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.…
19 Comments 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?…
Guest Post: User Pays or Carbon Tax?
This is a Guest Post by regular commenter Patrick Reynolds.
In 2007 the Transport Minister Labour’s Annette King formalised NZ’s excise tax on petrol as a hypothecated tax for the National Land Transport Fund. This means that the tax is only to be used for funding transport.…
Harbour Crossing Alternative: further thoughts
The feedback on yesterday’s blog post about my suggested alternative to another motorway harbour crossing has been quite interesting – and perhaps a little more mixed that I had anticipated. For a start, it’s probably worth clarifying that I don’t think a railway line between downtown and Takapuna is a particularly high priority for Auckland: I would put it behind the City Rail Link, rail to southwest Auckland (including the Airport), busways along State Highway 16 and in the southeast, as well as a huge overhaul of our existing bus network.…
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