The Alternative Funding Discussion
Yesterday Radio NZ aired a panel discussion Len Brown, our Patrick Reynolds and David Shand – who was a member of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance and chaired the 2007 Independent Commission of Inquiry into Local Government Rates. The discussion was focused on the issue that is likely to occupy a lot of space for the next six months or so, alternative transport funding.…
56 Comments The importance of expensive apartments
Apartment development in Auckland often seems to be caught in a Catch-22. When we build cheap apartments, they’re criticised as a blight on the city – “shoeboxes” that nobody would ever want to live in. (Never mind that many people do live in them, and value the fact that they are an affordable way to live near jobs and universities in the city centre.)…
Bike Parking Tokyo Style
A neat little video from Toyko of some bike parking.
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/B6ImCewIAAAi4xn.mp4…
Auckland vs Perth rail comparison updated
Yesterday in Peter’s post about building missing modes, reader Greg N made the following comment about his use of a graph we’ve been using for some time.
That Perth v Auckland graph is getting pretty “last decade” – its now 2015 – we’re halfway through the next decade, (2010-2019) and we have over 12m people on the trains and they’re now partly electrified like Perths was in 1991.…
Time for a different approach to the Long Bay problem
It seems that every year during the Christmas/New Year break thousands of Aucklander”s flock to Long Bay to enjoy the sun, sand and water. Every year we also hear about the congestion that ensues as thousands of vehicles try to get into a carpark that is quickly overwhelmed.…
Not Shopping by Car
In my predictions for 2015 I didn’t include that a elected official would make a fool of themselves but I should have – although in hindsight I guess it was inevitable. What can’t be predicted was that it would happen barely a few days into the new year.…
What will happen as we build our “missing modes”?
Last year I started to take a look at demand for new transport investments. I found that demand for toll roads has massively underperformed, showing that people are unwilling to pay for new roads. On the other hand, demand for new public transport facilities has taken off more rapidly than projected.…
Postcards: Street Facing Units
One of my favorite aspects of Vancouver urban design is the way that buildings meet the street. This reminds me of classic urban neighbourhoods of New York and Philadelphia with their stoops or the humble porch of bungalows and cottages across California.…
Postcard from South Africa #1
Greetings from Durban, South Africa, where it can get very hot and humid (apparently 44 degrees and 80% humidity on Christmas, although I wasn’t here for that) and the thunderstorms are pretty impressive (fork lightning is badass).
Naturally occurring electricity is one thing, but the manmade power grid is another.…
The 2014 Road Toll
With another year over the road toll is once again in focus, especially after the toll in 2013 was the lowest in over 60 years. In total 297 people lost their lives as a result of road crashes which is up from 253 in 2013.…
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