Auckland Transport – not secret after all?
In the last couple of weeks I have mentioned a few times my concerns that Auckland Transport was going to continue the “ARTA tradition” of operating in secret – with the general public not having a clue what goes on at their various board meetings.…
3 Comments “Operation Lifesaver” discussed in parliament
I’m never quite sure whether to be pleased or completely freaked out when something that I largely wrote ends up being discussed in parliament’s question time. Thanks to Peter for pointing out a discussion on the Puhoi-Wellsford Road in parliament yesterday that ended up discussing the “Operation Lifesaver” alternative to the hugely expensive “holiday highway”.…
Holiday highway advances
The next step in the process of constructing the Puhoi-Wellsford “holiday highway” road of national significance was taken today, with NZTA announcing a preferred route alignment between Puhoi and Warkworth. Interestingly, it seems that geotechnical difficulties are delaying Warkworth to Wellsford section, so it might be a while longer before we find out the preferred alignment for that part of the road.…
Toll motorways to pay for rail?
There’s an interesting opinion piece in today’s Herald by Alan Griffith – a former director of finance for the Tauranga City Council – on motorway tolling and the funding of rail projects.
One thing Mr Griffith does very well is outline the argument for why roads should pay for rail – something I have argued repeatedly in recent times:
Why, you ask, should road traffic fund rail development?…
Useless buses
I don’t complain too much about my regular bus service – because, generally, it is pretty good. In the year and a half or so that I’ve been catching Herne Bay buses I could probably count the number of seriously late morning buses on one hand – mightily impressive for Auckland.…
Spreading the load
One of the most wasteful elements of building new roads and widening roads for peak traffic is that you end up building a level of infrastructure that is vastly beyond what a city needs for around 20 hours of the day – meaning that you have excess capacity for around 148 out of 168 hours a week.…
“The Listener” on Len Brown’s rail plans
The latest version of the “Listener” magazine (the November 20-26 edition) has a lengthy and very interesting article on Len Brown, based on an extensive interview. In addition to the main interview article there’s a shorter piece that focuses particularly on Len Brown’s rail plans – and how they are an interesting ‘flash-point’ of debate between Auckland and Wellington.…
Is Parking too Cheap?
There was a great interview of parking expert Julie Anne Genter on National Radio this morning. You can listen to the interview here. While I’m generally quite aware of what Julie talks about, two things particular stood out for me in the interview: That for most non-residential uses in Auckland outside the CBD, the parking requirements will generally require a greater amount of land be dedicated to parking than the actual land-use itself.…
Temporary pedestrian spaces
Another great Streetfilms video shows the amazing impact that pedestrianising a street over the summer months in Queens, New York City, can have on the surrounding neighbourhood: While I’m as sick to death with hearing the phrase “…for the rugby world cup” as anyone out there, I think we do have the opportunity with next year’s tournament to try a few things for the first time.…
The delicate balance of stop spacing
A fundamental question to think about when designing either a bus route or a train line is “how far apart should the stops be?” A very useful post on Human Transit explores this matter – and points out an interesting tension between the advantages of closer spacing and wider spacing: Wider stops boost speeds and therefore probably boost patronage as catching the bus or train becomes a more attractive option – thereby improving its economic efficiency.…
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