Council makes important funding decisions
Councillors on the Auckland Council are having a pretty busy month at the moment. Not only are they wading through listening to many hundreds (possibly thousands) of submitters on the Auckland Spatial Plan, but they’re also making really critical funding decisions about the 10 year Long Term Plan.…
15 Comments Shedding light on Auckland’s population density
Last night’s post about Eric Thompson’s silly NZ Herald article highlighted one unresolved matter – the question of “what is Auckland’s population density?” I noted that according to Wikipedia, the urban density of Auckland is around 1250 people per square kilometre whereas Demographia states a density of around 2,200.…
Where to start?
I’m not quite sure how to approach this particular opinion piece in the NZ Herald today by Eric Thompson. There are just so many plain errors in the piece, so perhaps it’s worthwhile starting with a factual examination of some of the assertions:
Taking money from the $1.7 billion highway between Puhoi and Wellsford and ploughing it into Auckland so that Magda can shop in Newmarket and then pop across to Britomart smacks of pandering to city dwellers when most New Zealanders don’t live in cities and need to drive to get anywhere.…
October PT Patronage – more records broken
Much like September, the Rugby World Cup helped to boost October public transport patronage to some pretty impressive levels, especially for the rail network which had over 1.2 million trips, a new record. The monthly PT patronage report has all the details, and here’s a summary:It’s pretty impressive to see that we’re closing in on 70 million trips as our 12 month rolling total.…
The proposed “middle rung”
A presentation by National Road Carriers Inc (who seem to be a trucking lobby group, although not quite so rabid as the Road Transport Forum) to the Auckland Council Transport Committee last week highlighted a roading project which has gathered quite a bit of support in recent times.…
The strange new real-time signs
Over the past week or so, a series of new real-time signs have emerged along the Outer Link bus route (and potentially in other places too). The signs are very different to the old ones – and require you to pretty much stand right in front of them to see when your bus is coming: While it’s certainly nice having this information, I must say that I vastly prefer the traditional signs – for one simple reason:
You can see them while sitting down in the bus shelter
Like most people, I tend to read a book, listen to music, check emails on my cellphone or other stuff like that while waiting for the bus.…
Postcard from Greece
Greece has been in the news a lot lately, for all the wrong reasons. Having travelled through Greece on my way back to New Zealand, I felt compelled to add a personal (and more positive) spin on Greece’s fortunes.
My first few days were spent in Kalamata, where I spent much of the time huddled beneath an umbrella trying unsuccessfully to avoid the blazing sun, while playing backgammon and sipping on iced coffees.…
The Avondale-Mt Roskill Spur
A lot of discussion around Auckland’s rail network is focused on large and very expensive projects. Much of this is justified as the next obvious places to expand the network (the City Rail Link, Rail to the Airport, a North Shore Line and a possible Southeast Route) will bring huge benefits, but at significant financial cost.…
Removing the Kink in the Link
I’m currently living in a flat in Parnell. One of my flat mates Laura works on Ponsonby Road and wants to catch the Inner Link to work.
Unfortunately, her bus journey from Parnell to Ponsonby is made intolerably long by the “Kink in the Link” that occurs through Newmarket. …
Papakura Station Upgrade
One key element of the rail electrification project is that the wires only extend as far as Swanson in the west and Papakura in the south, whereas services currently go to Waitakere and Pukekohe stations. Furthermore, with a full EMU fleet it is not possible to intermix diesel and electric trains, meaning that all services from Waitakere and Pukekohe (or beyond) will need to terminate at Swanson and Papakura, with passengers transfering onto regular services to continue their trip. …
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