NZTA’s new “Investment Assessment Framework” – a (small) step in the right direction
The new Government Policy Statement sets a bold and far more balanced policy direction for transport in New Zealand than we have seen for decades. Its strategic direction is based around four key objectives: As well as setting the balance of funding across different areas, the other important thing the GPS does is identify the policy priorities that NZTA must give effect to through their funding decisions.…
40 Comments Build a PT bridge and get over it
We believe the harbour crossing should be public transport and active only bridge. Here are a few key reasons why.
Why another road crossing is dumb idea
This is something we’ve talked about a number of times before. The most recent plan for another harbour crossing comes from 2011 and in a nutshell, the new crossing would be for traffic travelling past the city centre and the existing Harbour Bridge would become a glorified off-ramp.…
Flashback Saturday: How transport policy affects location choice
Each weekend we dig into the archives. This post by Stu was first published in September 2017.
When we talk about transport, it’s natural for our minds to focus on moving people from A to B. That is, we tend to think about how to meet the demand for travel between locations, assuming that the demand for being in those locations is unaffected by the transport policies that we implement.…
The Unitary Plan is working
One of the often criticised goals from the original Auckland Plan, and subsequently the Unitary Plan was the council’s desire for a 70:40 split in housing development. Translated, they essentially wanted 60-70% of all growth in housing to occur within the existing urban area.…
Cities in the Year 2000 (chapter 1)
Note: this 6-part series is now complete; here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. I suggest reading on a desktop, as the screenshots of the pages should be large enough to read (hopefully).
In 2013 or thereabouts, I bought a book from a second hand bookstore in Tirau.…
End of Wynyard Tram shows how light-rail has evolved
Earlier this week the Herald reported that the Wynyard Quarter tram will shortly cease operation, with no clear indication about whether it will ever be revived: The Dockline Tram is due to halt its service from next Monday, August 6, as the area gears up for a busy period of construction work.…
NW Light Rail – use Gt North Rd or Motorway
On Saturday, the Herald raised the issue of how light rail to the Northwest will reach the city.
The Weekend Herald can reveal that the suburbs of Pt Chevalier, Grey Lynn, Arch Hill and Karangahape Rd are on the route being considered by the NZ Transport Agency.…
August-18 train timetable change
On Sunday 26 August new train timetables come into effect. The biggest change is the introduction of long overdue improvements to weekend frequencies. Although they’re still not frequent enough to meet Auckland Transports definition of frequent services as part of the new network which is crazy given rail is considered a backbone of our PT network.…
Why we can’t have nice things: a look inside the black box of traffic engineering decision making
A new research paper has helped shed some light on why we continually seem to see substandard and delayed street outcomes from Auckland Transport that completely ignore Auckland’s agreed political and policy goals. It reveals a complex and dysfunctional decision making process that might be representative more generally of the institutional inertia that exists at AT.…
Ridesharing is Making Traffic Worse
One of the promises of ridesharing applications like Uber and Lyft has been that they will help increase vehicle occupancy levels and reduce congestion. However, it seems like the opposite is happening and they are actually making traffic worse. This from the Boston Globe:
One promise of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft was fewer cars clogging city streets.…
Processing...