Haumarutanga rori - pakeke

Road safety - adults

The Travel Safe team work in the community to reduce accidents and improve road safety.

Young Driver Workshop

Free young driver workshops are aimed at road users aged between 16 and 24, who hold a current learner or restricted driver licence. Participants will leave with improved knowledge, confidence, and skills.

Each workshop includes:

A 60-minute one-on-one driving lesson with a certified instructor
Waka Kotahi NZTA roadworthy vehicle check (what to check to ensure your vehicle is safe and roadworthy)
Driver behaviour awareness (speed, impairment, restraints, distraction, and fatigue
Awareness session on sharing the road with heavy vehicles

Parents/caregivers are strongly encouraged to attend but it’s not compulsory. The four-hour workshops are held during school term holidays, usually between 9am and 1pm.

Drive has everything you need to prepare for your learner, restricted and full licence tests.

Visit the Drive website

Young driver workshop

Car Restraints

Looking for support around car seat restraints? Contact one of our local car seat technicians at travelsafeschools@tauranga.govt.nz. We offer free car seat installations, checks, and will help answer any questions or concerns regarding your car restraint.

Carseat installation

Parking behaviour

Drop off and pick up are busy times that pose a safety risk at the school gate. Travel Safe help schools to communicate things like parking time limits, drop off and pick up zones, parking over the kerb and other safety risks at the school gate. We deliver an in-school parking and safety programme named Peaceful Parker, and partner with council parking officers to do school visits when requested by schools or the community.

Blindzone Workshops

Blindzone workshops allow people to see the world from a truck driver’s point of view. Through a series of practical scenarios, participants will learn where to place themselves so they are visible to truck drivers and will leave with more awareness and confidence on the road.

For more on Blindzone and cycling around heavy vehicles visit Share the Road.

Blindzone workshop

Be Bright, Be Safe, Be Seen

This winter visibility programme reminds cyclists, walkers, runners, and scooter riders to have lights, bright clothing, and reflective gear if they are out and about during early mornings, evenings, and at other times of low light and poor visibility.

Whether commuting to work or school, being active for fun or fitness, or popping down to the local shops, people should take extra care and keep safe by being fully visible on roads and paths.

All cyclists are encouraged to wear high-visibility clothing and ensure their front light, rear light and rear red reflector are all working correctly and are clean.

View the official New Zealand code for cycling for more information.

Council confirms transparent funding approach for Te Manawataki o Te Papa

Tauranga City Council has confirmed a transparent funding approach for Te Manawataki o Te Papa, as major construction milestones become visible in the city centre.

With the new Library and Community Hub, museum and civic whare now taking shape, Council today considered an update on how the wider Te Manawataki o Te Papa programme will be funded, as discussions continue ahead of the 2026/27 Annual Plan.

Council confirmed that the priority use of potential asset realisation net proceeds will be to offset new debt and rates-funded interest associated with Te Manawataki o Te Papa. No changes were made to the programme scope or overall budget.

The Council also decided not to implement funding approaches that would rely on redirecting existing funding streams, such as parking revenue or airport surpluses, because these would only shift ratepayer funding sources and would not meet the Council’s transparency expectations.

Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale says the decision was about keeping the funding approach simple, clear, disciplined and easy for the community to understand.

“As the people of Tauranga start to see this project take shape physically, it’s important they can also see how it’s being paid for,” says Mahé.

“Changes in the original funding assumptions for the Te Manawataki o Te Papa project mean that ratepayer-funded debt will exceed the previously-communicated level of $151.5 million, but Council’s previous decision to move away from Infrastructure Funding and Financing (IFF) and back to our traditional funding source will result in significant savings in interest costs. And if other potential construction contingency costs are not required, the net impact on ratepayers may be negligible.

“The decision to fund the $151.5 million on balance sheet, at today’s interest rates, would allow us to fund $77 million more debt than we could have through the IFF arrangement, at no additional cost to ratepayers. Effectively then, the changes made to the overall project funding approach would add around $29 million to our initial debt-funding expectation,” Mahe explains.

“This decision keeps things simple and transparent. If assets are sold, the proceeds will be used to reduce debt and interest costs, rather than adding pressure to rates. It’s a straightforward, responsible approach.”

The Council also noted that the national funding environment has become more constrained, reducing the likelihood of some earlier external funding assumptions being realised. As a result, locally-led philanthropic support will become a more important part of the final funding mix.

The decisions confirmed today will now feed into the development of the draft 2026/27 Annual Plan, which will be consulted on in the new year.

To find out more, visit: Civic Precinct – The Heartbeat of Te Papa