Email 9 Redacted.pdf

Ana Nicholls
From:
BUS: Assurance
Sent:
Friday, 8 February 2019 10:04 AM
To:
Soon Teck Kong; BUS: Assurance; Withheld under section ; Paul Barker; Luke Be
7(2)(a)
nner
Subject:
RE: Response letter
Great. Please keep me in the loop so I am able to keep Withheld   i
under  nformed.
section 7(2)(a)
Thanks
Ana Nicholls
Assurance Advisor | Wellington City Council
P +6444994444 | M +6421940418 | F
E [email address] | W Wellington.govt.nz |
|
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From: Soon Teck Kong
Sent: Friday, 8 February 2019 9:58 AM
To: BUS: Assurance; Withheld under section ; Paul Barker; Luke B
7(2)(a)
enner
Subject: RE: Response letter
Thanks Ana.
We will discuss with Paul and Luke on the design speed for cyclists in the Urban environment.
Regards,
Soon Teck Kong
Manager, Network Operations | CPEng (Civil), CMEngNZ | Wellington City Council
Withheld under section 7(2)(a)

E [email address] | W Wellington.govt.nz |
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If you are not the intended recipient, you are asked to respect that confidentiality and not disclose, copy or make use of its contents.
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From: BUS: Assurance
Sent: Friday, 8 February 2019 9:45 a.m.
To: Soon Teck Kong; Withheld under section ; Paul Barker
7(2)(a)

Subject: FW: Response letter
1

Hi Soon, Paul andWithheld  ,
under section 7(2)(a)

I would like to get hear all your thoughts onWithheld under section 7(2)(a)  points he have made in the email below.

Particularly the comments about the orange/amber length of time and whether we need to review the times as there
are more and different types of cyclist on the our roads now. The onzo bikes in the CBD have a maximum speed of
15km/h – we may need to consider assessing the signal timings based on 15km/h instead of 20km/h.

Can we please meet again to discuss this?

Ana Nicholls
Assurance Advisor | Wellington City Council
P +6444994444 | M +6421940418 | F
E [email address] | W Wellington.govt.nz |
|

The information contained in this email is privileged and confidential and intended for the addressee only.
If you are not the intended recipient, you are asked to respect that confidentiality and not disclose, copy or make use of its contents.
If received in error you are asked to destroy this email and contact the sender immediately. Your assistance is appreciated.

From: Withheld under section 7(2)(a)

Sent: Tuesday, 5 February 2019 5:19 PM
To: Ana Nicholls
Subject: Re: Response letter

Oh and just realised you didn't mention onzo speeds in your response. A prime example of bikes that *struggle*
to get to 20km/h, and that sort of bike share scheme was not present back when austroads was developed.

On Tue, 5 Feb 2019, 4:47 PM Withheld under section 7(2)(a)
wrote:
Thanks for that Ana, outlines a lot.

As for my angle. I am all for cycle safety. I have brought up concerns about entering on a green and getting
bombarded with cars coming towards me in the past, which I now know is because I travel less than 20km/h
sometimes (up hill, after exercise, night time when less visibility, traffic, all sorts of things factor into my
decision to travel at slower speeds in order to increase my safety). I am fully aware that if a light turns orange
then I should stop, and I like to think I'm one of the good cyclists that actually does that (I see many that don't,
or even run through a red). I'm more interested in the case where a cyclist enters on a green and gets caught
out. We have narrowed that down to because you use the Austroads standard which appears to have a blanket
rule of 20km/h for cyclists.

As for comments on your requests:
  Twice you have referred to a "mixed environment", but I haven't found that in any of the references
you've provided (or online in other austroad documents). I'm assuming it is because there are both cars
and cyclists involved and no cycle lane at that point. If this is correct then we can call that finished.
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 You also originally referred to the incline being taken into account for the all red timing. From the
austroad reference you provided last time, it appears that the incline is only taken into account for the
yellow/amber timing, not for the all red timing, and not specifically for cyclists. Can you confirm that
incline is not taken into account for cyclists during the all-red timing, and that all cyclists are assumed
to travel at 20km/h no matter what the incline.
In the email, paragraph "Between the time you sent your email on 10 January – 11 January all the internal
discussions have been verbal."
I request this information, and have requested this information originally as "internal correspondence", and I
would regard that as information as held by the agency under s 2(4) of LGOIMA.

As for the paragraph started "In response to your request to have any evidence of any cyclists travelling at the
speed
lower than 20km/h on any intersection without the Council’s control".
I would have thought the evidence I've provided over the years (showing screenshots with speed information
on them, or actual videos which you can gauge timing information) would have fallen under that. I had a
feeling that other cyclists may have been caught out similar to myself, so any reference to cyclists entering on
a green and exiting on a red would also fall under that (by definition they are not travelling 20km/h, otherwise
they would exit before red). If no other cyclists have reported any of that, then we can leave it with that,
though I would hope that the council takes it on board that at least one person travels slower than 20km/h,
which could indicate that more do as well.

As for the paragraph started "To answer your question about any submissions from public and internal
employees
regarding cyclist speeds under 20km/h, in order to collate this information we would have
to go through each submission individually."
Can we limit this to just council staff. This can be done with minimal time via an all staff email asking for
responses on whether they are a cyclist, and if so whether they ever travel slower than 20km/h. Note that this
information should be deemed to be held as per s 2(4) of LGOIMA.

The point I am trying to make here is that it is possible for cyclists to travel less than 20km/h, and maybe the
standard you use could be wrong. I understand it is a national standard, but it was also designed a long time
ago, before cycling was such a big culture. Now all sorts of cyclists ride on roads, including children (seen via
personal experience, and many photos of the island bay cycle way debarkle), elderly (ditto), and just plain
unfit (I've been caught behind them sometimes, and sometimes I am one of those people, and what better way
to get fit than cycle!). I am hoping from this continual pressure to the council that they might put a tiny amount
of resource into researching this, deciding for themselves that 20km/h is either perfectly fine (absolutely no
cyclists travel less than 20km/h), or it might need changing (council could use their own policy, or push back
to the national standard providing them with research).

In terms of the other intersection I requested timing for (and heavy vehicle stopping time) at the Willis/Chews
intersection. You may have noticed that there was an article in the paper today
(https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/110350912/bus-drivers-running-red-lights-attract-almost-200-complaints-in-
a-year) about buses running red lights. Some top comments on that was that the orange light was too short for
the buses to safely stop in time. I understand that you have probably designed that intersection (and others in
the area) for the speed limit of 30km/h, however, when a bus has standing passengers they have to reduce their
stopping time to ensure passenger safety and comfort. In the austroads references I've read on traffic signal
timings, there was no indication that this is taken into account.

I hope that makes sense, and you can acknowledge my clarifications on the gathering of cycle speeds under
20km/h.
3

Cheers,

Withheld

under section 7(2)(a)

On Tue, 5 Feb 2019 at 15:37, Ana Nicholls <[email address]> wrote:
Kia ora Withheld  ,
under section 7(2)(a)

Attached is your response which addresses multiple requests and the concerns you have raised regarding
cycle speeds and traffic light timings.

Between the time you sent your email on 10 January – 11 January all the internal discussions have been
verbal.

I have worked with multiple Council networks to collate this data and I am comfortable with Councils
decision. I have asked if I could call you to talk to understand what you want to achieve and I am still happy
to do this. It will help with understanding your why and can better help provide what you need.
Please let me know when you are available.

Cheers
Ana

Ana Nicholls
Assurance Advisor | Wellington City Council
P +6444994444 | M +6421940418 | F
E [email address] | W Wellington.govt.nz |  |

The information contained in this email is privileged and confidential and intended for the addressee only.
If you are not the intended recipient, you are asked to respect that confidentiality and not disclose, copy or make use of its contents.
If received in error you are asked to destroy this email and contact the sender immediately. Your assistance is appreciated.

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