Wellington Needs Cars, Buses, Trucks and Sensible Cycling to Thrive
- Gary Moller
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
Introduction
Please take a few minutes to read this Cycle Wellington Newsletter to understand why I am motivated to write this article:
I’m an almost daily cyclist myself. I grew up on one. I have been cycling Wellington's terrain and weather since 1977, on road, trail and everything in between. For me, Wellington is Mountain-Bike Heaven. I’ve done it through storms, southerlies, snow and ice, steep hills and narrow streets long before cycling became fashionable. I am not anti-cyclist and I am certainly not anti-cycling infrastructure. But I am strongly opposed to planning and policy driven by ideology instead of practical experience, safety, commerce and the real behaviour of real people.
A city is a living organism, and it relies on the free flow of people, goods and services. Cars, trucks, buses and delivery vehicles are not going away. They are becoming cleaner, safer and more efficient every year. Wellington’s future is not car-less. It is smarter cars, smarter roads and safer shared infrastructure. The argument that more lanes or improved roading “just induces more traffic” is an overly simplistic slogan. Congestion is what kills the heart of a city, not traffic movement.
Wellington needs smooth, reliable traffic flow. It needs safe bus corridors. It needs delivery access for trades, couriers, freight and emergency services. And it needs destination parking. Remove these and you suffocate the ability of a city to function.
The impact on small business
This is a point that cannot be softened. The removal of on-street parking is one of the fastest ways to kill small independent business. I have watched it happen in Wellington for decades. When people cannot park, they do not browse, visit or pop into the local bakery, bookshop or hairdresser. They go instead to the large multinational outlets and corporates with large onsite parking. These companies can absorb planning decisions that eliminate street-based access, but the small family-run shops cannot. It guts neighbourhoods and drains the life out of a city.
We are already seeing this shift in Wellington. It is subtle at first. Fewer customers. Reduced foot traffic. Then a quiet closure, a vacant shopfront and another piece of small enterprise lost. Nothing in the cycle advocates’ commentary acknowledges this reality. But every long-time Wellington resident knows the truth.
If we want a vibrant city, we need a balance. We must not punish the very businesses that give Wellington its culture, personality and community.
Cycling in Wellington: let’s be honest
Wellington is spectacular, but it is not Amsterdam and never will be. Geography and weather are destiny.
Narrow, steep roads
Extreme and unpredictable wind
Heavy rain
Limited flat corridors
Tight intersections
These are not planning theories. They are lived reality for anyone who cycles daily. Even around the Bays, the safest cycling route in the region, winds can make riding hazardous. And when the weather turns, as it often does, all but a tiny minority abandon their bikes and get into cars or onto buses.
A transport mode must be reliable every day. Cycling simply isn’t in Wellington. It works in pockets, it works in fine weather, it works for the confident and fit. But that is not a foundation for a whole-of-city transport strategy.
Electric bikes have changed the game in one way: they make climbing hills easier. But they introduce new problems.
They are heavy
They move fast
They can carry enormous momentum
Many have average braking
Descending in rain and wind demands real skill
I have seen the accidents. I have a lifetime working in injury prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. One fall and the result is often serious injury. The personal and public health cost of that must be acknowledged if we are going to be realistic.
For the elderly, school children, parents with shopping, tradespeople and commuters in winter, a small fuel-efficient vehicle with airbags, heating and a seatbelt is a safer, more practical and more civilised option.
Speed bumps, lane narrowing and forced congestion
These are presented as “traffic calming” but they often do the exact opposite. Speed bumps increase fuel use, brake wear, tyre wear and slow emergency vehicles. Removing vehicle lanes to insert cycleways on key arterial routes has the same effect: it reduces efficiency and increases congestion. None of these are solutions. They are obstacles.
The ideology problem
My impression of various cycling advocacy groups is that there is more ideology than common sense at play. A modern city needs balanced thinking, not the fantasy that cars can be removed from daily life in a city with our weather, topography and layout.
I do not oppose cycling. I support safe cycling. I support cycle corridors where they make sense, where they don’t cripple other transport functions, and where they don’t undermine local business. I support options for all transport users.
But I draw the line at planning that ignores the fundamentals of the city itself. Wellington is a working, hilly, wind-blasted port town. We need a transport system that functions in that reality, every day of the year.
A resilient city transport system means balance
Cars, buses and trucks are here to stay.Cycling has a role.Parking is an economic lifeline.Weather cannot be wished away.Small business survival matters.
We should embrace modern, efficient vehicles and safe cycling where it’s appropriate. But let’s not cripple the city or its economy in pursuit of an ideological model imported from cities with flat topography, mild climates and a totally different urban form.
I want a Wellington that works, that moves, that supports its small businesses and that keeps children, the elderly and everyday workers safe. That takes practical thinking. And it takes a balanced approach, not a crusade.
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