Sharing footpath space
Update
18 December 2025
The Media Council has not upheld a complaint about this article noting the article fairly reported a community concern for the safety of pedestrians.
The photograph was useful as it clearly showed the potential hazard in a way that could be readily recognised by all readers. It was taken in a public place and capturing a scene that could have been witnessed by anybody else on the street at that time.
Read: The Media Council ruling
See: The gift with a risk
11 September 2025
Cambridge students can expect a “telling off” at upcoming school assemblies about riding bikes and scooters on footpaths in the town’s central business district.
A woman takes evasive action as student cyclists approach her on the eastern side of the Victoria St footpath. Photo: Supplied
Principals at two schools – Cambridge High and Cambridge Middle – say they have been reinforcing the message with students for years but will deliver it again.
Deb Hann
Earlier this year senior constable Deb Hann warned in her regular The News column that cyclists, and electric scooter riders, travelling at speed – often weaving through groups of pedestrians, was a continuing problem.
See: Community constable column
Police blitzed the CBD during Road Safety Week in May.
The issue persists, despite the presence of a $10.2 million cycleway designed to safely guide cyclists through town via Wilson, Duke, and Bryce streets.
Informants to The News are frustrated.
Greg Thornton
Over the course of a week, photos were taken before and after school showing how frequently cyclists and scooter riders – especially those on motorised scooters – opt for footpaths over the designated cycle lanes.
One woman said she tells students to get off their bikes and scooters but many just ignore her.
It is not only students on bikes and scooters – older cyclists on e-bikes have also been snapped riding on both sides of Victoria St through the CBD.
Cambridge High School principal Greg Thornton said he would reiterate expectations at assembly: students should not be riding on footpaths.
Cambridge News 11 September 2025
If specific students are identified, he said he is prepared to address the issue directly.
Cambridge Middle School principal Daryl Gibbs said the school has long operated under an unwritten rule: no riding through town on the footpath.
“At the start of the year, and other times through the year, we talk to the children about it to reinforce the message. We made a big deal out of it. We didn’t tend to hear of any problems unless members of the public identified kids on the pavement as being from our school.”
Since the cycleway was installed – partly to help Cambridge Middle School students travel safely to and from school – the message has been clear: use it.
Gibbs gives a talk at the start of the year and distributes maps showing the cycleway. The message is reinforced during the year.
Daryl Gibbs
Cambridge Community Board chair Jo Davies-Colley has been a long-time supporter of cycleways so children can safely go to and from school and enjoy the freedom of their own wheels.
“We love seeing our young people out and about, but to keep everyone safe we’d like to see bikes and scooters walked, not ridden, in this shared space.”
The cycleway is a safe and protected option where kids can enjoy the freedom of their wheels, she said.
Numbers on the up: The cycle racks at Cambridge Middle School are now full most days. Pictured two years ago were deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk at front of community board chair Jo Davies-Colley and Waipā Transportation programme engineer Erik Van Der Wel. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
