Weird Herald article trying to rewrite history
There’s a fairly long and quite rambling opinion piece in today’s NZ Herald, about transport in Auckland and particularly about the relatively poor quality of the city’s public transport system. There’s nothing particularly surprising about this, and the article’s look back at Auckland’s transport history – in particular the tale of Mayor Dove-Myer Robinson’s rapid rail proposal – is a useful reminder about how efforts to improve Auckland’s rail system have generally found huge public support.…
17 Comments The problem with obsessing over congestion
I have recently got hold of (for the second time) Paul Mees’s first book: A Very Public Solution. While it has many similarities with his most recent book, Transport for Suburbia, there are early parts in A Very Public Solution which give a good overview of the “transport situation”, setting the scene for why we need better public transport and – the main focus of the book – what better public transport might actually entail.…
Exciting progress for Harbour Bridge pedestrian link
Just over two years ago I had one of most awesome mornings ever, as along with thousands of others, we took back the harbour bridge for people – even if it was just for an hour or two: One thing that stood out for me that day was just how utterly beautiful Auckland looked from a pedestrian’s perspective crossing the Harbour Bridge: That day’s crossing was effectively a protest against NZTA’s stupidity in not allowing a proper celebration of the Harbour Bridge’s 50th birthday through the provision of an organised pedestrian day, as well as the long-term unfairness of not being about to walk or cycle across the harbour.…
Postcard from Norway – The rose of Scandinavia
My first encounter with the socio-economic supernova that is Scandinavia began as a naive eighteen year old kid from Waiuku who landed in Sweden, having randomly decided to see what life was like on the other side of the world. In the ensuing 12 months I picked up the language, some rudimentary – if still dangerously erratic – ice-skating skills, and many dear acquaintances. …
An amusing cartoon
From yesterday’s Dominion Post:…
Tolling motorways to fund City Rail Link?
An article in the NZ Herald yesterday talked a bit further about the different options being looked at to fund Auckland’s transport projects over the next 10-20 years.
Aucklanders could pay between $1 and $3 to drive on the city’s motorways to pay for the inner city rail loop and a new harbour crossing.…
Northern Busway saved from HOVs
Over the last couple of years there have been some worrying rumours circling around that high-occupancy vehicles would be allowed on the Northern Busway. This leads right back to the original resource consenting process, which allowed up to a set number of these vehicles to be allowed on the busway.…
Designs for Massey North released
With the Hobsonville Motorway and its accompanying extension of the Northwest Motorway opening last weekend, a whole pile of land developments around northwest Auckland are likely to kick into action over the next couple of years. One major development will be a large employment centre, known as Massey North, located on land just to the north of the current Westgate Shopping Centre.…
The stupidity of our parking regulations
There’s a story in today’s NZ Herald about a kindergarten that is probably going to have to be shifted in Pt Chevalier, disrupting the lives of many many families – all because of our stupid parking requirement rules:
The early childhood education of more than 200 children is up in the air following plans to bulldoze an Auckland kindergarten – so the land can be turned into a carpark.…
How should we allocate transport funds?
With a general election later this year there should hopefully be some good debate about transport matters. A lot of this will inevitably revolve around projects: City Rail Link of Puhoi-Wellsford? In Wellington, Basin Reserve Flyover or light-rail to the airport?…
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