Matt Farrar and a group of like-minded businesspeople, calling themselves Trails Wellington, who love mountain bike riding, (including members of the Drury family) approached the council about generating an asset for the city making use of the town belt - the idea is to create a commuter biking network off road.
Matt Farrar and a group of like-minded businesspeople, calling themselves Trails Wellington, who love mountain bike riding, (including members of the Drury family) approached the council about generating an asset for the city making use of the town belt - the idea is to create a commuter biking network off road.
We often think that with the terrain and weather challenges Wellington faces, it would be impractical to build an off-road commuter trail. Using Copenhagen as a comparison - 62% of people commute on bikes. It’s windier and colder but not as hilly as Wellington - but with the advent of electric bikes the issue with hills is negated.
The trail will run through the Eastern suburbs to Mt Victoria and into the city. There is also a southern suburbs component which runs through to the city, Karori through Wilton and Te Ahumairangi to the city. Another phase will run north through Ngaio, Johnsonville and out to Tawa.
They see huge potential for Wellingtonians to get out into the fresh air and into the bush – while still dressed in commuter clothing! Aits also an opportunity for tourists to easily get out and about into the Wellington hills.
There are many advantages with benefits in environmental health - reduce Co2, accelerate native regeneration (planting and Preston free), kaitiaki tanga, community health - personal health/ only 2% of kids ride bikes to school - we need to make it fun and economic health - tourism, attracting and retain talent, easy to get around, safe, reduce health costs
The Makara Peak trail is an excellent example of the type of trail that can be built. The Trails Wellington people are always looking for volunteers and funds – if you wish to get involved you can find them at:www.trailswellington.co.nz.