New Zealand walking and cycling strategies – best practice

Print version: New Zealand walking and cycling strategies (PDF, 2.9 MB)

Appendix 9 - Possible monitoring activities

1.   New Zealand travel survey

(Ministry of Transport)

This comprehensive study of travel behaviour is household based and can be used to analyse trip-making by different purposes and modes of travel. Trip lengths are also recorded. It uses a relatively small sample and has some limitations at the local level, but is worth considering for trends. The first survey was done nationally in 1989/90; the second survey was done in 1997/98 and since 2003 annual surveys are being undertaken on a rolling basis to cover the country every few years.

2.   Census journey to work

(Statistics New Zealand)

Good long-term data series of trends for walking and cycle commuting (“main means of travel to work”) but does not capture school or recreational traffic. Disadvantages are that the data are collected only once every five years, and may be weather-dependent on any particular Census day. The data can be disaggregated to small geographic areas to help understand local travel patterns.

3.   Collision statistics

(Land Transport NZ)

Walking and cycling collisions tend to be statistically rare events. This means that potentially dangerous locations are unlikely to be identified by conventional “black spot” collision analysis, and also that locations with one collision (or more) may not be any more dangerous than other locations. In addition, many walking and cycling crashes are not reported to the authorities, and this “under-reporting” reduces the effectiveness of crash data for rigorous analysis of network safety analysis.

Overall trends in walking and cycling crash numbers, however, are useful indicators of walking and cycling safety, and should be monitored routinely.

4.   Walking and cycling infrastructure

An inventory should be established and maintained of public walking and cycling facilities. These include: footpaths, cycle lanes (onstreet), cycle paths (off-street), wide shoulders on rural roads marked as cycle routes, bicycle parking facilities, suitably “quiet” local streets, pedestrian refuges, and kerb cut-downs at intersections for pedestrians, wheelchair users or mobility scooter users. A component of this inventory should be walking and cycle network plans.

5.   Funding and staffing

Funding and staff resources will be needed to develop, implement and maintain the walking and cycling strategy. Tracking these items will demonstrate commitment to walking and cycling.

6.   Automatic traffic counts

Routine classified traffic counts identify the proportion of traffic of each vehicular mode (including cars and many different classes of truck and bus). With a little extra effort or cost, traffic counters can count bicycle traffic too. Routine counts can be established to collect bicycle traffic in a sample of future automatic traffic counts.

7.   Manual traffic counts

Manual surveys are needed to count pedestrians and to help distinguish between school and other types of cyclists. They are also needed for counting turning or crossing movements at intersections. They tend to be more expensive than automatic counts and consequently may be carried out less frequently and for shorter intervals.

8.   Special pedestrian and cyclist counts

Some data may need to be collected for special locations or events.

9.   School bike stand surveys

Cycling to school gives an indication of the use of cycles by younger residents of the community. If this number declines then future numbers of cyclists may decline. Bike stand surveys do not quantify walking trips so student surveys may be necessary instead or as well.

10.   Bicycle tourism

Numbers of visitor nights of cyclists on organised cycle tours in the district are sometimes available from the tourism industry and provide useful data on the significance of cycle tourism to a district or region.

11.   Walking and cycling events

Numbers of walking and cycling events (and participants) such as Bike Week promotion, fun rides, road or off-road races.

12.   Opinion surveys of pedestrians and cyclists

Attitudes of existing pedestrians and cyclists toward walking and cycling facilities can be documented through opinion surveys. These are often done as part of regular resident satisfaction surveys.

13.   Opinion surveys of residents

Attitudes toward walking and cycling in general can be documented to ascertain what would be needed to encourage people to walk and cycle more.

14.   BUGs

Number of cycle friendly workplaces or bicycle user groups (BUGs) established to support commuters or students cycling to work, university, college or school.

15.   Walking school buses and cycle trains

Number of schools that have walking school buses or cycle trains, parent-assisted groups of school children walking or cycling together to and from school. Alternatively, the number of students who use these.

16.   School or workplace travel plans

Number of schools or workplaces that have written travel plans aimed at minimising motorised travel.

 

< previous | next >

Page created: 7 October 2008