Faced with rising household costs, people are turning to pedal power to save money on petrol and parking.
Bike charities and loan schemes in Wellington are in demand, and the clientele is increasingly shifting towards middle class wage-earners looking for a cheaper, more planet-friendly mode of transport.
Kate Green reports as part of [ https://www.rnz.co.nz/pinchpoint Pinch Point], an ongoing RNZ series about living with the cost of living.
It's dark and decidedly chilly in the gravel carpark of Eke Rua ReBicycle, but the shipping container is flooded with light, bike repairs are underway and customers are queuing.
This particular evening is the Newtown-based charity's monthly sales night, where people in need of a bike can buy one if they find a good fit.
The charity first launched in the old Caltex Station on Riddiford St, and now ran out of a shipping container around the corner on Russell Terrace.
Photo: RNZ
Project manager Arthur Price said their primary purpose was to get people on bikes - in large part by giving them away.
They received funding from Wellington City Council, and bike stores around town collected old bikes and sent them on, and they hung on racks at the back of the Eke Rua container in varying states of disrepair.
"These are all the bikes which are to be fixed, so we have lots of parts in here as well, heaps and heaps of secondhand wheels, and all of these bikes have been deemed worthy of fixing," Price said.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
They sold bikes at about a third of the price of a second-hand bike on other platforms like TradeMe or Facebook Marketplace, he said.
They also ran courses teaching people how to repair their own bikes, which were "definitely way more popular than they have been. Lot's of people wanting to learn those skills so they don't have to fork out for the smaller jobs where they could do it themselves."
Some of their customers were homeless, or in a particularly tough spot.
"We just provided an e-bike to someone tonight who I think they're living in a vehicle, and they need to get water to where they're living. They were asking about an e-bike because they're lugging water."
Others did not have drivers licences, were new to the country, or were just looking for a more affordable way of getting around.
The Red Cross was their biggest referrer, usually for refugees in need of a mode of transport, along with the Ministry of Health.
"Even the people who come and buy bikes from us are in that boat as well, but definitely the people who are new to New Zealand don't even have a driver's licence."
But locals and wage-earners made up a big chunk of their customers, too.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Leah Murphy, an Eke Rua trustee, said there had always been high demand for their free bikes - but more recently, they'd seen high demand for their low-cost, second-hand bikes.
"We're seeing more and more people come in for those as well. In some cases people have expressed they've lost their jobs, and they're looking for a way to still move around the city, and get some exercise, having a bit more time on their hands and having less money on their hands."
In the Eke Rua carpark that evening, Victoria told RNZ she often used a bike to get around town.
"You know, you don't have to pay for parking for a bike," she said. "So when you ask, 'Does money come into it?' Yeah, it does. Parking in the city is horrendously expensive, so if you can leave your car at home and bike from place to place, you're definitely saving a lot of money."
She said an increase in cycle lanes around the city had made it easier to get around.
And Tess, who had just arrived in New Zealand and was trying out a bike that evening, said it was about making small changes.
"We do have a car as well, so this will probably replace the shorter trips."
At Switched On Bikes on the Wellington waterfront, owner Ryan O'Connell said people were still buying bikes following a boom during Covid, but generally, they were looking to pay less.
For those who couldn't afford to buy new, there were two programmes available, both part-funded by Wellington City Council - and both in hot demand.
Their e-bike subscription service for community services card holders - which costs users $16 a week - had a wait list, and so did the free kids' bike library.
Ryan said there was no longer one clear demographic among his customers.
"It's a real mix, so yes there's definitely some people who wouldn't have been able to afford a bike and this is a way for them to be able to do it, and we think it's a really good sustainability initiative as well."
For some households, a cargo bike could replace a car, and cost less to run.
"You can put two kids on the back of it," he said. "They're in high demand."
Bike lanes, particularly the wide, recently installed pathways around the bays, were contributing to safer cycle journeys, he said.
"We rent bikes every day to people who don't consider themselves cyclists", he said - mostly, people were just trying to get from A to B.
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