Kia ora koutou. My name is Alex Dyer and I am honoured to have taken on the role of co-chair of Cycle Wellington, Paihikara ki Pōneke.
Firstly, thank you to Mark Johnston for his leadership, along with co-chair Linda Beatson, over the last few years. I have a lot to learn from him and Linda, and look forward to achieving much more together.
I live in Island Bay with my wife Hat, 3 kids: Ely, Juno, and Monty, and our dog Scout. I ride a yellow bakfiets cargo bike for a majority of journeys and usually have music playing as I ride. You might have seen (or heard) me…
I am not a cyclist. But I do like also using bikes for recreational activities some times.
I work as a Product Designer at Stuff designing tools to enable the editorial team here to produce content for the site and for publishing in newspapers around the country.
I am looking forward to faster progress of a network of safe cycling facilities and comfortable conditions for people choosing active travel to get about in our beautiful harbour city.
As a designer, I also spend a lot of time working on the user experience of a product. I know that riding a bike for everyday journeys can make city living a joyous experience. Being able to nip all over town by bike, shopping, eating, visiting friends, working, or just exploring is a liberating experience.
Enabling Wellingtonians of all ages and abilities to access and enjoy this powerful way to improve their quality of life is also one of the most effective ways to lower harmful emissions in our region. I am looking forward to working with stakeholders around Te Whanganui-A-Tara to do this.
In a broader sense, I am passionate about cities for people and healthy streets. Bikes are a critical part of how to improve everyone’s wellbeing. While elevating the attraction of riding bikes is essential, I have strong opinions on the need to reduce and remove as many barriers as possible to people living and visiting the city. For me, this means challenging long standing cultural norms about the main barrier: too many dangerous polluting heavy noisy intimidating motorised vehicles on our public streets.
Find out more about my perspective on this by reading my series on Medium.com:
- Car blindness – Ignoring the true cost of cars
- The ruinousness of cars
- Car blind society
- The inhumanity of car dependency
I also maintain a public set of bookmarks for a range of topics related to reducing car dependency. Feel free to use and share: Let’s unite against car dependency.
I have been involved with Cycle Wellington now for over 10 years, volunteering, attending monthly meetings, and making endless submissions.
I am encouraged by our successes over that time. WCC funding levels have risen substantially from practically nothing, to in the tens of millions. Ridership is increasing. The ability to measure ridership is improving. We have a set of councillors who (mostly all) agree on the need to make Wellington safer and healthier for people who are not in cars. These are all good signs.
But I am wary of being complacent in the face of the challenges ahead. Our elected public representatives will continue to need all the help they can get to press the case for change and to return the actual, physical priority of our city streets back to people and traditional, sustainable transport modes.
I will be at the next Bikes & Brunch on the 18th of October. Come along with the family. I would love to meet you.
Otherwise, flag me down for a chat if you see me out on my yellow submarine. Or you might catch me at a Picnics in Parks event.
While I am not a member of the book of faces, you can connect with me through my Twitter or Instagram profiles (@AxleRyde on both), and you can find me on LinkedIn too.
P.s.:
Check out Cycle Wellington’s new t-shirt shop!
Keep pedalling and if you aren’t already, please support Cycle Wellington by becoming a paid member.
Cycle Wellington 