That Southeast RTN
As I have mentioned in a couple of recent posts, I am extremely worried that a lot of the work going on at the moment in planning important transport projects (like AMETI) and large-scale land-use planning projects (like Flat Bush) is ignoring one of the most important pieces in the puzzle of sorting out land-use and transport planning in a huge swathe of Auckland: its southeast.…
28 Comments Buses must be faster
In Auckland transport circles, a lot of attention is given to the rail system, and in particular what is wrong with it, what upgrades to it are underway and what upgrades to it are planned (or should be planned) in the short, medium and long-term future.…
Northland Rail
Last Tuesday before the budget I got a call from a reporter from the Herald asking my opinion on the Government’s rail announcements. I told him if he told me what they were, I’d tell him what I thought! He asked my opinion on the Government’s decision to close the North Auckland Line (this isn’t what the Government actually proposed) and my comments appeared in this article: Fears for Northland rail link
By Mathew Dearnaley
Transport campaigners are concerned that mothballing the rail line to Northland would reduce options for diverting freight from Auckland’s congested Auckland waterfront.…
Auckland Transport to be in Henderson
Some interesting decisions on where the different parts of the new Auckland Council, including where Auckland Transport will be located, have been released. Here are the details: Perhaps one of the most worrying things about the Auckland Council being largely based in the CBD and Takapuna, while Auckland Transport is in Henderson, is that the ‘divide’ between the two agencies may be reinforced through the physical distance between them.…
NZTA wrecks public transport
A few months ago NZTA released its “Draft Farebox Recovery Policy” for comment and submissions. Naturally enough I made a submission, pointing out the stupidity of having a set 50% farebox recovery ratio while accepting the need for better control over the quality of public transport spending.…
April 2010 Patronage: steady growth
ARTA’s April 2010 monthly business report is out, and the patronage news is solid, if not spectacular. Here’s a summary of the April report: As we can see from the long-term patronage graph below, April 2010 is a big drop from March 2010 – but that is typical, because of school and university holidays.…
Can we actually “fix congestion” (and should we even try)?
As I blogged about a few days ago, I am reading the book “Still Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion” by Anthony Downs. This book is probably the most in depth look at the causes, and potential solutions to, traffic congestion that I have ever come across.…
Gareth Hughes on Transport
Green MP Gareth Hughes’s speech on the 2010 budget: This bit is particularly good:
“Just one more win, and then I can finally quit.”, “Just one more motorway, then we can relieve congestion and finally stop building them.” But one motorway leads to another, then another, until we are building motorways to solve the problems caused by the other motorways.…
Len Brown’s CCO Plan
With all the hoopla surrounding the various piece of legislation that are leading to the creation of the Super City in Auckland, it’s easy to forget that the election is only a few months away now, and in less than six months we’ll be living in the “brave new world” of a single-council Super City.…
What is the point of the 004 bus?
Living in Herne Bay, I catch either the 004 or 005 bus into town each morning, and again either the 004 of 005 bus home again in the evening. There’s not much difference between the two routes, except that the 005 extends all the way to Westmere, whereas the 004 route terminates at Herne Bay.…
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