Leave your car at home and bike to work and school

Published: 7 February 2017

February is a great month to leave your car at home and ride to work or school as a means of transport – pick the right week, and you could receive a free breakfast too.

The Hawke’s Bay Commuter Challenge runs from Monday 13 February to Friday 17 February, and includes Go By Bike Day run by Hastings District Council on the Tuesday.

The annual Challenge offers anyone who cycles to work that week a chance to enjoy a scrumptious free breakfast on the way.

It is one of the major projects on the events calendar for iWay, a joint Hastings District and Napier City Council project.

Napier City Councillor and cycling enthusiast Graeme Taylor is looking forward to seeing how many riders turn out this year.

“Besides being a healthy way to start your day, it’s a great way to expand the use of the pathways and cycle lanes across both cities,” says Graeme.

Henare O’Keefe, Hastings City Councillor, Ambassador for Hastings and enthusiastic leader of the pack for the Hastings Go By Bike Day, which sees hundreds of primary school children cycle into the city centre from points all across the city, says the initiatives are “fantastic”.

“It’s great that adults are modelling healthy habits by biking to work. The kids get to see that being on a bike is normal – and they get their own Go By Bike Day with their own good breakfast which they really love. It’s a win-win all round.”

The Commuter Challenge also raises opportunities to find new cycling routes, perhaps trying out some of the newer iWay pathways completed in the past year, such as the Chesterhope clip-on bridge between the two cities, or the Westminster Ave pathway, which runs from Anderson Park through to Prebensen Drive.

There will be prizes given away at each breakfast, plus four major prizes sponsored by the Councils if you cycle to four or more of the breakfast venues during Challenge week.

Funding for iWay is split between the New Zealand Transport Authority, Urban Cycleways Fund and the councils, about $10.5m over four years, through to 2018.

It builds on what began in Hastings in 2010, and by its end, will have added an extra 54.5km of off-road and on-road pathways and cycleways in and between both cities, providing further alternatives to driving between residential areas, schools and businesses.

February is also Aotearoa Bike Challenge month, a New Zealand Transport Agency campaign designed to boost cycling nationwide, and offering tips, a friendly workplace competition, and the chance to win prizes.

Breakfast spots 7am to 8.30am:

Monday 13 February
Napier – Stuart Nash MP, his office, 155A Tennyson Street
Hastings – Craig Foss, his office, cnr King and Queen Streets

Tuesday 14 February
Napier – Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, 159 Dalton Street
Hastings – Hastings District Council led Go By Bike Day, Albert Square

Wednesday 15 February
Napier – Visique Bennett & Pearson Optometrists, 7 Carlyle Street
Hastings – Mitre 10 Mega Hastings, 614 Karamu Road North

Thursday 16 February
Napier – BAND, 50 Ossian Street, Ahuriri
Hastings – District Health Board, HB Hospital grounds, 398 Omahu Road

Friday 17 February
Napier – Langley Twigg Law, 66 West Quay, Ahuriri
Hastings – MWH Global, 100 Warren Street South

For further information about the Hawke’s Bay Commuter Challenge, contact Lyndal Johansson, lyndalj@sporthb.net.nz or 06 845 9336.

For more information about Hawke’s Bay cycling events and initiatives, visit www.iway.org.nz

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