Creating safer, healthier, and more people-friendly streets

Our streets need to work for everyone who uses them. Yesterday we announced 13 councils across the country will receive new funding to implement accelerated street change projects for walking and cycling, as part of the Streets for People programme. Our urban mobility lead Kathryn King writes about the importance of streets that meet everybody’s needs.

The way we live is changing. The way we work—changing. The way we shop, eat, and travel? All changing. Our streets are changing too.

It can feel a bit scary, right? Change makes people uncomfortable. And there are big, serious issues behind those changes.

But this doesn’t need to be scary at all. It’s an opportunity to make our towns and cities work in the way we need them to. I’m incredibly excited by it. I think everyone should be.

Cities and towns need to be places where people can safely and easily move around in ways that are good for their health and the environment. Many of our streets and spaces were designed in a different time, reflecting needs and sensibilities that are decades out of date. They don’t suit how we live now, or how we will be living in the future.

And they don’t help us tackle the greatest issue of our time.

Reducing emissions and moving people towards cleaner journeys is critical to meeting the targets of the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan. Transport is the third largest contributor to our carbon emission, and what we do now will lay the foundations for greater reductions in the future. We’re targeting a 41 percent reduction in transport sector emissions (compared to 2019 levels) by 2035.

That’s a bold and ambitious target, and I’m here to reassure you that we have the tools and knowledge to achieve it.?

We need to do four things to achieve that reduction:

• Reduce total kilometres travelled by the light fleet by 20 percent
• Increase zero-emissions vehicles to 30 percent of the light fleet
• Reduce emissions from freight transport by 35 percent
• Reduce the emissions intensity of transport fuel by 10 percent

Each of these is achievable, if we think big, start small, and act fast.

People won’t change if it’s too hard to do—so we can make it easier for communities across Aotearoa by adapting existing streets, improving urban spaces, and providing better travel options.

We need to make it safer, quicker, and more attractive for people to walk, bike, ride devices, and take public transport in our towns and cities. Better transport options will reduce emissions, reduce deaths and injuries on our roads, and improve public health and access to opportunities.

And it’s important to remind people that decarbonising the land transport system won’t just reduce emissions—it’ll also create nicer places to live. Places where kids can get around under their own steam, where everyone can get where they need to safely, where people are encouraged to shop, socialise, and linger thanks to more inviting environments, and where the cost of travel isn’t a barrier to people.

Work is already underway on two programmes to help Aotearoa achieve its emissions reduction goals and create vibrant, people-friendly communities.

The Streets for People programme will make it easier and faster to create people-friendly streets in our towns and cities through a $30m investment fund that’ll allow councils to rapidly test changes that better meet the needs of people and communities. This week we announced the successful councils across Aotearoa who will receive funding to implement accelerated street change projects as part of the programme.

And a $350m Transport Choices Fund will help with the rapid reallocation of existing street space for walking, cycling, and public transport—making places better for people.

Together, these programmes will help deliver a significant number of projects to provide safer, more liveable places for people.

The Government’s proposed changes to legislation with Reshaping Streets is also a positive step forward, and you can still have your say on these proposals .

The timing is right—we know people are ready to change how they get around.

In Christchurch cycling has increased by 20 percent in the past year, and up to 40 percent on some routes! One in 10 Aucklanders—around 120,000 people—ride bicycles regularly. And throughout New Zealand, regular use of ebikes and escooters has tripled in the past three years.

How fantastic is that? And how fantastic will it be to help other people start their own journey?

We have 13 years to provide safer, more enjoyable public spaces. To build a better New Zealand.

We’ve already started on this exciting journey. Now we need everyone to join us.

Kathryn King is manager for urban mobility at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.