Sunday reading 12 July 2015
Matt Yglesias, “Here’s what the world would look like if every country had the same population“, Vox:
Maps are a great way to illustrate the world, but I’ve always been fascinated by maps that illustrate worlds that might have been. To me, redditor frayuk’s new map of the world divided into 200 countries with equal populations hits both of those bugs.…
7 Comments Housing Preference trade offs
There have been many issues in the debate how Auckland should develop and a lot of it comes down to preferences and in particular housing preferences. On the one side of the debate there are those – who are often baby boomer generation or older – who claim that no-one wants to live in an apartment and that we all want big standalone houses.…
Panmure Public Piano
Brilliantly someone at AT has thought to install a piano at Panmure Station. Passing through in the afternoon lull it was really great to hear random members of the public bashing out tunes. Some were really good too. No one attempted Rach 3, and there were a few repeats of Chopsticks and wonky versions of Fur Elise, but there were also a couple pretty handy players.…
Close the (freight) rail network?
Yesterday the Treasury released documents related to the government’s budget announced a few months ago. One that has gained a lot of attention is the suggestion from Treasury that the rail network – with exception of Auckland and Wellington – be shut down. …
The economics of fare policies, part 2
The announcement of Auckland Transport’s new fare policy made me curious about the economics of fare policies, so I’m taking a quick look at them. In part 1 of this series, I argued that 100% cost-recovery isn’t a realistic goal for public transport.…
What’s happening with VKT?
We’ve talked for some time now about how people have been choosing to drive less and how it’s a trend that has been noticed across much of the developed world. The increases in how far we’d travel in cars were so predictable you could almost be safe betting you’re house on them.…
Jack Tame on housing
In the herald in recent times one of the strongest media voices calling for a better urban environment, for density done well and many of the other topics we talk about has been Jack Tame. He’s currently filling in for Mike Hosking on ZB (and Seven Sharp I believe) and his piece yesterday on housing was fantastic and well worth a listen.…
Movies or houses
A decision by the council’s Development Committee has been pitched as a battle of whether a 20ha block of land at Hobsonville Point should be used for housing or a film studio and is the outcome of competing visions for the land from two council controlled organisations.…
Reviewing Road Projects
Post implementation reviews (PIRs) are an important step to seeing whether projects achieve what they were intended to and to learn what can be improved for future projects. Every year the NZTA conduct PIRs on a sample of projects and for a few years now the NZTA have been publishing the results online.…
A Lesson from Buenos Aires on Explaining the CRL
A video from Buenos Aires with a great visual style explaining the benefits of a rail project that will open up the city’s regional rail network much in the same way the City Rail Link will for Auckland. It’s clear enough that even if like me you don’t speak Spanish, you can understand what’s proposed.…
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