The best way to travel to the Sign of the Takahe...

Check out the Bike Rack Rap here!

All buses on "bikes on buses" routes in Christchurch now have bike racks.   You can find a map of the routes here (3MB). Tiimetables for the routes and a guide to using the racks are at http://www.metroinfo.org.nz/bikeRacks_Main.html

Contact METRO at 366 8855 or metroinfo [at] ecan [dot] govt [dot] nz if you require any information about the routes, or wish to report a "no show". See also the Comment below about recording use of the bikes on buses service.

The bike racks are easy to use, and its free to take your bike on them.  One the main ways to encourage their use (and build support for cycling and for adding racks to other routes) will be through people seeing bikes being transported and thinking "I could use that".  So give them them a go - remember when you are using them, you are also advertising them! 

If you live on or near a route that goes your way, try using them for all or part of your trip, or on the way back home. Remember also that for routes travelling along Colombo Street and not entering the Exchange (Nos. 11, 14, 15, 18, 21, 28, 77, 90) you can leave your bike on the bus through the centre of town, and load or unload your bike at the Colombo St Exchange stops. This means that people travelling to and from Lyttelton (for example) can now catch or get off the 28 in the centre of town, rather than one stop before and after. 

Bikes on buses are also great "range extenders".  You can travel by several different routes (e.g. Nos. 11, 14, 15, 18, 21) all the way from the NW and West up onto the Port Hills - a great option if you don't want to cycle all the way across town. If you want to cycle all or part of the way to Sumner, but don't necessarily want to do the whole route or bike all the way back you now have the option of putting your bike on the No 3 Sumner bus (but you will have to get off before the exchange on this one). 

So, after a number of years of lobbying by Spokes and others we finally have some decent "bikes on buses" routes - lets enjoy them!

In memory of Mia Pusch, the young German cycle tourist who wrote a blog about cycle safety in NZ before being killed by a truck in the North Island....

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=245028836869

Report in the NZ Herald...
Cyclist's chilling last words
By Anna Rushworth 
on Sunday 10th January 2010

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10619341

See the blog here....
http://bikingdownunder.blog.de/2009/12/30/hupende-autofahrer-charakteris...

The ECAN website has a new page with information about this proposal for a long distance cycleway from Arthurs Pass to Christchurch, following the railway line and the Waimakariri River.  You can find it at http://ecan.govt.nz/our-responsibilities/Regional-Land-Transport/Pages/m...

Bristol City has used Dr Adrian Davis to carry out research on the benefits of cycling.  He produces short pithy summaries.  Find them here.

Another site that maybe of interest is Streetfilms. This is dedicated to showing more livable streets world wide.

Spokes Canterbury January 2010 Issue