Wellington PT study and RoNS info released
Some big news out of Wellington yesterday with the release of the Public Transport Spine Study as well as more news on the Basin Flyover and Duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel. Both are actually fairly intricately tied together. Here are the two press releases from the NZTA about the spine study (why did we need two). …
170 Comments The impacts of Vancouver’s Skytrain
30 years ago Vancouver didn’t have a passenger rail system. Then in time with the 1986 expo they built their first skytrain line, initially between the Waterfront and New Westminister. Other lines and extensions were made later to give the network that exists today.…
Tamaki Transformation Strategic Framework Released
The Tamaki area is one with so much potential yet so far has failed to live up to that. There have long been talks about redeveloping the area and it seems that something might finally be about to happen. Almost a year ago the government and the Auckland Council formed an urban redevelopment company to oversee the transformation of the area.…
Further evidence the cost-benefit analysis is too narrow
A couple of weeks back the NZ Institute of Economic Research released a paper which looks into the traditional cost-benefit analysis used for appraising transport projects and asks the question of whether the current process fully recognises all the costs and benefits of those projects.…
Selling our old trains
One on-going question that has been bubbling away quietly in the background is what will happen to our train fleet once electrification is completed and we have all of our new electric trains. We know that we are not going to need them to run services past Swanson as Auckland Transport are going to close Waitakere.…
Population Growth Continues to be Questioned
Groups like Auckland2040 bemoaned three storey terraced houses as potential “highrise” slums that will end the world – if they are allowed near rich beach side suburbs of the North Shore or high amenity areas of the isthmus – have become a common theme since the consultation on the Unitary Plan began a few months ago.…
New Network Consultation Starts This Week
The current bus network is a convoluted mess, akin to someone having thrown spaghetti onto a map. Last year in the draft Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP), Auckland Transport announced that they would be fixing it with what I think is a fantastic new network.…
Future Competitiveness of Cities
You would expect a mega corporation with the name of Citi to be interested in how cities function – and it appears they are. The banking giant has an initiative called Citi for Cities which while obviously channel for their business, also provides some interesting information on cities.…
Houston: We Have A Problem
One chart for all you Sprawlistas out there that keep arguing that Houston is some kind of role model for Auckland’s growth: From Wiki, here. I figure this is self-explanatory. The dispersed spatial pattern of Houston is the single most expensive and inefficient type of urban form possible, but it can function there because of a set of specific local factors, including that Houston is at the centre of a largely flat plain without geographical constraints like, you know, two harbours.…
Improving the PT user experience
Public transport systems in cities all around the world comes in many different shapes and sizes. However there seems to be one thing universal to them all, the locals who use them daily always think they can be better. There are systems in some cities that we would dream to have in Auckland but it doesn’t make them perfect.…
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