Shed 39, 2 Fryat Quay
Pipitea, Wellington 6011
By email
PO Box 11646
Manners Street
29 May 2019
Wellington 6142
T 04 384 5708
F 04 385 6960
File Ref: OIAP-7-11199
www.gw.govt.nz
Hugh Davenport
https://fyi.org.nz/request/9702-information-regarding-upcoming-bike-bus-workshops
.
Dear Mr Davenport
Request for information 2019-112
I refer to your request for information dated 21 March 2019, which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) on 21 March 2019. You have requested the following
information:
“I would like this request to be treated urgently under section 10(3) of the LGOIMA, as I
have a meeting with your General Manager of Public Transport Greg Pollock, which this
information would be useful to have prior to that meeting. I remind you that the response
should be given "as soon as reasonably practical", and the information (if any) be supplied
without "undue delay". I hope that you take this into account when making your decision, as
your previous responses on cyclists have raised an alarming number of safety concerns that I
have requesting information on here.
I would like to request all correspondence (internal, with operators, with third parties, with
customers, etc) regarding discussions about moving from using Cycle Action Network to
using GWRC officers and Pedal Ready instructors in providing the Bike Bus Workshops.
Also, looking at the Pedal Ready website (https://www.pedalready.org.nz/about), I see that
"Pedal Ready is funded by Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) and NZ Transport
Agency.". I would like to request information regarding the cost for a single CAN Bike Bus
Workshop, and the cost of funding the Pedal Ready group, and any additional costs for a
single workshop run by Pedal Ready. This should include any costs associated with the
"GWRC officers" facilitating the course (for both Pedal Ready courses, and CAN if
applicable).
I would also like to request a breakdown of the difference of the courses, ie what key skills
are instructed, what are the outcomes expected for cyclists, what are the outcomes expected
for drivers?
OIA 2019-112 RESPONSE
OIAP-7-11199
I would like to request any qualifications that the "GWRC Officers" have in regards to cycle
safety and facilitation of workshops. I would like to request the same for the Pedal Ready
instructors if possible (should be, given the statement from their website "Matt Shipman,
from the Sustainable Transport team at GWRC, is the co-ordinator for the regional
programme and he is supported by a network of qualified instructors.", so Matt Shipman
should hold all that information as part of his role at GWRC). Also, as it seems you have not
even fully planned 1 workshop for the entire of 2019, and the only one partially planned is in
the second half of the year. I would like to request whether you believe you are on target for
running 4 workshops a year with the new provider. I would like to request whether you are
targeting all operators to attend these workshops, or just one.
If you are on target for running 4 workshops, then I would like to request rough timelines on
when they might be held, and who is likely to attend (ie, which operator, how many drivers,
how many cyclists). I would have hoped that this response be part of my earlier request. As it
wasn't, I'm assuming that you are currently only planning 2 workshops for the year 2019
(one partially planned but no dates, one an idea but nothing more planned).
Also, given that in the year 2018, there were 258 instances of complaints involving cyclists
(https://fyi.org.nz/request/9638-information-regarding-the-number-of-bus-complaints-
involving-cyclists-in-wellington), of which 22 were marked as serious
(https://fyi.org.nz/request/9892-information-regarding-serious-cases-involving-cyclists, 1
was excluded as it involved a child, and not an injury), I would like any correspondence
(internal, operators, third party, customers, etc) relating to the decision to only aim for 12
drivers per workshop (currently tracking for 12 drivers for the year 2019, but *maybe* up to
48). If the decision is due to size restrictions on the course, then I would like any
correspondence (internal, operators, third party, customers, etc) relating to the decision to
only aim for 4 workshops a year (making a max of 48 drivers), rather than a higher number
to attempt to train the majority of the 258 drivers who have had incidents with cyclists last
year.
I would also like to request any correspondence (internal, operators, third party, customers,
etc) and policies that Metlink have regarding whether drivers involved in a complaint
(serious or not) should attend one of these workshops.
I would also like any correspondence (internal, operators, third party, customers, etc) and
polices that Metlink have regarding how drivers are picked to go on these workshops.”
Additionally on 12 April 2019 you asked the following:
“I would like to add that Auckland Transport manage to provide this training as basic
onboarding, so 100% of the drivers have this training, whereas I believe this significantly
closer to 0% for Metlink. What is Metlink doing to improve the percentage of bus drivers
provided the cycle awareness training, given the track record shows the very minimal get
trained.”
OIA 2019-112 RESPONSE
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GWRC’s response follows:
The following information is being released to you under the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987 (the Act). To assist with following the information we have
treated this as questions 1-8.
We have not provided documentation on the decision to use Pedal Ready rather than Cycle Action
Network (CAN) for the bus bike workshops. Pedal Ready have been running bus bike workshops for
more than 3 years. We would be happy to discuss this decision with you in person.
1. I would like to request all correspondence (internal, with operators, with third parties,
with customers, etc) regarding discussions about moving from using Cycle Action
Network to using GWRC officers and Pedal Ready instructors in providing the Bike Bus
Workshops. Also, looking at the Pedal Ready website
(https://www.pedalready.org.nz/about), I see that "Pedal Ready is funded by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) and NZ Transport Agency.". I would like to
request information regarding the cost for a single CAN Bike Bus Workshop, and the
cost of funding the Pedal Ready group, and any additional costs for a single workshop
run by Pedal Ready. This should include any costs associated with the "GWRC officers"
facilitating the course (for both Pedal Ready courses, and CAN if applicable).
GWRC does not hold costs for a single CAN Bike Bus workshop. Please contact
CAN for this information;
Cost of funding the Pedal Ready group for the on road component of training is 2
instructors for 4 hours at $35/hr = $280; and
Costs for GWRC officers facilitating the course is 4 hours facilitation, 1 hour set
up/pack down, and some time organising.
2. I would also like to request a breakdown of the difference of the courses, ie what key
skills are instructed, what are the outcomes expected for cyclists, what are the outcomes
expected for drivers?
Key Skills instructed in the current course configuration (please talk to CAN about
their key skills):
Cyclists
Drivers
Key Skills:
Key Skills:
Blindzones. Bus drivers given the
Basic cycle skills – starting,
opportunity to explain to cyclists
stopping, getting on and off a bike,
what they can and can’t see, and
looking, signaling, emergency
where the best place to ride is to be
braking. Building on skills an
seen.
confidence to the point where
Cyclists ride with the instructors
drivers can be taken on a guided
OIA 2019-112 RESPONSE
PAGE 3 OF 6
Cyclists
Drivers
and drivers.
ride.
Drivers ride on public roads and get
to experience the roads from a
cyclist perspective
Outcomes
Outcomes:
Understanding of issues that drivers
Understanding of issues that
deal with.
cyclists deal with
Increased empathy for bus drivers
Increased empathy for cyclists and
and what they deal with on public
what they deal with on public roads
roads.
The key difference in the two approaches is that the GWRC model with Pedal Ready
has cyclists and drivers in the same room, speaking with each other in a facilitated
manner. The CAN model has drivers and cyclists trained separately.
3. I would like to request any qualifications that the "GWRC Officers" have in regards to
cycle safety and facilitation of workshops. I would like to request the same for the Pedal
Ready instructors if possible (should be, given the statement from their website "Matt
Shipman, from the Sustainable Transport team at GWRC, is the co-ordinator for the
regional programme and he is supported by a network of qualified instructors.", so Matt
Shipman should hold all that information as part of his role at GWRC).
GWRC Officers:
Matt Shipman Level 3, Cycle Skills. Trained to deliver CAN blindzone
workshops;
Tessa Coppard Level 3, Cycle Skills. Cycle Skills Assessor. Trained to deliver
CAN blindzone workshops.
We use experienced lead instructors for the bus bike workshops.
Pedal Ready Instructors:
Lead instructors qualified Level 3 Cycle Skill;
Assistant instructors have completed 3 days of Pedal Ready Training, and are
generally working towards becoming lead instructors.
4. Also, as it seems you have not even fully planned 1 workshop for the entire of 2019, and
the only one partially planned is in the second half of the year. I would like to request
whether you believe you are on target for running 4 workshops a year with the new
OIA 2019-112 RESPONSE
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provider. I would like to request whether you are targeting all operators to attend these
workshops, or just one.
We are targeting all bus operators in the region including NZ Bus, TranzUrban,
and Mana Bus.
5. If you are on target for running 4 workshops, then I would like to request rough timelines
on when they might be held, and who is likely to attend (ie, which operator, how many
drivers, how many cyclists). I would have hoped that this response be part of my earlier
request. As it wasn't, I'm assuming that you are currently only planning 2 workshops for
the year 2019 (one partially planned but no dates, one an idea but nothing more
planned).
For the 2019 calendar year
One workshop was held on 16th January 2019 in Kilbirnie (Tranzurban) with
Julian Hulls (Auckland based) as part of the CAN Share the Road training;
A second workshop occurred on 17th January 2019 in Upper Hutt (TranzUrban)
with Julian Hulls (Auckland based) as part of the CAN Share the Road training;
A third workshop was delivered on 23 January 2019 (Tranzurban);
One workshop on the 24th January was cancelled by the bus company with 48
hours’ notice (TranzUrban); and
We offered three July dates to NZ Bus in March 2019. We are awaiting
confirmation from them.
6. Also, given that in the year 2018, there were 258 instances of complaints involving
cyclists (https://fyi.org.nz/request/9638-information-regarding-the-number-of-bus-
complaints-involving-cyclists-in-wellington), of which 22 were marked as serious
(https://fyi.org.nz/request/9892-information-regarding-serious-cases-involving-cyclists, 1
was excluded as it involved a child, and not an injury), I would like any correspondence
(internal, operators, third party, customers, etc) relating to the decision to only aim for
12 drivers per workshop (currently tracking for 12 drivers for the year 2019, but
*maybe* up to 48). If the decision is due to size restrictions on the course, then I would
like any correspondence (internal, operators, third party, customers, etc) relating to the
decision to only aim for 4 workshops a year (making a max of 48 drivers), rather than a
higher number to attempt to train the majority of the 258 drivers who have had incidents
with cyclists last year.
12 drivers is the maximum that we can take on road with 2 instructors. However,
by adding more instructors we can take up to 20 drivers;
At this stage the major restriction on workshops numbers and size is the
availability of drivers to attend the training.
OIA 2019-112 RESPONSE
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7. I would also like to request any correspondence (internal, operators, third party,
customers, etc) and policies that Metlink have regarding whether drivers involved in a
complaint (serious or not) should attend one of these workshops.
There is no requirement for drivers involved in complaints to attend bus bike
workshops.
8. I would also like any correspondence (internal, operators, third party, customers, etc)
and polices that Metlink have regarding how drivers are picked to go on these
workshops.
The operators decide who attends the bus bike workshops.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government
Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Yours Sincerely
Luke Troy
General Manager Strategy
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