Car Dependency
I thought the wikipedia article entitled Automobile Dependency was so interesting and well written I would share it in full:
Automobile dependency is a term coined by Professors Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy to capture the predicament of most cities in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and to a lesser extent, large cities in Europe.…
17 Comments “Auckland Transport” to be created
The third piece of legislation required to form the Auckland super city was introduced to parliament earlier this week, and interestingly it creates the body that will be known as “Auckland Transport”. I referred to the establishment of the Auckland Transport Agency in a post a few months back, but I think the name of it has been changed as the acronym “ATA” is somewhat taken by the Auckland Transition Agency.…
Locking in the gains of the Waterview Connection
I have spoken at length on the pros and cons of the Waterview Connection throughout this year. The story will undoubtedly continue next year, as it is likely the project will end up going through one of the more high profile and acrimonious consenting processes yet seen for a transport project.…
ARC hammers NZTA farebox recovery policy
As I mentioned a couple of weeks back when I drafted up my submission on NZTA’s draft farebox recovery ratio, I mentioned that the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) had come out strongly opposed to the policy, and considered that it was fundamentally flawed.…
Getting the fare structure right
Well now that we’ve got integrated ticketing sorted I think it would make good sense to have a look at how this might all work in a couple of years time when it all starts to go operational. An integrated ticket is really just one part of how Auckland’s fare system should be overhauled – although obviously it is the key factor.…
Motivations of Snapper
A few days ago I did a post entitled Snapper Shocker where I expressed my disgust at Snapper’s announcement they would be introducing the Snapper card on the buses of their sister company NZ Bus. I reflected on the seriousness of using such words without clarification, I actually started to wonder if I had gone too far in my frustration that is until I saw yesterday this story in the NZ Herald and realised if anything I didn’t go far enough:
Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai, whose card is now used only on Wellington buses and at some retail outlets but which is based on a multi-modal Korean system and will soon be extended to taxis, says he would have no difficulties feeding it into “back-office” facilities supplied by Thales.…
Trains are Awesome!
A great photo I snapped in one of ARTA’s meeting rooms this evening:
It was taken at the opening of the Morningside station a few months back, with Steven Joyce, Oscar Kightley and some other guy. The caption reads:
Trains are awesome, love Oscar.…
Integrated Ticketing Contract Signed – at last!
After many many years of waiting, hoping, and much head-bashing against brick walls, today we finally saw the contract between Thales and ARTA signed to provide Auckland with a full and proper integrated ticketing system. Here’s the press release:
The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), in conjunction with its partner Thales and its funders the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Auckland Regional Council (ARC), today signed the contract to deliver a super transport ticket for Auckland.…
Is New Zealand Falling Behind the US? Part 2
Earlier this week I did a post about how the US is moving forward in their thinking regarding the place of roads in the hierarchy of their cities and the greater realisation of the link between a car dominated city and lower liveability.…
Northwest Busway – no future-proofing
The responses to a couple of parliamentary questions for written answer provide some rather depressing insight into the lack of forethought going into the currently planned upgrades to State Highway 16 by NZTA. Remember that $860 million will be spent over the next decade on widening this motorway – and not only does this upgrade not include provision for anything more than lame bus shoulder lanes (which inevitably will end just before any onramp, offramp or bridge overpass), but the design of the interchange between SH16 and the Waterview Connection will not even be future proofed for putting through a future busway.…
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