The papers relating to the Auckland Transport Board meeting are now online, there is a lot to go through but I thought I would put some of my initial thoughts up and I’m sure Admin will as well. Looking initially at just the business report here are some things that piqued my interest (note: this doesn’t include everything from each section)

2.3 Public Transport

  • A record 33% of the crowd were carried by special event rail and bus services to the Big Day Out at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday 21 January. This equated to 30,000 trips and was a 20% increase over 2010

  • Redesign prior to public consultation of new Isthmus and CBD distribution bus services including the City Circuit and LINK in preparation for Rugby World Cup (RWC) is being finalised.  A briefing of the Waitamata Local Board has been undertaken.
Wow that seems like a pretty good result and a large percentage of people taking PT to an event which is good to see. It will also be interesting to see what changes are made to CBD buses, perhaps the 005 will be fixed for admin.
2.5 Parking and Enforcement

  • The contract for the project to replace and upgrade operating equipment in the major car parks (Project Arizona) was executed on 16thDecember 2010. The project is now focusing on detailed design, with the main designs including network and infrastructure, control room, cabling, interface, process and reporting. These are estimated to be completed by mid-February
Surely it would be a smart idea to install a system that would work with the new Hop card, that way it could speed up the process for people getting into and out of carparks. It also means that more people would have a Hop card which breaks down a barrier for them to try using PT in the future
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There is quite a long list of works that are either in the investigation & design stage, in progress, out to tender or out to tender shortly. I won’t list them all but living out west those are the ones that interest me the most are
  • Received tenders for detail design of Swanson Park & Ride.

  • Great North Road – New Lynn Town Centre detail design has been tendered.

  • Preliminary design for Lincoln Road corridor improvements has been tendered
Lincoln Rd will be particularly interesting as it is quite busy, especially in the mornings.
We also get some information on PT facilities that are out to tender.
Public Transport & Facilities
  • Glen Eden Train Station Carpark Upgrade to be tendered this month

  • Hibiscus Coast Busway Station, formerly known as Silverdale Park & Ride physical works to be tendered in late Feb/March.

  • Sunnynook Bus Station Pedestrian Cycle path physical works to be tendered in late Feb/March.

  • Hobsonville Ferry Terminal Upgrade physical works to be tendered in late March.

  • Birkenhead Ferry Terminal Upgrade Inner Berth physical works to be tendered in late March.
The Hibiscus Coast busway station is the most interesting thing on here, I wonder if that would relieve some pressure on Albany meaning it doesn’t need to be expanded quite so quickly.
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The business report has a lot of detailed information in it which is great but it does seem to miss one key thing I have been wanting to see for some time, PT patronage data. We haven’t seen anything on this except for a few statements in media releases (or the comment about the Big Day Out) since September. I would have though the board would be interested to see this considering it will likely be a big part of their job.
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