Hamilton City Council is on a mission to shape a city that’s easy to live in, no matter how people choose to travel. This includes providing safe, accessible, and convenient end-of-trip facilities for people on bikes and scooters.

Council’s Transport and Urban Mobility Programme Delivery Lead, Martin Parkes believes people should feel comfortable leaving their bike or scooter in a safe and accessible location when travelling around the city.

“Because of this, We’re investing $150,000 per annum for bike and scooter parking as a part of Council’s Long-Term Plan for the city. This is supported by a 51% subsidy from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency,” said Parkes.

In March 2022, Council reached out to the community to ask people where they would like to see more bike and scooter parking stands installed, and if any existing parking facilities need upgrading to make it more convenient for people to choose different modes of transport.

An interactive online map was set up for people to drop pins where they thought parking should be improved or added. A survey was also available to help Council get a better idea about people’s transport habits.

Parkes said the results showed most people wanted to be able to park outside parks, playgrounds and local shops, with locations of parking secure and visible.

Some key locations identified on the map included the Hamilton Lake, Grey Street in Hamilton East, shopping centres, Waikato Hospital, and the University of Waikato.

“Up until now there has been a large focus on catering to the central city, so it was great to learn that people want more localised facilities for everyday tasks such as shopping or getting a coffee,” said Parkes.

The map also highlighted the need for facilities that allow people to change their mode of transport mid-journey, providing safe, covered, and well-lit areas to store a bike or scooter for longer periods of time.

Parkes indicated that of the people who participated in the online map and survey, 88% use a car, 63% ride bikes and 44% reported walking to get around Hamilton.

“This means people often swap between modes of transport to move about our city, however people do not use their bikes and scooters to access another mode of transport – this is something we will consider going forward when installing bike and scooter facilities.”

Council staff are now going through the data to identify where to put the next lot of bike and scooter parking stands, with approximately 100 planned to be installed in the next financial year.

“Based on the survey results, Hamilton East is definitely an area of interest for the team. It’s an area that also links to Council’s upcoming University Link project, which will provide safer walking, biking and scootering connections from the central city to the university,” said Parkes,

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