Detailed Candidate Responses – Local Elections 2025

In our last article (read it here!), we reported the policy, positions, and voting records of candidates standing for election in the Waikato Regional, Waikato, Waipā, Matamata-Piako, and Hamilton City Councils about their views on cycling and public transportation.

In this article, we will show the full scores and rankings we assigned to candidates.

PS – Voting takes place Tuesday 9 September to midday Saturday 11 October 2025!

Important Disclaimer!

The results from our questionnaire are only indicative of a candidates priorities and intentions and does not replace reading their candidate statements and checking out other media and posts they have made.

Always make an informed choice.

Our Grading System

Our scorecard was designed to encompass any possible reaction to our questions: the positive, the negative, and the indifferent. 

Questions were graded from a +2 to -2 to reflect our member’s and the community’s interests in candidates who are pro-cycling, supportive of multi-modal transport, and aware of the lack of infrastructure faced by cyclists and pedestrians.

Unanswered questions or non-committal answers received a zero. 

The final scores are an average for a candidate over the whole questionnaire.

All scores that are higher than zero are positive for cycling in general. However, scores greater than one are considered especially strong.

The full content of all their answers can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AyJEUsK1Pr-TG8Cyb5RbowADlQSozOFc3Io_EWJ7_7k/edit?usp=sharing

The candidates have been ordered by their average score in each election, and successfully elected candidates highlighted in green. Our discretionary questions, more subjective in nature and more about learning about the cycling habits of candidates, were placed at the end – if a candidate provided an insightful or engaging response, they could make up some points.

Our Grading System

Our scorecard was designed to encompass any possible reaction to our questions: the positive, the negative, and the indifferent. 

Questions were graded from a +2 to -2 to reflect our member’s and the community’s interests in candidates who are pro-cycling, supportive of multi-modal transport, and aware of the lack of infrastructure faced by cyclists and pedestrians.

Unanswered questions or non-committal answers received a zero. 

The final scores are an average for a candidate over the whole questionnaire.

All scores that are higher than zero are positive for cycling in general. However, scores greater than one are considered especially strong.

What did we ask?

We asked the following questions:

• What are your ideas for better integration between bus services and bicycle infrastructure? (Example: bike racks on buses, secure bicycle parking at busy stops, etc.)
• How often do you cycle for daily activities, i.e., to work?*
• If you are a sitting Councillor, do you cycle to (some/any) Council meetings and engagements?*
• What other bicycle infrastructure would you like to see in Hamilton/the Waikato? (Example: bicycle traffic lights, line separators, etc.)
• What is your preferred bike lane layout?
• If elected, will you advocate for and vote to fund cycling and public transport projects in Hamilton/the Waikato?
• What is your vision for transport and the way we move around in Hamilton/the Waikato in thirty years?
• How does your vision protect people riding bikes?
• If you could improve one road in Hamilton/the Waikato for cycling, which road would it be, and how would you improve it?
• What is your favourite road/area for cycling in Hamilton/the Waikato?*
• If you could change one thing about public transport in Hamilton/the Waikato, what would it be?
• Is enabling cycling and micromobility infrastructure in new residential areas a priority for you? (Example: Peacockes, Rotokauri)
• Will you prioritise retrofitting existing infrastructure to enable cycling and multimodal transport?
• Why should cyclists vote for you?
• Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your vision for cycling in Hamilton/the Waikato?*

Some questions were discretionary (noted with an asterisks/*), meaning that we did not use them to grade candidates but to get a general sense from them. However, candidates could make or lose points depending on their answers.

We sent out the questions by Google Forms. We included the following instructions:

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions about cycling and public transport policy for the upcoming local elections.

The questions below are a combination of questions from our Committee and questions submitted by our members. Please note that the order of questions has been randomised.

Feel free to answer as many or as few as you would like. We will use your answers to inform our members about your policies and positions.