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Data collected on Tairāwhiti’s cycleways and walkways by a local trust could help develop a proposed trail following the Taruheru River through Gisborne.
Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails aims to make trails across the region more accessible with the help of a new website, while also collecting data on the use of local cycle and walk ways.
Te Ara o Taruheru, the Taruheru River Trail, is a major focus of the trust which envisages it eventually connecting the town centre to schools and the western side of the city.
The trust has a memorandum of understanding with the Gisborne District Council to work with it to progress this river pathway. 
A steering group made up of trustees, mana whenua and council staff are collecting information together for a new proposal.
Trust chairman Lyall Evans said the pathway would continue the walking/cycling path connecting Wainui and Tamarau to the city, completed in 2022 with the Crawford Road separated path and the route through the inner harbour.
“If Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails can show, through up-to-date data, how existing walking and cycle pathways are being used and their true impact on communities, this can form the case for future funding for the Taruheru River pathway," Evans said.
The new Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails website features an interactive map showing 58 different trails across the region and the different aspects of each one.
The trails include hikes, cycleways, walkways, shared paths, commuter paths, and dog-friendly routes. There’s information on relevant advice, locations, and history.
The website was recently updated to be available in te reo Māori and aims to be accessible to as many people as possible.
“We want to contribute towards making te reo more visible and accessible for the community, and also use te reo ourselves as we each follow our own te reo learning journey,” Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trust trustee Gillian Ward said.
The website was translated by Gaylene Taitapanui, the te reo Māori translator for newsletter Pipiwharauroa.
“We acknowledge the mana of hapū as we engage with mana whenua to develop tracks, trails and pathways in the rohe alongside mana whenua, but also contributing to make te reo more prominent is a way of respecting the ancestral language of Te Tairāwhiti,” Ward said.
The trust has installed a track counter on the Oneroa cycle/walkway and the council has put one on the Wainui to Gisborne cycleway/walkway so they can collect data on how many people use the trails.
Evans said quality data on how the pathways were used was key to creating better infrastructure and more sustainable travel.
“If local authorities don’t have access to accurate and timely data, they are taking a shot in the dark about where infrastructure changes are required and how this can support vulnerable road users,” Evans said.
“Improved infrastructure encourages active travel. People are more likely to shift to active travel if it feels and is safer.
“Gisborne’s lack of connecting infrastructure for walking and cycling limits healthier, independent, more sustainable travel choices for school students and others,” Evans said.
Kāiti School’s sports leader Paora Anderson said the school used the Wainui to Gisborne cycleway/walkway for “out the gate” sessions.
Classes take turns riding the school’s set of bikes to the Sponge Bay turn-off, or the Oneroa cycleway/walkway, learning bike skills, how to use shared pathways considerately, and interact with traffic.
Kāiti School principal Billie-Jean Potaka-Ayton said the benefits included getting students to be active and improvements in learning outcomes from regular sports and physical activity.
Kāiti School was one of the pilot schools which introduced a cycle track and pump track on its grounds, and a school-based set of bikes.
Students use the Wainui to Gisborne cycleway/walkway to get to and from school.
Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails is an evolution of the Gisborne Cycle and Walkway Trust (GCWT), which was founded in 2005 and worked to create the urban-focused Wainui to Gisborne cycleway/walkway.
Once that had been done, the trust went into recess.
The Gisborne District Council-established Cycling Advisory Group was born out of a series of lunchtime bike riding events held between 2009 and 2010 when people would ride around the city to highlight how if more were biking, it would be safer for everyone.
GCWT merged with the Cycling Advisory Group in 2018.
The trust began to grow and decided to employ a part-time trails manager. With the co-funding support of Trust Tairāwhiti and other organisations, Jason Lines was appointed to the role for 2020-2021.
Ward said there were a lot of achievements with Lines as trail manager, in particular the Mātokitoki Valley track and Ūawa cycleway and walkway.
In 2021, the trust changed its name to Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails Trust. It also got a new logo created by Sir Derek Lardelli of Lardelli Arts, which was also funded by a Trust Tairāwhiti grant.
The pītau in the logo chase or follow each other to form the “T” for Tapuwae - representing a footprint or tread. The logo symbolises treading lightning on pathways in Tairāwhiti.
“We integrate the articles of Te Tiriti [o Waitangi] into our practises to ensure that tangata whenua and tangata tiriti can work well and equitably together,” the trust’s strategic document states.
This includes respecting the cultural and physical environment, promoting the status, acquisition and use of te reo Māori, and encouraging active lifestyles for all ages.
When Evans took over from Katrina Duncan as chair in 2023, the focus of the trust remained regional, but there has also been an emphasis on the Taruheru River pathway and the development of the trails website.
Matai O’Connor, Ngāti Porou, has been a journalist for five years and Kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.
