STANDWhere secure bike docks should stand on the University of Auckland campuses
Better Places Lab, September 2026. STAND version 0.1.0.
STAND stands for Secure Two-wheeler Access Network Design. It is part of SPAN (Spending Priorities for Active Networks), the Better Places Lab's open tool for deciding where to invest in cycling.
The short answer
Twelve docks across the three campuses would put 89% of the City campus's estimated cyclist arrivals, 83% of Grafton's and almost all of Newmarket's (99.9%) within a short walk of a secure dock. Five of them do most of the work and should go in first. Five more follow in a second stage, and two are optional. Without the two optional docks, the shares are 85% at City and 76% at Grafton.
| Stage | Campus | Site | Why | Indicative size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City | Grafton Road frontage at Engineering and the Business School (−36.85299, 174.77048) | The east gateway from the Grafton Gully cycleway and the Domain: 323 modelled arrivals a day end within reach, beside Engineering 405 and the Owen G. Glenn Building, the two biggest draws in the model. About 142 modelled riders a day pass. An open rack is mapped here. Steeper (7%): pick the flattest bay nearby, perhaps at the OGGB forecourt. | 10-dock charging station |
| 1 | City | Symonds Street frontage at Hiwa and the Science Centre (−36.85258, 174.76870) | Adds 213 arrivals a day. Hiwa (about 60 a day in the model), Science Centre 301 and Science Centre 303 are all within 40 m, from the Symonds St side. Very open (88% clear sightlines), with a gentle slope (2.8%). About 27 modelled riders a day pass. The card-access bike shed beside Hiwa is about 36 m away, so this dock would mainly serve visitors and short stays. | 10-dock charging station |
| 1 | City | Service lane between the General Library and the Old Choral Hall (−36.85107, 174.77014) | New in this version. Adds 96 arrivals a day for the northern precinct: the Old Choral Hall, Biology, Clock Tower East, the General Library, the Thomas Building, Commerce A and Alfred Nathan House are within 60 m, and the Old Arts Building is 82 m away. About 37 modelled riders a day pass. A quiet service lane off Symonds Street, mapped as private but open to people on foot, with no mapped lamps: check lighting, vehicle access and the University's permission on site. | 10-dock charging station |
| 1 | Grafton | Park Avenue, at the main Medical and Health Sciences building (−36.86169, 174.76861) | About half of Grafton's arrivals (67 of 140) end within reach, on the approach from Park Rd and the hospital. About 38 modelled riders a day pass. The card-access shed in the basement of Building 505 is about 34 m away and serves regular riders; this dock would serve visitors, clinicians and students without a card. | 10-dock station |
| 1 | Newmarket | The campus core path, beside the main Khyber Pass Road buildings (−36.86594, 174.77389) | Three quarters of Newmarket's arrivals (69 of 90) end within reach, at the two main Khyber Pass Road buildings and the Structures Test Hall. About 25 modelled riders a day pass. A gentle slope (3.4%), with open sightlines. It appears to be University land, which would avoid road-reserve consent; confirm on site. | 5–10 docks |
| 2 | City | Symonds Street southern gateway, by Architecture and Planning (−36.85403, 174.76822) | One of the busiest approaches: about 218 modelled riders a day pass here, about half of them from homes near the campus and most of the rest from the south and west (Karangahape Road, Grafton Gully and Upper Queen Street). 194 arrivals a day end within reach, most at the Science Centre (301–303), with Architecture and Hiwa further off; it adds 71 to the three docks before it. A footpath with bus stops, shops and three mapped lamps; 2.7% grade. | 5–10 docks |
| 2 | City | Wynyard Street by Social Sciences, Humanities and the Fale (−36.85199, 174.77188) | Adds 61 arrivals a day for the eastern arts and social-science buildings (Social Sciences 201E 27 m away, Humanities 38 m). About 15 modelled riders a day pass. The Building 201 store 30 m away needs a Campus Card; this dock would not. | 5 docks |
| 2 | Grafton | Park Road frontage by the Boyle Crescent building (−36.86182, 174.76994) | Adds 40 arrivals a day, at the Park Road frontage and Boyle Crescent buildings. Flat (1%) and busy, with shops and bus stops on Park Road. Few modelled riders pass (about 8 a day), because the approach flows favour Park Avenue; it earns its place by the buildings it reaches. | 5–10 docks |
| 2 | Newmarket | Khyber Pass Road entrance at the Ray Meyer Building (−36.86607, 174.77220) | Adds 14 arrivals a day; the street-facing dock for Khyber Pass Rd riders, beside Structures 902 and 51 m from the Ray Meyer Building. About 38 modelled riders a day pass. The modelled point is on a 7% grade: move to the flattest spot within the entrance area. | 5 docks |
| 2 | Newmarket | Suiter Street at the School of Exercise, Sport and Rehabilitation Science (−36.86639, 174.77571) | Adds 7 arrivals a day; serves the School of Exercise, Sport and Rehabilitation Science and the eastern buildings. About 21 modelled riders a day pass. Six shops and cafés within 75 m. | 5 docks |
| Optional | City | Waterloo Quadrant by the Fisher Building and the Davis Law Library (−36.84902, 174.77095) | New in this version. Adds 35 arrivals a day at the Fisher Building, the Davis Law Library and the other Waterloo Quadrant and Eden Crescent buildings, which no other dock reaches. About 28 modelled riders a day pass. The weakest of the six for eyes on the street, with no mapped lamps or shops close by. Treat as optional. | 5 docks or defer |
| Optional | Grafton | Grafton Road near 89–93 Grafton Road (−36.85884, 174.76841) | Adds only 10 arrivals a day; the third Grafton dock is marginal (two docks already cover 76%). About 55 modelled riders a day pass on Grafton Rd, but few end their trip here, and the point is on a 7% grade. Include only if the University wants the northern Grafton buildings served. | defer |
Coordinates are the modelled network points; the exact position (which kerb, which bay) is a site decision within about 20 m. "Arrivals within reach" counts each building's modelled arrivals with full credit within a 50 m walk, falling to none at 250 m. "Adds" is what a dock brings within reach that the docks before it on the same campus do not. "Riders pass" is the modelled number of cyclists a day whose route goes through the point. Traffic stress on the approaches comes from SPAN's way-level classification for 9,782 of the 22,918 network links (the road and cycleway links SPAN covers, which include the AT facility overrides) and from the class-and-speed rule elsewhere; footways and paths count as LTS 1. Eight of the ten portal weights are based on AT counters (two blend two counters); the Broadway and Parnell Rd weights are assumptions.
Why Alfred Street is not on the list
Earlier runs of the model put the first City dock on Alfred Street, between Kate Edger and the General Library. It is still the best single spot on the City campus: the model picks it when only one dock is allowed, and it scores highest of any spot on the three campuses (0.88), with four mapped lamps. It is not in the set of six because the Old Choral Hall lane, 92 m away, reaches more of the northern precinct now that people can walk along one-way lanes (see the method, section 9). The Thomas Building, Commerce A, Alfred Nathan House, Clock Tower East and the Old Arts Building are 26–82 m from the lane but 111–179 m from Alfred Street. Docks must be at least 110 m apart, so the two cannot both be chosen. The six docks above cover 799 arrivals a day; with Alfred Street in place of the lane they would cover 776. The old optional dock at the Thomas Building drops out for the same reason, and the optional sixth dock is now Waterloo Quadrant.
How many docks
The model estimates cyclist arrivals per weekday at 900 (City), 140 (Grafton) and 90 (Newmarket), from on-campus headcounts and assumed mode shares (AT's 2018 tertiary survey found 1% of UoA students cycling; staff cycle more; e-bikes have grown since). Not all of them want a public dock: the City campus already has ten card-access stores, and the OGGB store alone holds 84 bikes. A planning share of 10–15% of covered arrivals for public docks, plus NZTA's 10–25% headroom, gives roughly:
| Campus | Arrivals covered by the recommended set | Docks at 12% share × 1.2 | Practical start |
|---|---|---|---|
| City | 799 of 900 | about 115 | 10-dock stations at the three first-stage sites (30), grow with use |
| Grafton | 117 of 140 | about 17 | one 10-dock station at Park Avenue |
| Newmarket | 89.9 of 90 | about 13 | one 5–10 dock station at the core |
Glen Eden's experience argues for starting modest and modular: five docks ran at 40% utilisation overall, all five were in use at once at the March 2024 peak, and stays were long (sessions longer than five minutes: median 9.6 hours, half of them starting in the 07:00 hour). Count bikes parked at each site for a week before installation and again after three months.
What the map lets you do
The live map lets you:
- pick a campus and see the suitability surface (hexagons about 50 m across), the modelled approach flows or the traffic-stress network, with every candidate site and the recommended docks numbered in the order each adds the most;
- move the "Docks on this campus" slider to see what each extra dock buys (exact solutions for 1–8);
- change what matters (eight weights) and watch the ranking and the selection update;
- click any site for its case in plain English, its scores, the buildings it serves and a pre-installation checklist; click any building for its arrivals and its nearest dock;
- switch to the Aerial basemap: LINZ 2024-25 urban aerials, resampled to 0.4 m, cover each campus, so kerbs, parking bays and plazas can be seen.
Things to confirm on site
For every first-stage site: the 4.8 × 2.2 m footprint and a route for the 1.5 kW supply (a 10-dock charging station), CCTV coverage and night lighting (OpenStreetMap lamp data are patchy, so the model's lighting score is a soft signal), sightlines from the busiest frontage, and whether the ground is University land or road reserve. In OpenStreetMap, the three first-stage City sites and the Newmarket core path lie inside the University's mapped campus, while Park Avenue lies just outside it, on the street. A map is not a land title, so confirm who owns the ground; a dock on road reserve needs Auckland Transport's approval. Also check what the Symonds St redesign in the City Centre Masterplan will change.