Improving Ponsonby Road
Ponsonby Road is, in many respects, a really great and successful street. There’s a huge number of cafes, restaurants and other great shops along it. It generally feels pretty busy and successful and so forth. Even compared to other somewhat similar places like Parnell it feels a bit more lively, a bit less ‘forced’ somehow.…
29 Comments Sorting out North Shore buses
For a number of years I had the misfortune of being stuck catching Birkenhead Transport buses between the North Shore and the city – for university or work. Now there were many good aspects about Birkenhead Transport buses: such as the smallness of the organisation which meant you often knew the driver.…
How to pay for these rail projects?
Somewhat unsurprisingly, many commentators have been quick to write off Len Brown’s transport vision for Auckland as impossibly expensive, ‘pie in the sky’ aspirations. Some of the criticism has come from predictable sources, like David Farrar’s Kiwiblog:
Len may think he has a mandate for the rail – and he does if the ratepayers of Auckland who voted for him are willing to pay for it.…
Road use falling
As an interesting counterpoint to Auckland’s booming rail patronage, it’s interesting to look at NZTA’s data for traffic numbers throughout September 2010. The graph below shows the general trend in traffic growth over the past 20 years – a pretty steady increase until the last few years when it has really levelled off (perhaps due to rising petrol prices?)…
Rail patronage skyrockets in September
The September ARTA monthly business report has been uploaded to Auckland Transport’s website, and the patronage statistics in particular make for spectacular reading. Here’s a summary of the report: Two things in particular stand out: the 27% increase in rail patronage from September 2009 and the (obviously somewhat related) 25,000 passengers who took advantage of free trains on the weekend when the Newmarket viaduct was closed.…
Len Brown’s inauguration speech
NZPA report parts of Len Brown’s inauguration speech at the Auckland town hall this evening:
In his first address at the first Auckland Council meeting, Mr Brown said it was time to stop imagining how to improve Auckland’s transport system and other infrastructure and time to start acting.…
The end of ARTA
As well as Auckland’s councils being replaced by the Super City as of today, we also see the end of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority and the beginning of the new Auckland Transport. ARTA have put together a useful report showing their major achievements over the past six years, and also information on where things are likely to go next.…
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