The two-sided density dividend: Agglomeration economies in *consumption*
Why are people – both in NZ and around the world – increasingly choosing to live in cities?
The answer usually advanced in response to this question, at least from an economic perspective, is “agglomeration economies”. In this post I want to unpack a few things about agglomeration economies, before discussing why I think our current understanding places too much focus on production as opposed to consumption.…
84 Comments Herald confirms our electric trains are quiet
The Herald yesterday ran a story on just how quiet the new electric trains are. In a polar opposite there was a lot of noise on twitter about how the article was initially presented but after getting past that it provided some really useful information on just how good these trains are.…
Photo of the day: Problem not a lack of roads
This photo from Lennart Nout on Twitter today of the morning peak shows that the problem with traffic in Auckland isn’t a lack of roads. During the off peak and during times like school holidays there is more than enough capacity available on the roads. …
Mahurangi Matters on the Puhoi Warkworth Board of Inquiry
To date there has been limited media coverage on the Puhoi Warkworth Board of Inquiry.
Fortunately Karyn Scherer, from the local Warkworth newspaper Mahurangi Matters, is one of the few reporters attending the BoI. She writes in her opinion piece:
As someone who lives not too far north of where the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway is likely to terminate (or originate), I should be eagerly awaiting its completion. …
How rail was saved in Auckland
Next Monday will be a historic day for transport in Auckland as for the first time the city will have electric trains carrying fare paying passengers. Electrifying the rail network is something that has been talked about for 90 years, mostly in conjunction with a version of the City Rail Link. …
Disney’s 1950’s vision for roads
I’ve posted this before but following on from my post this morning, this video from Disney in 1958 shows the kind of vision that has dominated our transport and land use planning for such a long time. Some things mentioned in here have actually come true or seem close to doing so while others I’m very thankful that haven’t.…
Just another $500 million
The herald this week ran a large piece on the projects under construction as part of the Western Ring Route (WRR) including aerial photos of the progress. The projects covered were: The Waterview Connection breaking it down by: The Southern end
The Northern end
The Waterview interchange The raising and widening of the Northwestern Motorway Causeway
The Te Atatu Interchange
The St Lukes Interchange
The Lincoln Rd Interchange But the thing that got me about the article was this part
The 4.8km link between the Southwestern and Northwestern Motorways will fill the last-but-one gap in the 48km Western Ring Route.…
High St Crossing Fixed
You might remember a post from a while ago where Kent outlined a slightly silly situation at the top of High St. He noted pedestrians wanting to walk along Victoria St were forced to wait out a full cycle of the lights to cross with the Barnes Dance… even when traffic was behind a red signal and pedestrians could safely cross regardless.…
What to do with the Civic building
News this week that the future of the council’s civic building is uncertain once the council move out of it later this year and move to the old ASB tower on the corner of Albert and Wellesley St.
The future of New Zealand’s first skyscraper, the 100m tall Auckland Council Civic Administration Building, is in the balance.…
AT Bouquets and Brickbats from the severe weather
There’s a lot that Auckland Transport do that we criticise them for and I so always like being able to give them praise when they deserve it. As such this is just a quick post to say that I thought their communication on Thursday about the impacts of the severe weather were good – at least on twitter anyway.…
Processing...