Wellington

Contact

Email

wellington [at] livingstreets.org.nz

Wellington has numerous walking groups active in different parts of the city and region. For details of where, how to find out more, who to contact etc, click here

Wellington Walking in 2024

July means the Golden Foot Walking Awards to be held at Parliament on Tuesday 23rd.

Keep the winter blues at bay and get out for a walk in the bracing weather. There are very many groups that support the most popular New Zealand recreational activity, we have some listed here and let us know if you want your group added or updated.

Wellington Jane's Walk Saturday 4 May at 2pm

Join us for a walk conversation along some familiar streets in central Wellington. Jane Jacob's was a USA urbanist who fought and won to prevent motorway development in her neighbourhood. She supported community involvement in city building for their communities, incorporating the many different ways people use the city that encourages diversity. She thought the people best equipped to understand urban complexity are ordinary, interested citizens, the everyday people learning from what they experience first hand. More details here

Walk2Work Day was 13 March 2024

Park(ing) Day was 2 March 2024

Check out Tuesday Walks for your regular lunchtime dose of goodness, out for a walk.

Have you been on a Tuesday Walk? Check out the new programme of lunchtime walks for 2024 which started on 13 February with a friendly group that take a walk for less than an hour. We always start at the statue at the bottom of Plimmer Steps at 12.30pm.

Making Walking Count in 2023

There was a lot happening in 2023.

Park(ing) Day is 6 February on Cuba Street, where we will take over a car park and have some fun with it for the day. Come and take part sharing your favourite parts of a walk.

Walk2Work Day 8 March Walking Counts follows directly after Census Day 2023, so its appropriate to think about how we count walking and pedestrians (or not) and what our daily walks involve. Please share whatever you like to count on your walk with us.

We are thrilled to announce our next Walking Summit this year in Christchurch on 24 and 25 July. Please pencil this in and join us in person or for a virtual conference talk.

And general elections are coming up on 14 October 2023 - which party and policy will support walking, pedestrians and great public spaces?

What is new in 2022?

March was Walk2Work Day share a photo only due to Covid restrictions, we hope to be back in full stride next year for this popular event.

March was also Park(ing) Day and once again Living Streets took over a car park to reflect on 'Covid Space Walk' and all that distance between us due to the pandemic.

May will see the second Jane's Walk, being developed now and a self-guided option will be one way to take part.

October is our popular UN Day for Older Persons walk, keep an eye out for the details.

And this year is local government elections so we will be repeating our score card and candidate questionnaire to inform our voting choices.

We want your help to make Wellington a better place to walk around and live in - please get in touch with your ideas and offers to help us in any way wellington[a]livingstreets.org.nz

Tuesday Lunchtime Walks in 2022

Tuesday lunchtime walks 2022 start at Plimmer statue (the man with his dog) at the base of Plimmer Steps on Lambton Quay every Tuesday at 12.30pm from February to the end of November.

Check out the 2022 list of walks here.

The year that was 2021

The third New Zealand Walking Summit was held here in Wellington on 24 - 25 June and quite disrupted by a short lockdown which meant we went online at short notice and only managed one walkshop - check out the programme here.

The first Jane's Walk in Wellington was held on 7 May and was enjoyed by the group of 20 or so who took part. We liked it so much we'll be back next year and hope to do even more walks. Let us know if you would like to take part.

10 March 2021 was Walk2Work Day, was enjoyed by many on the waterfront and some great photos taken as well. We want to see your walk to work or school, to the shops, to the park or wherever your daily activity takes you anytime during the day. We will post these wonderful walk photos on our facebook group to inspire others!

Thanks for the many ideas shared with us on your ideas for better walking in Wellington. See the report sent to councillors with your ideas.

- Join Wellington Movin' March walk challenge especially for school kids, they love it!

There is more happening in 2021 including a response to the Climate Change Commission advice to the government - this seeks to increase walk mode share by 25%, a key topic for the New Zealand Walking Summit.

Tuesday lunchtime walks

Here is the new timetable for walks in 2021 - try one out on Tuesdays.

See links on bottom of the page for other Walking Groups

2020

Since Walk2Work Day just 6 weeks ago a lot has happened in Wellington and New Zealand.

#Covid19 level 4 lockdown has just finished and we wait for the response from councils around the country to show how they will keep pedestrians safe, with adequate physical distancing possible on our public streets. Share your ideas with your councillors. Wellington needs to act (see the initiatives happening in Nelson and Auckland - action on the ground already). Here is a short piece I wrote about how we can make Wellington better.

The Accessible Streets road rules change proposals are proceeding, with a late extension for submissions until 20 May. This is the most significant road rule changes for years and will adversely affect pedestrians. Please make a submission - check out the short guide to Living Streets Wellington submission. Even a short email will help to accessible.streets (a) nzta.govt.nz

Walk2Work Day was Wednesday 11 March 2020. The day to get out and celebrate walking, part of our daily activity. See our Facebook page for photos

Will the poorly introduced escooter, a major disruptor for walking be an issue for the elections? It should be. The (in)Accessible Streets road rule package will cause a stir if passed. [As it turned out these significant road rules changes are still being considered by Government so we can only hope that the evidence of harm to pedestrians is being listened to]

Tuesday lunchtime walks

Here is the new timetable for walks in 2020 - try one out on Tuesdays.

See links on bottom of the page for other Walking Groups

Meetings and events

Want to get more involved in walking and advocating for our slice of the transport pie in Wellington? Living Streets Wellington hold a meeting every month contact wellington(a)livingstreets.org.nz for more details and to come along - all members welcome.

We look forward to seeing you at a future event.

Recent submissions

Check out our submissions here - Wellington parking policy is the latest submission. Good parking management is essential for liveable cities, and obviously off the footpath.

And if anyone has some time to make this page better please let me know.

What happened in 2019

News from WCC - the scourge of escooters joined the parking pains of ONZO bikes on our footpaths in Wellington in June 2019. Let your councillors and MPs know what you think about this new vehicle tech. Serviced by underpaid, petrol-car using juicers these motorised scooters are parked taking up to one third of the footpath (if parked well!). Escooters are not allowed on the Golden Mile footpath so if you see them there please complain.

The slightly better news - this is a trial for 6 months (extendable) so any feedback received should go into the mix as to how they are managed in the future. The real culprits in this fiasco are the government, who in October 2018 declared electric motorised scooters not to be motor-vehicles and therefore allowed to use the footpath as recreational vehicles. Do let your MP know what you think about this. Do remember this at the local body elections - only 5 councillors voted against them being ridden on our footpaths.

2019 Local body elections

Local bodies make all the important decisions about walking, footpaths and pedestrian infrastructure and priority on our roads.

We asked local body candidates 5 questions:

Improved pedestrian service has been signalled as a first priority for LGWM. What is one project to improve walking or pedestrian infrastructure that you will take action on if elected?
Do you support safer speeds for Wellington roads? That means 30km hour for the central city, in every shopping centre, and outside every school.
Do you agree that footpaths are for pedestrians?
Now that NZTA gives a subsidy for footpath maintenance, name two footpaths in your area that need improvement?
How do you see walking will help tackle climate change?

We got these responses at the bottom of this page:

We asked do you agree footpaths are for pedestrians? In the recent February 2019 vote to allow escooters onto Wellington footpaths (that have so far mostly affected central area pedestrians), five councillors voted to continue to prioritise footpaths for pedestrians and not to allow escooters, they were Sarah Free, Nicola Young, Brian Dawson, Simon Woolf and Diane Calvert.

We've also had a go at making a 'traffic light scorecard' of the 'improved, sitting still, and going backwards' actions of the Wellington City Council over the last triennium. Have a look at the attached and let us know if you agree, or have more to add.

The second New Zealand Walking Summit was held in Auckland in June 2019 with a focus on public transport connections, and the walk to school and play. Check out the presentations on this page.

What we did in 2018

Open Streets - Te Ara Tapere ki Pōneke Sunday 28 October 2018

Join us at the corner of Hunter and Victoria Streets for our Living Streets 'Make a Place' as part of the Open Street event. Use our props or bring your own to create your own space in this public place!

Check out the facebook event

On 26 June 2018 we held the national Golden Foot Walking Awards hosted at Parliament, by Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter. This was a great night and so inspiring to hear about all the wonderful finalists and winners. People who are out there making walking better for all of us. Read more about Golden Foot Walking Awards.

Walk2Work Day on 14 March was our first event in 2018. Living Streets hosted two walks and WCC councillors led 6 other walking talking opportunities.

1 Northern gate at the Basin Reserve, look for the sign - join a walk along the Canal Reserve (as much as possible) taking in the interesting sights, look at the uses of this public space, and how we can use and improve it - lots to see but we expect the walk will take about half an hour. On the flat and should be accessible to all. Councillors Iona Pannett and Brian Dawson will be joining us.

2 VUW Kelburn Parade, under the walkway look for the sign - join a walk down Mount St, Flagstaff Hill to Perretts Corner on Willis Street with Chris. Lots to see along this heritage walk. Its all downhill but steep with steps.

Wellington City Councillors are really getting into step for Walk2Work Day - join them at one of these walks and talk walking Wellington with them along the way

3 Kilbirnie Sports Centre for a walk through the town belt to Civic Centre with Councillor Sarah Free

4 Wellington Railway Station main entrance, to walk to the Civic Centre with Councillors Jill Day, Peter Gilberd and Malcolm Sparrow

5 Caribbean Cafe, Brooklyn Village to walk down through Central Park with Councillor David Lee

6 Shorland Park to walk to Island Bay and St Francis schools with Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons

7 Wellington laneways with Councillor Nicola Young meet at Big Save in Tory Street at

8 Wellington City Council, Committee Room 2, Councillors Sarah Free and Diane Calvert invite members of the public to talk about opportunities and challenges for walking in Wellington 2018

2017

2017 was a busy time for us at Living Streets Wellington group with our involvement in many initiatives some of which are reported here. We attended the public places bylaw workshop early in the year (the bylaw is important for regulating what can be done in public spaces like footpaths), we participated with a guided walk on Walk2Work Day, and Paula Warren created a Park(ing) Day site, we participated in the Walk and Cycle the Hutt advisory group, and the Upper Hutt Have a Go Day, we attended the Wellington Safe and Sustainable Transport Forum meetings, the Regional Land Transport Plan review, and made many submissions and presented many time to Council about them.

Living Streets has been actively involved in the cycleways work programme in Wellington - from one meeting on the CBD area, to many meetings about Oriental Bay, Thorndon Quay and Eastern suburbs. It is important that the walking voice is heard to protect our valuable pedestrian spaces, footpaths! Surprisingly many folk think footpaths are safe to cycle on despite the evidence to the contrary and so see this space as available for bikes. We would like to see some NZ independent research on the impact of vehicles on footpaths for pedestrians.

The Our City Tomorrow programme is looking out 30 years to identify issues for Wellington that need to be addressed, including a significant increase in population and where they might live, and of course how they will move around - by foot of course! This has strong links to the high-profile Let's Get Wellington Moving joint project of WCC, Greater Wellington and the NZTA. I hope you managed to get your submissions in to ask for walkable design. The LGWM decisions will determine whether we see some priority for walking and public transport or more road building for Wellington. You can see what we submitted on that here.

A highlight of our year was being part of the first ever New Zealand Walking Summit held in Wellington on 28 July. Our four point plan evolved from the Summit and gives us a good direction to pursue with the new government. We want 1% of the National Land Transport Fund for pedestrians and walking, we want the New Zealand Pedestrian Planning and Design Guide and RTS 14 for blind and vision impaired to be turned into standards that must be followed, we want slower 30 km hour speeds around all schools and retail centres, and we want a focus put on walking to school with a target to reverse the decline.

As mentioned above we have been busy on the submission front - check out all our submissions on the link below. Traffic resolutions are a means to make small changes that can benefit walking (at times) however we have concerns about the quality of information provided to decision-makers, and the lack of assessment of effects on pedestrians. The latest lot of traffic resolutions propose a number of changes to allow for more cycle facilities - however we still do not have an overall cycle network (which we support) so it is hard to see how they all fit together, and not all of the resolutions have been well thought out, some will adversely impact pedestrians. We will be talking to this submission on 14 September at the WCC meeting - come along and support us.

Some of our 2017 submissions were on the various Councils annual plans, WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity and a low emission economy.

Resources

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