This week I had the pleasure of presenting to a group of MPs who were interested in finding out more about cycling. Its the second time the group, which is convened by Kevin Hague of the Green Party, has met. There was an even spread of MPs from both Labour and National as well as the Greens, many of whom are keen cyclists themselves.

I presented in partnership with Glen Koorey from the Cycle Advocates Network. We've been working with CAN to ensure we are far better aligned and that we speak with one voice on the major cycling issues. CAN and BikeNZ care deeply about the same issues but have different focus areas and different skill sets. As part of this process we're working on several key initiatives to develop cycling and will split the leadership roles for driving these to ensure we utilise all the resources we have to the best of our ability.

The main thrust of our presentation was to talk about some of the major issues facing all cyclists using our roads currently. We summarised these as:

• Speed
• Attitude, culture and education
• Funding and joined up thinking.

After talking about the issues we discussed some of the potential solutions and areas that we would like to get more support from Government on. This covered:

• Reduced speed limits in urban and rural areas that are suitable to the conditions and that encourage full usuage of the roading resource,
• Well resourced signage campaigns that provide legitimacy for cyclists and promote the share the road message (for all users groups)
• A national framework to deliver cycling skills to all schools (watch this space as BikeNZ prepare to launch this later this year)
• Better driver education and the need to include a section in the license test on how to drive around cyclist's or other slow road users (e.g tractors)
• Aligned government investment across the many agencies that spend money on cycling to obtain the many benefits that it brings, and
• Better infrastructure investment that meets the needs required and the need for better design in this space.
  

We had some great discussions on just what it means to give 1.5m and that some times its simply not practical to give a cyclist 1.5m so we should just wait. Its that simple!

Its great to have a conduit to engage with different government MPs and have some sensible discussion on the real issues that are facing cycling. All could see the potential benefits that cycling can bring through reduced congestion, healthier lifestyles and a better environment.

We will stay engaged with the group as a channel to share ideas and help drive change. Next up for me is a meeting with the CEO of NZTA to discuss our proposal to intergrate funding from SPARC and NZTA to create a much better leverage model for the delivery of cycling skills into schools.