Candidates on Cycling – Local Elections 2025

We asked the candidates standing for election in the Waikato Regional, Waikato, Waipā, Matamata-Piako, and Hamilton City Councils about their views on cycling and public transportation.

We got some great responses and clear vision for how candidates would build infrastructure, focus on safety for cyclists, and invest in multi-modal transport over the next three years.

Thank you to our members and the community for adding to the questionnaire.

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.

Key Results

We had four responses from Waikato Regional Council candidates. Note that we only requested responses from candidates standing in the Hamilton constituency. All the candidates (Jennifer Nickel, Angela Strange, Pam Chiles, and Bruce Clarkson) are positive about cycling, with Jennifer Nickel and Angela Strange responding with the strongest support.

We received three responses from candidates standing for the Waikato District Council. All the candidates (Ganga Sudhan, Jacqui Church, and Amanda Rutherford) have positive views on cycling, with Ganga Sudhan and Jacqui Church reporting especially high scores.

We received four responses from candidates standing for Matamata-Piako District Council. While responses were generally positive, they were not especially strong.

The strongest candidates standing for Waipā District Council are Barry Quayle, Claire St Pierre, and Mike Pettit, however all candidates (noting that Naomi Pocock, Roger Gordon, Dale-Maree Morgan, and Shane Walsh also responded) scored greater than zero.

We have categorised candidates for Hamilton City Council by ward/constituency.

For the Mayoralty, Dave Taylor is a standout candidate, distantly followed by Rachel Karalus. While John McDonald, Tim Macindoe, and Rudi Du Plooy scored greater than zero, they did not score highly compared to other candidates for Hamilton City Council generally.

In the West Ward, all candidates scored relatively highly, with Louise Hutt reporting the highest score. Roderick Young, Matthew Beveridge, and Angela O’Leary also achieved good scores.

We received two responses from candidates standing in the Kirikiriroa Maaori Ward. Both candidates (Jahvaya Wheki and Lawrence Jensen) are positive towards cycling.

Most of the respondents standing in the East Ward had positive views towards cycling, with Danielle Marks, Peter Humphreys, and Anna Casey-Cox standing out from the crowd with high scores. However, all candidates (Tim Hunt, Leo Liu, Jono Ng, Sue Moroney, and Rachel Afeaki) scored relatively well.

We especially appreciated the comments from the following candidates, which we want to highlight.

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.

Walking the Talk (or, Riding the Bike)

In addition to asking candidates for their views, we wanted to test if candidates who are standing for reelection (i.e., are already elected members) have voted in line with their values. What are their voting records?

Please note that due to the time required to collect this information, we only undertook this exercise for Hamilton City Councillors standing for reelection.

Quick note on methodology: Votes from the Transport and Infrastructure Committee are considered. Only votes directly related to approving cycling infrastructure projects are considered (i.e., pedestrian and public transport projects, recommendations, administrative decisions, and directions to staff are not included).

You can see our full working in our spreadsheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gWe4qiVLh7NyX7aSJpHhYos7j6sUFKMiIT7RsMMNwUs/edit?usp=sharing

For Councillors standing for the Hamilton Mayoralty, Sarah Thomson and Maria Huata are clear standouts, voting in favour of cycling infrastructure projects the vast majority of the time, while Tim Macindoe votes against cycling projects more often than not.

In the West Ward, Louise Hutt and Angela O’Leary are strong pro-cycling candidates. Note that Sarah Thomson is also standing in the West Ward. Emma Pike has voted in favour of cycling more often than not but has also voted against cycling infrastructure in three out of ten cases (30%). Geoff Taylor has voted against cycling infrastructure more often than not.

In the East Ward, Anna Casey-Cox and Maxine van Oosten have shown a lot of support for cycling infrastructure projects. Andrew Bydder has voted against cycling infrastructure in the majority of cases, only voting in favour of cycling infrastructure when Council has made a unanimous decision.

In the Maaori Ward, Maria Huata is the only candidate running for reelection, and her voting record for cycling infrastructure projects is excellent.