.10   Appendices

3.10.1   Data and trends

A range of data is available for walking and cycling strategies. A table of potential monitoring activities is contained in Appendix 9, including discussion on the relative merits and drawbacks of these potential data sources. There are many possible data sources, such as crash statistics, traffic counts, census data, user and resident satisfaction surveys, and data from the MOT’s New Zealand Travel Survey. Strategies should consider which types of data are likely to be beneficial and implement programmes to collect and analyse appropriate data on an on-going basis.

3.10.2   The four Es: engineering, education, enforcement and encouragement

This categorisation originated in the Geelong (Australia) Bikeplan (Geelong Bikeplan 1977) and has since been widely adopted as a common template in walking and cycling strategy development. It acknowledges that improving conditions for cyclists and pedestrians needs to rely on more than just providing a safe infrastructure. While Engineering is important, so are Education, Enforcement and Encouragement.

Education can apply to pedestrians and cyclists as well as other road users, enforcement (of pedestrian, cyclist and motorist behaviour) may be necessary, and encouragement can help to market walking and cycling as options for people’s travel needs.

Strategies should include the important aspects of education, police and parking enforcement and encouragement, as well as the more obvious engineering (or facilities) components of a strategy.

Detailed sections on each of these facets of strategies can be contained in appendices, although individual projects and programmes from each of the four Es should be included in the Implementation Programme.

3.10.3   Other appendices

Other appendices may contain lists of participants in the strategy development process, extracts from relevant council policies or plans, or additional material on funding and monitoring.

3.11   Examples of good practice

The research team has identified what it considers to be the best 18 New Zealand strategies, representing half of the strategies reviewed. (A description of the review of domestic and overseas strategies is contained in Chapter 5.) These strategies were scored more highly than the other strategies and collectively represent good practice. Nevertheless, not all aspects of these strategies are exemplary, and there are some good features in the other strategies not featured in the ‘top half’.

Of these strategies, 12 were written in 2003 and 2004, and 14 were available on the internet in May 2005. Four of the 18 were walking strategies, reflecting the relatively small number of this type to date. Eight of the top 18 strategies were cycling strategies and six were combined walking and cycling strategies.

The evaluation of both New Zealand and overseas strategies was undertaken using a quantitative approach to understand what each strategy contained. This is more fully explained in Chapter 5.

It is considered more important to learn from the strategies as a group, rather than dwelling on the rankings of individual strategies. This is partly because the methodology used to evaluate strategies was somewhat imprecise, and partly because the evaluation was subjective, reflecting the opinions of a few practitioners. Other people may come to different conclusions. The best New Zealand strategies (in alphabetical order) were considered to be as shown in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3 - Best New Zealand strategies

Walking strategies	Cycling strategies	Walking and cycling strategies
Auckland Region (2002)	Christchurch City (2004)	Auckland City (1998)
Christchurch City (2001)	Dunedin City (2003)	Central Otago District* (2004)
Hastings District (2004)	Hutt City* (1998)	Manukau City (2004)
Wellington Region (2004)	Napier City (2002)	Tasman District (2004)
	New Plymouth district* (2004)	Tauranga District (now City) (2001)
	North Shore City (2003)	Waitakere City (2003)
	Rotorua District* (1999)
	Wellington Region (2004)

* Not available on the internet as at August 2005

People responsible for preparing walking and cycling strategies are encouraged to acquire some of these documents to provide insight into different approaches to writing strategies. Individual strategies reviewed as part of this research included a number of useful features and creative ways of communicating information. Particular features of interest and examples of good practice are identified in Table 3.4. These pages are reproduced in Appendix 10.

Table 3.4 - Selected pages from examples of good practice

Strategy (and type)	Page(s)	Feature
1. Wellington Region (walking)	i	Executive summary
2. Toronto City (cycling)	3-2	Bikeplan structure
3. North Shore City (cycling)	iv	“Quick wins” (within two tears)
4. Auckland Region (walking)	17	Vision and objectives
5. Tauranga District (combined)	5	Objectives
6. Christchurch City (cycling)	24	Key principles, policies, good use of photos
7. New Plymouth District (cycling)	12	Quantifiable targets
8. Wellington Region (cycling)	12	Action programme
9. North Shore City (cycling)	41	Implementation programme
10. Waitakere City (combined)	15	Implementation programme
11. Napier City (cycling)	9 & 10	Network plan
12.Dunedin City (cycling)	33	Part of Cycle Route Map
13. Christchurch City (walking)	22	Monitoring
14. North Shore City (cycling)	44	Conclusion
15. Central Otago District (combined)	17	Census data
16. Manukau City (combined)	11	Cycle count data
17. Tasman District (combined)	21	Rating of cycling and walking facilities
18. Hastings District (walking)	10	Discussion of footpaths
19. Hutt City (cycling)	12	Principle cycle network table
20. Rotorua District (cycling)	30	Principles of planning for cycling
21. Rotorua District (cycling)	90	Typical costs for cycling facilities
22. Auckland City (combined)	vi	Principles of planning for cyclists and walkers

North Shore’s and Christchurch’s strategies (and others) have many local photographs, adding visual interest to the documents. The inclusion of photos is strongly encouraged.

 

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Page created: 7 October 2008