Auckland Transport (AT) donated 15 bikes and helmets to a local school as part of its ‘Keep it 30k’ campaign.
AMETI – Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative – was launched two years ago to “give residents of South Eastern suburbs improved transport choices and better connect them to the rest of Auckland”.
The new project will allow for the area to be more pedestrian and cyclist friendly.
In early 2020, Fulton Hogan – contractors in charge of the AMETI construction – and AT teamed up to create a way to decrease traffic speed and improve community and worker safety. South Auckland is one of the most populated areas in the city and there are 2500 workers inducted in the AMETI project.
“We wanted a way to ensure better safety for everyone,” Pip Wellis, the Health and Safety advisor for Fulton Hogan, says.
The ‘Keep it 30k’ campaign was launched in June 2020.
The speed limit through the Eastern Busway construction site is 30km/h. If there were 1 million safe journeys under 30 km/h between June and April 2021, AT would donate bikes and helmets to 2 local schools.
“We wanted community participation,” Yvette Nicholls, AT’s travel demand management, says, “because that would be vital for the campaign’s success – to be able to reach enough ears to have an impact.”
Students of local schools, including Riverina School, appeared in AT’s social media video, billboards and posters for the campaign.
By April 2021, there were 1,906,638 vehicles measured with an average of 48,000 per day.
On April 15, AT and Fulton Hogan presented Riverina School with 15 bikes and helmets as a reward for the success of the campaign.
“It was an awesome opportunity to keep the children engaged and to teach them about bike awareness and health and safety,” Riverina School’s principal Carol Dickinson says.
