2013: A year in review – Part 2

In Part 2 of my 2013 year in review I’m going to look at transport other than PT so that includes walking/cycling and roads. Walking/Cycling 2013 has been a bit of a mix when it comes to active modes. There have been some good things happen however in my opinion simply not enough has been done and from what I’ve heard (but haven’t confirmed) Auckland Transport spent well less than they had in the budget for cycling which is extremely disappointing.…
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Right on Queue

Right on queue we get a full page spread from the Herald about traffic queues. Wet weather, a serious crash and the post-Christmas rush combined to bring bumper-to-bumper congestion on long sections of highways and travel misery to holidaymakers. Police described some traffic as a “rolling carpark” and urged calm as queues of up to 20km yesterday greeted motorists escaping Auckland, in the holiday hot-spot of the Coromandel Peninsula and north of Wellington.…
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Big solutions are not always best

This great video from Santiago shows that when dealing with issues the best solution doesn’t always have to be something massive and expensive but that sometimes quick, cheap and often counter-intuitive solutions can solve the problem. It’s pretty impressive that blocking people a single gate on one platform (along with a person to operate it) can improve the passenger capacity of a station by 15% and enable increased train frequencies.…
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The Waterfront in 1982

The other day TV1 played a fascinating video from 1982 – 31 years ago – looking at what the potential future of the Auckland Waterfront was. What surprised me was just how similar it was to either what has happened or is in current plans.…
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Expect the roads to be busy

Ahh Boxing day, the day when two of the major NZ pilgrimages occur. Either to the shops or hitting the road to head to beach towns around the country in the lead up to the new year. If you are doing any of these activities then it pays to remember that you’re not the only one so drive safely out there and expect there to be traffic and delays.…
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