It's a cool idea, most of the quays are six lanes of car traffic with no shoulder so its a real no goer for cycling at the moment.
I wonder how much faster it'd be than weaving around the waterfront, that would be the selling point I guess
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui / Wellington
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Yeah I like this a lot.
I find waterfront too busy and the pedestrians too unpredictable for cycling. And as a pedestrian I dislike being buzzed by e-scooters and bikes speeding by. It's just not a great place to be mixing bikes / scooters / people.
So to avoid the waterfront I generally use the road, but it's far from ideal. Even though I can keep up with the traffic I still find myself forced into the gutters and have to contend with some massive potholes and drivers trying to occupy the same physical space as me.
This would be safer for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. I'd guess it'd probably be faster for bikes too as you generally have to go pretty slow on certain parts of the waterfront when there's people around
Yeah it is a bit dicey as either a pedestrian or a rider when it's busy. Nice for a leisurely ride but maybe not so much if its just your mode of transport for getting places.
The scooters feel even dicier - I enjoy them and they're super useful for a medium trip but it never feels right being on the footpath with pedestrians, and they feel way less safe than bikes to ride around cars. They'd benefit from dedicated lanes too
Would a dedicated cycle path along the waterfront, that pedestrians would need to cross like a road, be a better option in your view? Oriental parade already has a dedicated cycle path along much of it, which is heavily used.
If that was doable, then for sure - separation of cars and cyclists is always for the best in my view.
I'm not sure how feasible that would be however. There's plenty of narrow spots that wouldn't currently accommodate both dedicated bike infrastructure and pedestrians (like by the Crab Shack for instance).
Wouldn't a far better option be a dedicated cycle lane along the waterfront? The quays are one of the main routes in and out of Wellington, and really can't spare the space for a cycle lane.