Based in Whakatane
Look out! They're on the 'town bike'
By Stuart Whitaker from the Bay of Plenty Times. December 2006.
DON'T Snigger, but Tauranga has its very own town bike.
You may have even seen it being ridden around the CBD.
With parking at a premium and traffic congestion around the city centre becoming worse, council staff have decided that it's time to walk the walk if they are going to talk the talk about people using alternative transport to cars.
It might have raised the odd eyebrow, but the idea of a town bike is one that is both practical and, for shorter journeys,
sensible.
For a start staff now hav to walk to Kingsview where the council fleet cars are parked.
"By the time you've booked a fleet car then gone and got it... on a time basis it's more efficient," says solid waste engineer Nick Roozenburg.
The idea evolved from one Nick originally had... to salvage old bikes from the recycling centre, and make them available for people who wanted to cycle rather than take the car.
"We had four of them-but we slowly gave them away to people who were interested in riding to and from work," says NIck.
But the concept sparked interest in buying a suitable bike-painting it in Council colours and calling it the 'town bike'.
"It's a proper one with internal gears and it's specifically designed for people not wearing proper cycling gear." says Nick.
"One of the aims of the 10 Year Plan ( Integrated Transport Strategy ) is to encourage more cycling-and this is leading by example-it's
one of the first steps to making it easier for staff to cycle while we work," says Council Transport Communications Advisor Frank Begley.
A new secure storage area for bikes, plus improved showers are also being provided and longer term it is possible that more bikes will be made available and be part of the Council's vehicle fleet.
The council is also starting "at home" in the quest to help businesses and other organisations encourage staff to reduce car use by staff.
Transport Planner Emlyn Hatch has undertaken an in house-survey to ascertain how staff travel to and from work as part of a travel plan for the council .
"From experience, when going to to talk to other businesses and organisations about twhat they should and could do , the ask ' well
what is the city council doing?". says Emlyn.
The survey has brought in some baseline information from which the transport plan will be developed.
The plan will look at everything from making bus timetables available to car pooling , flexible start and finish times and working from home.
Picture. Tauranga City Council's solid waste engineer Nick Rosenburg aboard the 'town bike'. ( 24 11 06 BN03 )
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