Devonport and Bayswater residents working in the CBD (or within striking distance of Britomart) have one of the loveliest commutes around – they get to take the ferry across the Waitemata harbor. It’s a very relaxing, urbane and zen way to get to work, which is lucky as the peninsula is a harder drive out of than a lake of chainsaws, the one road in and out is notoriously congested, even more so with the new cycle ways. Predictably, residents are queuing up to hand back their MBEs, claiming the lanes create traffic purgatory. I bike from the East Coast Bays to the Bayswater ferry a couple of times a week to get to work, so here’s a little tour from the velo-point of view.

Lake Road, between Esmonde and Hauraki Corner.

A horrible stretch of road. No bike ways here, but four lanes of impatient traffic with rough, bumpy tarmac. Frankly, this is a shit to cycle as there’s very little room for cars to pass, and it’s often congested, especially at the weekend for some reason.

The road works at the Lake Road / Esmonde Road intersection aren’t helping, in fairness. Their completion may be the key to making the whole thing tick. To me, this is one of the most dangerous and narrow stretches, and we could really use some bike lanes here!

BP Station, cnr Lake Road and Hororata Rd

This is better. Wide, single lane traffic that is rarely congested at the times I ride it (between 7 and half past).

There’s no parking on either side, which helps, as riding past parked cars with people potentially opening their doors in front of you is probably the biggest obstacle to keeping your nice helmet in one piece.

Lake Road, near Takapuna Grammar

This is the section that’s upsetting everyone. Cyclists look at this and think perfect, a nice wide street with plenty of room between you and the cars, while motorists look at it and think where did my lanes and parking go?

People that write letters to editors claim school children are in danger of being run down by impatient motorists (what, they weren’t impatient before?) running red lights at Takapuna Grammar’s crossing. This is people on bikes’ fault, apparently.

Belmont Shops

Lake Road’s cycle ways are like cats, they come and go as they please. In this busy section of dairies and pizza places with people coming, going and opening car doors like they’ve dropped their cigarette, you’re on your own.

Overall, I think Lake Road’s cycle ways are flawed. For motorists, there’s no bus alternative, and that may have been the spoonful of sugar to go with this medicine. For cyclists, it’s better than before, but the sections without lanes remain as dangerous as ever.

Forcing the lanes on resistant residents who have real trouble seeing last the hood ornament was always a flawed strategy – it’s got people talking, though, check out the Metro debate here (what about that picture!). It’s admirable to aim for an Amsterdam-style cycling paradise, but is it realistic? I’ve not seen any increase in bikes on the ferry since the lanes arrived, with about eight per crossing. It does rain a lot here, you know.

Like many Kiwis, my morbid fear of public transport was broken on my OE. What’s not to like? There’s reading time, no parking, and you can get home easily and cheaply when you’re drunk. Best of all you don’t have to battle Auckland’s motorways, where the most mild-mannered person goes through a werewolf-like transformation into a slavering, horn leaning cretin. It’s not nice.

So imagine my delight to discover there was actually a pretty decent bus service, thanks to the Park and Ride stations, and it was only going to get better with the Northern Busway, two gleaming lanes of new tarmac solely for buses. Perfect. The lanes were opened for testing in December, and all of a sudden it was only 15 minutes from Constellation drive to Britomart. Magic.

But, trust the Herald to stick a fly in the bus driver’s jam sandwich. On Monday, the FIRST DAY the new lanes opened, they set three reporters racing from Campbell’s Bay into town, and declared the car the winner. There’s two (main) reasons this test was flawed:

A. It’s school holidays. Instead of forcing children to walk to school barefoot through the frost like it was in my day, Auckland parents drive their kids to school every day in a Hummer. And you know what chaos loads of Hummers can bring, with Iraq being the prime example.

B. The two reporters travelling by bus were held up by a breakdown in the bus lane, while the reporter in the car breezed by in the inside lanes. No fair!

If this test was performed a dozen times, the park and ride bus would trounce the car by some distance – and it’s loads quicker the other way, when traffic can be pretty horrendous. To me, it’s kinda sneaky of the Herald to say cars are quicker.

In fairness, Errol Kiong who travelled by car had the good humour to write “I can’t help but feel I’ve helped doom the planet.”, while cumudeonly Campbell’s Bay resident John Roughan happily admitted he didn’t know where his local park and ride WAS, before signing off with “And do I miss the car really? Yes, I do.” Good on ya John, good luck with the gridlock and the Classic Hits breakfast crew, fella.

Admittedly, it’s sometimes fiddly to make connecting buses or trains, and when you mention it’s $4.30 each way, people say “well, I may as well bring my car!”, but I got to travel to work this morning with my girl, in great time, with a spectacular view of the harbour and city on a cloudless day on one side, and a clogged motorway full of stressed people sitting alone in their cars on the other. And I’ll be having a few beers after work tonight while John Roughan’s stuck on the bridge wishing he’d got around to fixing his aircon. To me, that’s a no-brainer.