Dear Wellington Regional Council,

Attention Margaret Meek

In reponse to https://fyi.org.nz/request/9702-informat....

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?

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-informat...), of which 22 were marked as serious (https://fyi.org.nz/request/9892-informat..., 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.

Yours faithfully,

Hugh Davenport

Dear Sam Horsefield,

Please update the numbers in my request based on new information at https://fyi.org.nz/request/9638-informat...
- From 258 instances in 2018, to 419 instances
- From 22 serious, to 31
- The 1 instance that was involving a child is now marked as a close call as well, so should be removed from commentary. I would expect that driver to be involved with one of the bike bus workshops... Unless GWRC think it's OK for drivers to endanger children.
- There are now 4 instances that don't directly involve cyclists, 1 about a broken bus mentioning a bike rack, 1 about a child waiting at a stop, 1 about patronage, and 1 about the new cycle route.

Yours sincerely,

Hugh Davenport

Dear Sam Horsefield,

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.

Yours sincerely,

Hugh Davenport