Cycling in Wellington

Cycling in Wellington is a mode of transport which has historically had high levels of modal share in Wellington, New Zealand. However, the dominance of the car in the city and general changes in transport patterns have made it a very marginal transport mode as of the 21st century. Following a national decline post-WW2 of levels of utility cycling, cycling as a mode of everyday transport within Wellington began a slow regrowth in the 1970s, and the 2000s onward saw renewed advocacy and new infrastructure projects.

The 1890s saw the arrival of the “safety bicycle,” which used a chain drive rather than pedals fixed directly to the front wheel, as on the penny-farthing.^[1] Coupled with the newly developed pneumatic tyre, this design made cycling faster, safer, and much more suitable for women and children, quickly establishing the bicycle as an affordable means of personal transport around Wellington.^[1][2] In 1897, the Wellington City Council passed a by-law to stop 'scorching'—the practice of cycling fast along city streets by having a maximum speed around corners of 8 miles per hour.^[3] In 1899, the City Engineer submitted a proposal to the City Council advocating for the construction of a cycle-track along Kent and Cambridge Terraces.^[4][5] The bicycle was adopted as a practical means of transport; by 1905 police were using bicycles.^[6][7] Tall bicycles were built for use by street lamp lighters.^[8] In 1901, a proposal was made to establish a legal framework for cyclists to contribute financially to fund a cycle-track connecting Wellington to Lower Hutt. The proposed annual contribution from each cyclist was five shillings. This proposal received unanimous agreement from almost all cyclists in Wellington.^[9] Two years later, the Hutt Road Improvement Act 1903 was passed, recommending a 15-foot-wide cycle track along Hutt Road to connect Wellington with the Hutt Valley.^[10] The Railway Department undertook the construction; however, instead of building a segregated cycle-track, they created a 20-foot-wide shared path for both pedestrians and cyclists.^[11]

When the Great Depression hit, both bicycle and motor car sales were down, but the bicycle quickly recovered.^[12] By the 1930s, cycle touring had become a popular pastime among Wellingtonians.^[13]

From the 1950s, the government invested heavily in motorways. In 1957, Wellington Mayor Frank Kitts announced the construction of a combined pedestrian and cycle subway beneath the Wellington Airport.^[14] The structure was designed to provide a safe and direct link between Coutts Street in Kilbirnie and Miro Street in Rongotai, two areas that would otherwise be divided by the runway expansion.^[15][16] The subway measured 798 feet in length and 22 feet 8 inches in width.^[14] Within this space, a raised pedestrian footpath 5 feet 3 inches wide was provided alongside a 9-foot cycleway at a cost of £NZ81,000.^[17][18]

When Robert Muldoon opened a section of the Wellington motorway in 1978, 75 protesting cyclists rushed into the Terrace Tunnel.^[19] The oil shocks of the 1970s triggered the first of several bicycle resurgences.^[20] In 1993, 34 percent of people in the Wellington region had tried cycling at least once over the previous 12 months.^[21] In June 1995, Transit New Zealand built a cycleway costing $160,000 under the over bridge on the Ngauranga Gorge road at the Newlands intersection.^[22]

In November 1996, the Cycling Action Network (CAN) was founded in Wellington, becoming a leading national voice for cycling advocacy.^[23][24] Since then, CAN has championed safer, more accessible cycling infrastructure across Wellington and New Zealand.^[25]

Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park opened in 1998.^[26][27][28] In 1998 the Wellington City Council set aside 200 hectares of retired farmland in Karori southwest of Wellington, New Zealand, for a mountain bike park. Development of it began almost immediately with volunteer work parties planting trees, removing pest animals and digging new tracks.^[29]

In early 2001, the City Council planned to put a 2 metre cycle lane in Thorndon Quay, and around 200 people made submissions about the plans, about 80 being against it.^[30] In April 2002, 40 car parks were removed between Tinakori Road and the Railway Station to paint a cycle lane between parked vehicles and the traffic lane.^[31] By the late 2010s, there was a growing political and institutional appetite in Wellington for a substantially expanded network of separated cycleways.^[32] The City Council announced in December 2013 that it would triple the cycling budget from $1.5m to $4.5m.^[33] The city’s 2015 cycling master-planning laid out a long-term vision. Still, early projects (notably the Island Bay cycleway) generated public controversy and legal challenge, slowing delivery.^[34][35]

Rather than seek only high-cost, fully engineered schemes, Wellington adopted a “cheaper, faster, lighter” approach—described as tactical urbanism—where lower-cost, adaptable interventions are used to deliver routes quickly. At the same time, design and community engagement continue in parallel.^[36] International figures and bodies have highlighted Wellington as an instructive example; Former New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and other city-planning commentators have praised the approach for demonstrating how quickly cities can trial and scale protected infrastructure.^[37][38] The shift followed years of frustration over the over-engineered and costly Island Bay cycleway—part of a 2015 cycling master plan—which stalled at the suburb’s edge after prolonged controversy and legal challenges.^[39]

In 2021, Councillor Tamatha Paul secured an amendment to Wellington's long-term plan, allocating $226 million to complete the master plan network.^[40] At the time, Wellington had just 23 km (14 mi) of cycleways, mainly along the coast.^[41] Tactical urbanism techniques—designing and engaging with the public simultaneously—cut build times from the usual 3–10 years to an average of 18 months per cycleway.^[36]

Problematic sections were addressed with low-cost, adaptable solutions, while permanent stretches received concrete dividers and tree planters. Practical tweaks were also made to accommodate other road users: speed bumps were reshaped for quicker fire truck exits, a loading zone was created for a car dealership, and barriers outside a bus depot were removed to allow easier bus turns.^[36]

By 2023, cycleways serving Newtown, the Botanical Gardens, Aro Valley, and Ngaio had been completed.^[42][43] Six more are underway, set to expand the network to 73 km (45 mi), with a target of 166 km (103 mi) by 2030.^[44] The first two bike lanes cost $750,000 per kilometre—less than half the $1.6 million national average—and were finished in under half the usual time.^[36]

Challenges remain. Foodstuffs has threatened legal action over a planned route past its Thorndon store. While routes for Kilbirnie, Thorndon, Berhampore, Karori, Wadestown, and Brooklyn are on the books, the city's 10-year cycling budget was cut in 2023 from $191 million to $111 million.^[45][46]

Even so, Wellington’s programme stands as a rare case study in how quickly a city can roll out extensive cycling infrastructure.^[47]

A 12-kilometre-long seawall, featuring shared cycleways/walkways from Ngā Ūranga to Petone, is being built by Waka Kotahi NZTA. This will connect the city network to the Hutt.^[47] Following severe flooding in 2013 and 2015, it became evident that Wellington required a seawall to safeguard the railway line and highway linking the city to the Hutt Valley.^[48][49][50] Constructing the seawall also provided an opportunity to incorporate a shared cycling and walking path along its top, creating a public amenity at relatively little additional cost.^[51]

In June 2015, Wellington City Council approved its first separated cycleway, authorising construction of a $1.5 million section of the Island Bay–CBD cycleway along The Parade.^[52] The project was selected as a pilot for kerbside protection.^[53] Construction began on 28 September 2015, with completion targeted for February 2016.^[54] The design featured a one-way bike lane on each side of the street, positioned directly against the kerb, with parking spaces acting as a buffer between cyclists and traffic lanes and that it would not go through the shopping village.^[55][56]

In 2017, the City Council approved a revised design intended to address issues identified in an independent safety audit.^[57] The plan recommended changes to on-street parking along The Parade to improve visibility for both cyclists and motorists, as well as increasing spacing between parking bays to make it easier for vehicles to re-enter traffic from driveways and off-street parking.^[58] In November 2021, two redesign options were released: a lower-cost $3 million plan that could be completed within a year, and a more extensive $14 million version projected to take 18–24 months. Both proposals included extending the cycleway through the Island Bay shopping village, addressing one of the original scheme’s most criticised omissions.^[59][60][61]

In December 2022, the Regulatory Processes Committee of Wellington City Council approved updated traffic resolutions for a redesigned cycle route through the Island Bay shopping village, with works integrated into broader streetscape and landscaping upgrades.^[62][63] The Island Bay cycleway has been integrated into Wellington’s wider cycling network, serving as a key commuter link.^[64][65]

On 16 March 2016, the City Council launched a public consultation proposing upgrades to the existing shared path along Hutt Road.^[66] At the time, the route was widely regarded as outdated and unsafe due to its narrow width, poor surface quality, and numerous driveway crossings.^{[67][68][69][70]} It carried over 300 daily cycle commuters from Lower Hutt, with a further 200 from Khandallah and Ngaio.^[71]

In May 2016, the Council announced that improvements would be delivered in stages.^[72] Preliminary site work for the first phase began in April 2017, with full-scale construction starting the following month.^[73] December 2018, major works were largely complete across most of the walking and biking paths, except for a key bottleneck—the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge. Widening of the bridge began on 26 August 2019.^[74] The upgraded Hutt Road separated cycle and walking paths officially opened on 11 November 2019.^[75] The redesign included fully separated bike and pedestrian paths, improved lighting, landscaping, and the installation of a real-time cycle counter to monitor usage.^[76][77]

Te Āti Awa Taranaki Whānui has collaborated with the City Council to incorporate a te ao Māori perspective into the city’s cycling infrastructure. Bikeways now feature niho taniwha motifs and other cultural markers intended to acknowledge ancestral narratives and local landscape histories.^[78][79]

On 29 March 2017, the first of many workshops was held to see how the City Council could improve cycling along Thorndon Quay.^[80] The objective was to improve safety and reliability, particularly by separating cycling movements from heavy traffic and frequent bus operations.^[81][82] By February 2020, the corridor was folded into the Let’s Get Wellington Moving.^[83] in November 2022 presented the full street design, traffic resolution, and proposed speed changes. The package included a new two-way cycle path on the harbour side of Thorndon Quay to minimise bus and side-street conflicts, five raised signalised crossings, peak-hour bus lanes in both directions, improved lighting and planting, and revised parking layouts and time limits.^[84][85] Funding and approvals followed in mid-2023.^[86] Construction began in late 2023, staged to manage impacts on businesses and commuters.^[87] In April 2024, the City Council announced it was taking over several LGWM projects, including Thorndon Quay.^[88] The Thorndon Quay upgrade project was completed on 15 July 2025.^[89]

The City Council ongoing efforts to bolster cycling infrastructure include expanding bike parking availability across the city. In 2016, the council added three new bicycle parks or ‘corrals’ in Ghuznee, Cuba and Wigan streets.^[90] By mid-2021, the City Council had installed 52 new bike racks, bringing total rack numbers to approximately 650, with capacity for around 1,300 bikes. The installations also included six new “fix-it” repair stands.^[91] The City Council has introduced covered bike shelters to protect against the elements and provide secure storage. In July 2023 , they installed one at Freyberg Pool, included relocatable container-style shelters with double-tiered bike racks offering parking for 24 bikes each.^[92][93]

Council staff proposed introducing a minimum bike parking requirement for new apartments. The rule would have required developers to allocate 2.5 square metres of space per unit, with access to electricity, enough to accommodate even large electric cargo bikes.^[94] Councillor Ben McNulty moved an amendment to remove the requirement, and a majority of councillors supported his change.^[94]

A second Mount Victoria Tunnel was to be prioritised for buses and have dedicated facilities for walking and cycling. Following the 2023 general election, the new government scrapped the initiative and changed these plans into a tunnel for general traffic.

Let's Get Wellington Moving was supposed to build bike lanes in the CBD while the Wellington City Council handled the suburban routes. Since LGWM was shut down, that part of the network has languished.^[47]

Canadian filmmaker James Cameron made complaints about the Newtown-to-city cycleway.^[95][96] Some business owners blamed cycle lanes for closures,^[97] and others objected to the loss of on-street parking outside the Botanic Garden. Luke Pierson argued that cycling in Wellington would not be widely adopted by anyone outside an “elite” demographic.^[97][98]

Councillor Ray Chung has been a vocal critic of speed bumps, raised pedestrian crossings, and cycle lanes.^[99] Firefighters also warned that the Island Bay cycle lane would leave less space for cars to pull over in emergencies.^[99]

Bikes are permitted on trains when space is available, but staff may refuse carriage during busy periods. Folding bikes are allowed on trains at any time. On the Hutt Valley, Melling, Kāpiti, and Johnsonville lines, each two-car train can accommodate up to three bikes in designated areas.^[100] On the Wairarapa Trains: Bikes can be carried in the luggage car.^[100] Metlink buses are equipped with front-mounted bike racks.^[101]

On 8 November 2024, a complete restriction on front-mounted bike racks on buses began, everywhere in the country. This followed an initial night-time ban that came in on 2 November.^[102] The provision was suspended due to NZTA concerns over “ensuring bike racks do not obscure bus headlamps, enabling full visibility in all weather conditions and during hours of darkness, including when travelling through tunnels.”^[103] On 1 July 2025 bike racks on the front of Metlink buses cloud be used again by cyclists.^[104]

Cycling in Wellington has declined significantly from its historic popularity. By 1986, only 1.4% of residents were traveling by bike.^[105] Between 2001 and 2006, it accounted for just 2% of travel in the city.^[106] By 2013, however, the cycling mode share had risen to 4.3%, reflecting a modest resurgence in its use.^[107]

• Cycling in New Zealand
• Cycling in Auckland
• Bike Auckland

Citations

Bibliography

• Cycle Wellington