More route simplification – New North Road
It was very useful to see the discussion that my post on simplifying the Sandringham Road bus routes generated, generally more on the positive side that we need to focus on creating a system that is easy to understand and which has good frequencies and connectivity; rather than a system that has a tonne of routes that run once a day, but might provide you with an option that requires less of a walk to get there.…
10 Comments Are we really “saving time” when investing in transport?
A couple of days ago I posted about my worries that the true benefits of the CBD rail tunnel: such as its ability to transform Auckland’s city centre and its ability to allow further development of the rail network – may not be being fully taken into account in the current business case analysis for that project.…
Auckland Transit Blues
An interesting article on Auckland’s public transport system in the Canadian newspaper –The Globe and Mail:
Auckland transit blues
Toronto’s main business lobby, the Board of Trade, recently called for the outsourcing of public transit services to private companies, part of their free advice to the next mayor on reducing the city’s deficit.…
The need to simplify bus routes
A key aspect of ‘the network effect’, which I have blogged about quite a lot in recent times, is the need to simplify route structures. Auckland’s current bus system looks very much like someone threw spaghetti at a map, a million different routes going all over the place – with the key thing being that because there are so many bizarre routes, they can only be run at fairly low frequencies.…
Measuring the benefits of the CBD rail tunnel
In a few months’ time the business case for the CBD rail tunnel will be completed, and we will see just how well the project ‘stacks up’ in terms of being value for money. There’s no doubt that it’s an expensive project: with a likely cost of at least $1.5 billion (similar to Waterview Connection and the Holiday Highway), so therefore assessing its benefits is crucial.…
The T2 lane disease spreads…
As if the introduction of HOVs on the Northern Busway and the elimination of bus lanes along Dominion Road wasn’t quite enough to drive public transport supporters crazy, now it seems that North Shore City Council has caught the “T2 lane disease”, and has not only recently resolved to turn two of its existing T3 lanes (lanes only for buses, cyclists and vehicles with three or more occupants) in T2 lanes: Forrest Hill Road and East Coast Road.…
MAXX finally joins the 21st century
The MAXX website, which is the “front-door” for many people’s experience with Auckland’s public transport system: working out when their next bus/train arrives, downloading timetables and finding out about service disruptions, is slowly dragging itself into the 21st century with some useful steps to make it easier and quicker to find out when your next bus is.…
Analysing the Dominion Road bus T2 lane issue
It is good to see that I’m not the only one out there who picked up on Auckland City Council’s absolutely crazy recent decision to ruin the bus lanes along Dominion Road by allowing T2 vehicles into them. On Friday last week, the NZ Herald ran a story on the issue, which included some quite interesting parts:
Buses are at risk of losing their supremacy in Auckland City’s most established commuter bus lanes, along 4.5km of Dominion Rd.…
Getting the “QTN” right
As I noted in a recent post about ARTA’s “Regional Public Transport Plan“, I support much of the thinking behind their three tiered hierarchical route structure that they are seeking to achieve, which has three main levels: A backbone Rapid Transit Network (RTN) which is comprised of railway lines and busways;
A middle-level “Quality Transit Network” (QTN) which supports the RTN by providing high quality public transport in areas the RTN can’t reach – in short extensive bus lanes with high frequency services (in my mind at least);
The supporting Local Connector Network (LCN), which are our more typical buses, but probably running shorter routes to feed into the RTN or QTN.…
Perth looks at Trams
While the recent announcement of the reintroduction of trams in Auckland, via a small heritage tramway in Wynyard Quarter, is in some ways the smallest possible step towards trams playing a large role in meeting Auckland’s future transportation needs, it’s interesting to see some of the plans being discussed in Perth, Western Australia at the moment about the role that modern trams may play in their public transport future.…
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