Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

I enjoyed getting back on my bike during the summer break. It's a simple pleasure I had forgotten about in my busy schedule.

I jumped back on the bike to avoid the traffic congestion in the Mount resulting from the influx of holidaymakers. And I certainly was not alone.

We can expect the demand for cycling to only increase with the Ministry of Education removing its school bus subsidies for most students within Tauranga City.

More students also want to cycle to school due to the success of Tauranga City Council's Travel Safe and Kids Can Ride programmes, which continue to grow in more schools thanks to sponsorship by PowerCo through ‘Project Tauranga'.

I'm also keen to remove barriers for getting more adults on bikes if they are just travelling directly between home and work.

Mobility scooters are also becoming a reliable way for our growing elderly population to get around. These will also put pressure on our footpaths and cycle routes.

However, the current council – myself included – collectively agreed to save a million dollars from our transportation budget last year. The savings included $100,000 for the city's cycle network.

I want the council to complete the urban cycle network within six years. It will cost about $1 million to complete the network, but it would only cost ratepayers $500,000 as the Government will match our investment.

You may have read in the media that I did not support investing $500,000 of ratepayer funds to construct a tourist cycleway, connecting Tauranga with Omokoroa, in addition to $500,000 for the urban cycle network.

I didn't want the council to allocate $500,000 for the tourist cycleway by cannibalising funds away from the urban cycle network – this was based on the council's decision last year. It's important that the city has a completed cycle network as soon as practical.

If there is strong support for the Omokoroa cycleway project during public consultation on our draft Long Term Plan, then hopefully the council can find $500,000 from other transport projects.

I will report to you on our proposed rates and debt levels for the next 10 years when council debates our overall financials next week.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.