Chris Hipkins has cycled to Parliament, Christopher Luxon has criticised Wellington Cycle Lanes, and the contrast is unmistakable

OPINION: There is something refreshingly ordinary about a political leader on a bicycle. Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins has done it for years. He recently posted a photo on Facebook of himself using Wellington’s new “amazing” harbour-side cycleway.

In 2022, Stuff followed Hipkins as he prepared for a roughly 30km ride from Upper Hutt to Parliament, a commute involving the same cold mornings, traffic, punctures and roadside hazards faced by thousands of New Zealand cyclists. That does not make him a better politician. But it does make one thing absolutely clear, that he knows what a cycle lane looks like from the saddle.

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Christopher Luxon’s own contribution to the national cycling conversation came from a very different angle.

Image: Christopher Luxon has repeatedly questioned the place of cycleways in local transport spending, most recently pointing to Wellington’s Molesworth Street as an example of infrastructure he says made access to Parliament more difficult. (File. / Courtesy of Stuff)

Speaking at a public meeting in Lower Hutt in August, Luxon said “a whole bunch of bike lanes up Molesworth Street” had made it “very difficult” for him to get from his former apartment into the parliamentary precinct. Stuff reported the comments, while The Spinoff later sent a reporter to test the crossing itself.

The resulting coverage turned a small stretch of Wellington road into a national political talking point.

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In 2024, Luxon told councils to focus on the “basics” and criticised spending he characterised as “nice-to-haves”, with cycleways among the projects highlighted in coverage of that speech. Reporting on the Government’s 2024 transport programme also noted a substantial reduction in funding for walking and cycling projects.

That matters because cycle lanes are more than a line of paint in a council budget. They sit inside a bigger debate about who streets are designed for, how people get to work, and whether cycling is treated as everyday transport or an optional extra.

It is really funny to joke that Luxon is afraid of cycle lanes. But the evidence does not establish that.

What it does establish is a contrast worth putting to a simple test.

Put both Chrises on bikes.

Give Hipkins his familiar route into Wellington. Give Luxon a helmet, a high-vis vest and the same stretch of Molesworth Street he described as difficult. Just two political leaders, two bicycles and a piece of transport infrastructure that has become a recurring political argument.

From a bike seat, a cycle lane is not a budget item. It is physical space between a rider and moving traffic.

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Hipkins has already demonstrated that he can ride to Parliament.

Luxon has publicly described the problems he sees around the lane outside it.

A ride through Wellington would at least put both perspectives on the same stretch of road.

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