Banks officially making it easier to lend on apartments
Most of the banks in New Zealand have policies which make it harder to get a mortgage on an apartment (or sometimes anything that’s on a unit title, so terraced homes as well). They restrict lending on small apartments – less than 50 or 60 square metres, say – and require higher deposits.…
32 Comments September-2015 Patronage
Patronage results for September are out and once again there are some spectacular results, especially on the rail network which continues to be the star performer when it comes to growth. Total patronage for September was up 5.6% on the same month last year however included in that figures is a massive 21.7% increase in rail patronage.…
Gentrification and heritage buildings
K Road is changing. The city’s long-time boho heart is, in a way, sitting between a rock and a hard place. On the one side, there’s a city centre that’s bursting at the seams with university students and suit-clad professionals; on the other, post-gentrification Ponsonby.…
Photo of the Day: New Canadian PM takes Subway home on Election Night
New Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has wasted no time in clearly positioning himself as pro-city and pro-Transit with the release a series of shots of him using the Montréal Metro on election night. First Turnbull now Trudeau. Transit is obviously seen by these new leaders as a marker for broader policy; climate change, energy, infrastructure, and, no doubt, their accessibility to the people they represent.…
New Ferries on the way
Some good news for Ferry users with a number of improvements on the way.
New Waiheke Ferries
Fullers are spending $16 million to build two new 360 seat vessels for use on the run to Waiheke. The design will be based on the Te Kotuku which launched just over a year ago and incorporate modifications based on staff and passenger feedback.…
Sod Turning Day: Eastern Path and Southern Motorway
It’s sod turning day with two major projects officially kicking off.
Glen Innes to Tamaki Dr Shared Path
The most interesting of these is the start of stage 1 of the Glen Innes to Tamaki Dr Shared Path. When fully finished the path is bound to become one of the most iconic walking and cycling routes in Auckland – although it is going to have some stiff competition from the likes of Skypath and Seapath, The Westhaven Promenade and the Nelson St off-ramp.…
Pro Transit Liberals sweep to power in Canada
It has been encouraging to witness the change of PM in Australia to the pro-city and Transit using Malcolm Turnbull following significant elections at state level in both Queensland and Victoria going quite dramatically the same way. Now the Liberals have been returned to power in Canada what does this mean for city policy and transportation policy in particular?…
Closing the 18 month gap
Despite enabling works for the City Rail Link being on the cusp of starting we still don’t know just when the rest of the project will get the green light. Here’s the latest on the issue.
While they are yet to budge on the start date in recent months we’ve seen a noticeable change in the way the government talks about the project.…
Urban policies, economists, and anchoring bias
(Warning: this is a bit meta.)
As an economist, my job often boils down to helping people think clearly about issues. For example, the essence of good cost benefit analysis is being able to categorise stuff correctly – i.e. separating costs from benefits – and making sure that things aren’t being counted twice.…
Gabe Klein: Talks Start-Up City
A good interview from Streetfilms with Gabe Klein who is a former transport commissioner from Washington DC and Chicago about his new book “Start Up City”. The content will be familiar to those that heard Gabe talk at an Auckland Conversations event earlier this year alongside Jeff Tumlin.…
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