Mighty River Rail: A Fresh Future?
Looking at a number of separate but current issues got me thinking about the possibility of the return of passenger services on the existing rail lines through the Waikato. These include: The potential appeal of well connected and well designed satellite towns.…
114 Comments The Road Marking Dance
A neat video showing two clearly experienced guys painting doing road marking.
Note to AT, see how easy it is to mark a street, perhaps you could get some people doing the same thing but instead of saying BUS STOP they could also paint the words BUS LANE.…
Low Traffic Forecast For Costly Warkworth Toll Road
This is the fourth in a series of posts based on the Campaign for Better Transport’s submission to the Puhoi to Warkworth Board of Inquiry. The full presentation is over at bettertransport.org.nz
Previously I pointed out that the NZTA produced Traffic Assessment Report for the Puhoi to North Warkworth Toll Road (PNWTR) is not realistic in a number of areas: Traffic growth assumptions for the corridor aren’t based on current trends
Growth assumptions for Warkworth aren’t based on the Warkworth Structure Plan
The forecast number of trips “further north” is overstated
No growth has been assumed for Matakana
No toll tariff assumed for the new $760m toll road It is very hard to appreciate the significant combined effect of these erroneous assumptions, so I’ve modelled the outcome in this table:
The more realistic input assumptions mean the result is 56% less traffic on the toll road, and 50% more on the existing SH1 than NZTA’s forecast.…
Photo of the Day: Lorne St
A quick shot of Lorne St in front of the library. It appears Brobdingnagian gardeners have dropped by with some seriously big pot plants. I love them!
About the only criticism I every heard about the shared space in Lorne St was the lack of greenery.…
Easter PT shutdown
It’s Easter weekend and that invariably means the rail network is shut down for works.
Auckland Transport advises the rail network will be closed for Easter and there are changes to timetables for buses and ferries during the holiday break.
Friday 18 April (Good Friday) and Monday (Easter Monday) 21 April are public holidays, therefore buses and ferries will operate on a public holiday (Sunday) timetable.…
The Downside of Park and Ride
Flicking back through older Atlantic Cities posts led to one from last year about Park and Ride catching my eye. It’s a fairly well reasoned cautionary tale which highlights the pitfalls and potential perverse outcomes from something that would appear to be a good thing that encourages public transport use.…
Photo of the Day: Red III
Learning Your Stripes, 2013, Regan Gentry, Papatoetoe. Commissioned by Auckland Council aer…
Labour focuses on minor transport issues
Labour released a small part of their transport policy yesterday and frankly it’s absolute rubbish with it seemingly designed just to target a handful of complainers. You can get a good feel for what they’re aiming at when the policy is called Easier Driving and with the slogan accompanying the policies is
Labour will make it easier to get a family holiday on the roada
The three things this release says they will do are: The issue
Trailers and caravans
Currently, owners of light trailers and caravans must pay an annual licensing fee (usually referred to as ‘registration’) of $28, plus a $7 administration fee.…
Safer driving will lead to cheaper insurance
Warning, this post may sound a bit like an advertisement.
Last week I got invited to find out a new product from Tower insurance that’s launching today that they hope will not only lower car insurance costs but also help make driving safer.…
Miss out on tickets to the EMU launch?
Did you miss out on tickets to be one of the first to ride electric trains next weekend and do you want some? If so then you may be in luck. Auckland Transport have given me three double passes to give away.…
Processing...