What if we don’t build the CBD Rail Tunnel?
Work on the review of the CBD Rail Tunnel’s business case must be reasonably well advanced by now, with cabinet due to make a decision on the “where to from here” question in April, so that any government support of the project can be plugged into the figures for the May budget.…
24 Comments Congestion Pricing
Since I wrote a post about congestion pricing/charging a week or so ago, a post has emerged on the excellent Human Transit blog, and Streetfilms have also put together a video on the issue: As I noted in my previous post, I’m somewhat agnostic about congestion pricing.…
London’s unfinished motorways
A reader of this blog sent in a link to a really interesting and useful (and somewhat quirky) video on London’s unfinished motorways. I found myself, when watching the first few minutes of the video, somewhat annoyed that it seemed to be repeating many of the same old assumptions about building motorways – but in the end it offers a really helpful and insightful look at the need to find a balance between getting people around a city while not destroying the quality of that city.…
Next harbour crossing: bridge or tunnel?
We’ve been waiting quite some time to hear about NZTA’s latest review of whether the next Waitemata Harbour Crossing should be a bridge or a tunnel. A few years back this debate was pretty much settled, with the preferred option being a set of tunnels.…
Doing fares smarter
Last month, when Auckland Transport announced that it was raising rail fares (the rise kicked in this week), I was fairly nice to them about it. Of course nobody ever likes a fare increase, but in the long-run we do need to align bus and rail fares – and doing that through a slow series of increases to rail fares (while keep bus fares steady) is probably the most realistic way to achieve this outcome.…
Patronage growth – why hide the good news?
One extremely annoying thing about the new “Auckland Transport” is that they have discontinued ARTA’s tradition of publishing a breakdown of monthly public transport patronage data. While at some level this is could be seen as merely an annoyance for public transport nerds like myself, I think there’s a bigger “public relations” reason why we need more patronage data more frequently – and that is we need to sell the success of public transport to both the public and also (perhaps more particularly) to skeptical central government politicians.…
General thoughts on transport in Sydney
I’m writing this post on the plane coming back from Sydney to Auckland (will obviously post it later than this though). It gives me a bit of an opportunity to put together some thoughts on Sydney’s transport system. Many people say that Sydney is like Auckland’s big brother: there are many similarities like the harbour, the bridge, the tower, the natural beauty and so forth.…
Rudman on govt’s Spatial Plan papers
Herald columnist Brian Rudman has also picked up on the growing tensions between Auckland Council’s and central government’s, vision for how Auckland should grow and develop over the next 20-30 years.
Auckland’s future, as outlined in the papers issued by Local Government Minister Rodney Hide, is a rather different vision to that envisaged by the mayor.…
Lincoln Road Interchange Upgrade
When thinking about the Western Ring Route the most common thought is about completing the Waterview Connection however there is also another bit part of overall project and that is widening SH16 from St Lukes all the way through to Westgate. …
Sydney Buses – not just for commuting
Well we arrived in Sydney yesterday, and because the weather was so fantastic we headed to Coogee Beach for a bit of relaxation and to enjoy the weather. While we were in a friend’s car, it was interesting on the way back to see how many people were using the bus network to get from the beach to wherever they live.…
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