Dead end for cycle and walking paths in new transport budget

Funding for walking and cycle paths is set to nearly half from next year, while a change to the funding source for roadside footpaths could stretch that bank account even thinner.

In his newly-released draft government policy statement, Minister of Transport Simeon Brown simultaneously decreases funding for walking and cycling while restricting all footpath construction to this newly-limited part of the budget.

“Any investment in walking and cycling must be funded exclusively through this activity class,” Brown said. 

This means roadside paths previously funded from the roading bucket will now need to dip into the funds set aside for active modes – putting extra financial pressure on future pedestrian and cyclist-focused infrastructure.

With funding not planned to increase at pace with expected inflation, active mode advocates are worrying the policy represents a u-turn on the move towards more Kiwis walking and cycling.

New pedestrian infrastructure built as a part of new roads will need to be funded from a $70 to $130m budget pot expected to remain static over the next ten years even in the face of inflation.

GPS 2024 funding ranges for walking and cycling improvements

The new policy makes it clear stricter criteria will determine whether active mode projects are funded in future:

“Investment in walking and cycling should only take place where there is either clear benefit for increasing economic growth or clear benefit for improving safety and demonstrated volumes of pedestrians and cyclists already exist.”

University of Auckland’s infrastructure and transport specialist Dr Timothy Welch said the policy statement leans very heavily on cars to the exclusion of public transport users, pedestrians and cyclists.

“It comes at a time when most other countries are doing the exact opposite,” he said. “We’re kind of going the opposite direction as the rest of the world.”

Global examples of the push for active mode options include Singapore (190 kilometres of path was built in the last decade), England (around $4 billion worth of funding for cycling and walking announced in 2020), and even in the car-happy United States.

Hoboken, New Jersey has seen seven years without traffic deaths since implementing a programme lowering speed limits, reducing parking spots and prioritising pedestrians and cyclists.

And on top of the apparent near halving of the active mode budget, Welch cautions reallocated funding sources could mean even less for pathways.

“When we build roads, typically the funding for the roads also includes funding for the infrastructure included, whether street lighting, signage or footpaths,” he said. But now if footpaths must be paid for from the siloed active mode fund, new roads may end up eating into money set aside for cycle paths and pedestrian walkways.

“If that budget has to be spent just to build roading footpaths, there wont be any money left to build cycleways,” Welch said. “This is basically curtailing any growth in walking or cycling in the future.”

The walking and cycling fund is the only line item that doesn’t increase year on year, meaning each year it will represent a smaller percentage of the total expenditure. 

Activity classes in the Transport GPS 2024 by upper limit of possible funding

“Think about the amount of cycleways you can fund with $130m in 2035,” Welch said. “To cut that stuff off right now is really troubling.”

The policy statement also suggests these kinds of projects may have a harder time getting off the ground, with a renewed expectation of community members and business owners supporting them before they are given the go-ahead:

“The Government expects that any activities funded under this activity class will undergo robust consultation with community members and business owners that could be affected by the investment, prior to any investment decisions being made.”

It’s a u-turn on the sentiment expressed in last year’s cycling action plan, published by Waka Kotahi in March, where the Ministry said its vision was “in ten years, in our main towns and cities, people of all ages and abilities will be able to get to where they need to go using connected networks of safe and attractive cycleways and quiet streets”.

That report from Waka Kotahi argued New Zealand’s relatively high rate of car reliance contributes heavily to our carbon footprint and produces harmful consequences like deaths, injuries and pollution that are felt inequitably across society.

Waka Kotahi’s plan suggested getting people on bikes is one way around these problems:

“Other cities have shown that significant increase in cycling mode share is possible if sufficient investment is made in developing safe and connected networks, supported by a range of complementary initiatives such as traffic calming measures, safer speed environments and programmes which support people to shift to active modes of transport.”

That level of investment may prove difficult to reach under the new Government’s layout for transport funding.

Greens transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter took to X to respond to the new policy, accusing Simeon brown of being obsessed with forcing people to use cars.

“Many things can be said about this transport policy from Simeon Brown. It’s not about an efficient and effective network,” she said. “In some ways it’s all coherent with the Govt’s [sic] other actions: it punishes the poor most and harms the natural world.”

Meanwhile, Bike Auckland chair Karen Hormann called reduced investment in active modes a missed opportunity.

“Cycling and walking are uniquely beneficial transport modes. They punch above their class in terms of reducing traffic congestion and emissions and in boosting public health,” she said. “Building more highways while slashing investment in active modes simply locks in New Zealand’s existing car dependency.”