Weekly Roundup 27-September-2024

Welcome to the end of the week and the end of the month. Ready to “spring forward” to Daylight Saving Time this weekend?

As always, this post is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew. If you’d like to support our work and keep the posts coming, we welcome donations and rolling subscriptions – we appreciate our community of support! Also, if you’d like to write for us or have an idea for a story, please get in touch.

Our header image this week is the old Grafton Gully pedestrian bridge (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 5-0835).

The week on Greater Auckland

• On Monday, a lovely guest post by Nikki Goodson asked: could Auckland join the ranks of Swimmable Cities?
• Tuesday’s post by Matt looked at the Mayor’s musings about a Meola Reef bridge, and the questions this raises about what’s actually needed.
• Wednesday’s guest post by our fave Darren Davis outlined nine lessons from Perth – for Auckland or anywhere – on public transport.
• And yesterday’s deep dive editorial looked at recently released documents that show Simeon Brown ignored widespread concern about the impact of his Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, particularly the impacts on housing, urban development, climate, equity and ministerial overreach.

Events

The Great Debate: Queen St Must Evolve! at Q Theatre this evening, Friday 27 September, as part of the Aotearoa Festival of Architecture. (Alas, sold out already!). Doors open at 6pm, debate from 6.30-7.30pm, tickets $9.99.

The Auckland Heritage Festival gets underway this weekend, and runs from Saturday 28 September to Sunday13 October. This year’s theme is “Moana Oceania – the great connector”, and links the Pacific nations to Tāmaki Makaurau, with over 130 events to enjoy.

Who keeps cities running?

This week saw a vigorous conversation about requiring workers to return to the office, in part to reinvigorate city businesses – kicked off by the government decreeing that flexible working conditions are not an “entitlement”. Tell that to the thousands of civil servants who’ve recently been disentitled/ flexed right out of their jobs. Several social media wits also noted this was a bit rich coming from a Prime Minister who once led people to believe he was working from Te Puke when he was in fact holidaying in Hawai’i.

News outlet Stuff asked the reasonable question: how much civil servants could be expected to spend if they returned to the office five days a week?

It was not straightforward to answer because it was likely workers may not be able to put their money towards a coffee and a scone, or a takeaway lunch, thanks to the rising costs of commuting into the CBD.
…
First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the cost of commuting was definitely recognised as one of the key factors that influence people’s choices.

“What could be the game changer here is the proposal for capped fares which could encourage more use of public transport and most importantly a shift by those not yet using public transport.

“The big issue is the reduction in discretionary spend due to inflationary pressures, but concerns about job security which is keeping money in people’s wallets.”

A follow-up article featured Wellingtonians who work from home saying “they would suffer additional financial burdens in having to return to the office, with many citing parking, petrol and public transport costs.” Yet another piece explored the lemons-to-lemonade phenomenon of cafes and specialty shops migrating to the ‘burbs and finding a whole new customer base, with one wine-bar owner saying:

“When we told people we were going to open in the evenings, people in Ngaio were so thrilled some hugged us.”

Meanwhile in Auckland, Heart of the City’s Viv Beck urged Auckalnd Council to lead the way on making its staff return to the central city offices.

Auckland Council says it has no plans to do that, with CEO Phil Wilson pointing out the obvious:

[Wilson] said the general rule was to be in the office for a minimum of three days a week – but a council was not a typical office. “We’re a pretty big regional entity, and we’ve got a lot of jobs that are not office-based, and a lot of jobs that are only requiring to be based in the office for some of the time. Lots of people out in the field, building inspectors, lots of people who don’t have the luxury of working outside the office, in our libraries, our pools and our parks.”

Despite that, office occupancy rates across council’s four buildings – only one of which is in the CBD – are more than 80 percent. The council has also saved $34 million by reducing “unnecessary office space” and applying “smarter working principles”.

In baffling news, busy new shopping centre near airport jams airport access roads

Lots of reporting this week about the opening of the new outlet mall near the airport, Mānawa Bay.

Travellers warned to expect delays around Auckland Airport as new outlet centre opens, presaged RNZ on Saturday, followed by Thousands flock to Auckland’s newest mall on Monday, followed by Traffic jams cause delays at Auckland Airport on Wednesday. As the latter story notes, a key problem was airport staff getting stuck in traffic:

Auckland Council said the mall had to meet several conditions relating to access, parking and traffic circulation and there was a detailed transport assessment as part of the consent process.

However, the board of Airline Representatives said baggage handlers and crew had already been caught in the traffic bottleneck. Executive director Cath O’Brien told Checkpoint the outlet mall’s busiest times would be the same time as the airport’s peak times. “It will be busy around Christmas and Easter and school holidays, which is unfortunately exactly the same time for Aviation and travel. It’s busy around the airport.”.

There was only two ways into the airport precinct, from the north and the south, and these roads were becoming blocked and congested, she said. “Staff are getting caught up in those traffic jams as they try to get to work.”

The NZ Herald on Sunday ran the poignant headline Motorists baffled after new Mānawa Bay mall next to Auckland Airport causes traffic chaos. Truly, nothing more baffling than trying to drive somewhere at the same time as everyone else and finding yourself stuck in traffic. Most mysterious!

The Mānawa Bay website notes that you can also catch the bus, although it drops you off a ten-minute walk from the mall itself, and unfortunately the bus stop locations aren’t shown on the mall’s maps. Could you bike there? Great question! Luckily the Herald story included this tweet:

Nelson businesses leading a low-carbon commute initiative

As Stuff reports, any town can tackle climate-changing transport emissions to make a difference, and the town of Nelson is doing just that:

They make up 93% of Nelson household greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and about 60% of the city’s GHG emissions overall. Now an initiative is underway to help reduce Nelson’s transport emissions, with some of the city’s biggest employers on board.
The scheme aims to help commuters switch to low emissions modes of transport to and from work. Surveys are set to go to nearly 3,500 employees under the “low-carbon commute” project, led by Mission Zero – an initiative from Nelson-based charitable trust, Businesses for Climate Action.
…
While paddle boarding was the project’s “mascot”, the Nelson City Council-funded initiative was “obviously not serious about people paddle boarding to work”, [project manager Marta ]Karlik-Neale said.

“The message we’re trying to portray through that is that the commute to work doesn’t have to be a drag, it can be fun. It can be active, it can be your exercise for the day … rather than sitting in traffic in a car.”

What old tram lines can teach us about successful bus routes

A great read from two great ambassadors for public transport: New Plymouth-based Suraya Sidhu-Singh, and Whanganui-based Anthonie Tonnon. With New Plymouth set to roll out a three-year trial of high-frequency bus services, the two write about what Whanganui has learned:

To understand what a high-frequency bus route should be like, we can look back to frequent routes we once had: Trams. They kept to high-density areas, avoided loops and went out-and-back along the same roads. Their routes were straight, simple and easily described.

Whanganui is a third smaller than New Plymouth. Last year it introduced a bus that runs every 20 minutes, Te Ngaru The Tide. Bus use in Whanganui doubled in The Tide’s first year. Crucially, The Tide’s route is out-and-back along the same roads, sticking to main roads and higher density. It largely follows former tram routes, where density remains from the days businesses and residents flocked to be near them.

The other thing that’s key to rapid public uptake of public transport – and we heartily agree: “best-in-class promotion and marketing”.

Buses should be easily identified with eye-catching livery. Bus stops and shelters will need upgrading, with vibrant, route-specific information.

A strong, visual campaign must ensure everyone knows about the new bus, including letterbox drops to those near each stop. Bus cards (Bee Cards) must be made easier to get hold of.

In the run-up to its launch, you couldn’t turn around in Whanganui without seeing a poster, flyer, billboard or clearly flagged bus stop advertising the new bus

Pothole fast-track endangering workers and potholes?

Also from Whanganui, a story about potential pitfalls of the Minister’s desired fast-track 24-hour approach to fixing potholes – with potholes quickly filling with water in persistent rain, and safety for workers potentially compromised to keep traffic flowing. (Emphasis added).

On September 18, about 10 potholes on State Highway 3 Carlton Ave were repaired by NZTA to meet the Government Policy Statement on land transport, with an expectation a greater number of potholes on state highways would be identified and fixed within 24 hours.

Two days after the repair job, the Chronicle photographed the repaired potholes, which had visible gaps and were filled with water.

In response to questions about whether the repairs had failed, NZTA regional manager of maintenance and operations Rua Pani said the volume of traffic on Carlton Ave increased the risk of the road failing during extended periods of wet weather, such as had been experienced lately.

“Crews were on-site on Saturday making temporary fixes; however, with further heavy and persistent rain [on Sunday], it’s anticipated further temporary fixes will be likely,” Pani said.
[…]
The road remained open while the potholes were being repaired, with the Chronicle observing contractors dodging traffic to fill the holes.

Pani said a risk assessment was carried out first and the safety of roading crews and road users was the main priority when determining what traffic management was needed. In this case, other crew members were monitoring for oncoming traffic.

“The contractor has completed an ‘on-foot risk assessment’ and based on the input of the risk assessment, it was deemed suitable not to have temporary traffic management set up at this site. “The need for safety as the main priority is also balanced with the desire to minimise disruption to road users, ensuring efficiency for travel.”

Work to ensure potholes are no longer dominating New Zealand’s roads is an ongoing project promoted by Transport Minister Simeon Brown.

Good points about safe speeds

While we await the release of the finalised Setting of Speeds Rule (and whether it will include the key safety caveat “where safe to do so”), a media release from Lucinda Rees of Safer School Speeds brings a fresh angle. It calls on the Minister to “get tough on road safety”, because “vulnerable road users have a right to live without fear and intimidation”:

“Children should have a right to make their way to school independently without fear or intimidation on the roads. There has been a lot of talk about gangs and the damage they do, however arguably more Kiwis face regular threats on our roads. The Minister of Transport is clearly ignoring this, by proposing to raise speed limits. Children will be most at risk from this.”

And a good point made by Jonathan Milne in this tweet (the linked article is here)

Bikes just keep rolling

Active Travel England – the UK government agency whose mission is to lift the number of journeys made by walking, wheeling and cycling by 2030 – has a new website, featuring design guidance, case studies, and other resources for councils looking to improve their street networks. We like their motto “happier, healther, greener“. They may want to add “more efficient and highly cost-effective“, as future-proofing against a change of political weather…

Related: an interesting read from Auckland Transport’s head of cycling, Adrian Lord, about the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG), which has been instrumental in establishing a bipartisan long-term approach to planning for active transport.

One of the great achievements of the APPCG, particularly Lord Berkley, was to embed cycling into the 2015 Infrastructure Act that set out some long-term investment priorities for the nation. This was an attempt to overcome the ‘stop-start’ funding cycle that occurs with changes in government. […]

New Zealand is plagued by the three-year political cycle, and in Auckland we also have local body elections a year before the general election, so really only two years with any semblance of stability. It is not an environment for successful long-term planning and delivery, as noted by the former head of the City Rail Link.

Unfortunately for cycling in the city, the tide is sweeping in, with the double whammy of local and national political opposition and sweeping funding cuts for all things except new roads. Hopefully we got the timing right, and that enough things are ‘committed’ or in construction to keep momentum, but as I’ve been brutally reminded this week, even things we’re in the middle of building can be stopped when a few rogue individuals and sympathetic staff are willing to over-ride our systems.

It’s funny how when money is tight, the cheapest and most universally accessible modes of transport are regarded as ‘nice to have’ and the most expensive, most damaging, most hazardous and least efficient mode is ‘essential’.

Another week, another e-bike subsidy scheme – this time, in Queensland. As Bicycle Network reports:

The $1 million E-Mobility Rebate Scheme provides e-bike buyers with a $500 rebate towards the purchase price, provided their new ride meets the criteria.

Rebates are on offer for electrically power-assisted cycles (EPAC) with a maximum continuous rated power of 250 watts that cuts out when the rider reaches 25/km/h, or stops pedalling. Power-assisted e-bikes are also eligible, but power output is limited to 200 watts and they must not be capable of travelling faster than 6km/h when the user isn’t pedalling, and 25km/h when they are.

Also on offer are $200 rebates for eligible e-scooters.

The scheme is a part of the Queensland’s Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy 2022-2032, and is another sign of growing recognition that e-bikes have a key role to play in the transition to net zero.

Speaking of e-scooters: Auckland Council has re-upped its agreements with Lime and Flamingo to run fleets of rental scooters on city streets. Although we are wondering: whatever happened to Lime e-bikes? Those were super handy.

An allocation of 3000 scooters across the city will be split between the two operators from November 4 — with 1800 in and near the city centre, and 1200 in suburban areas.

Busy enough for four-lanes but not for tolls?

Waka Kotahi are currently consulting on tolls for two roads currently under construction, the Tauranga Northern Link and Te Ahu a Turanga, the replacement to the Manawatu Gorge that was closed in 2017 following major slips.

In both cases local residents are opposed to this and saying it’s unfair. In the case of Te Ahu a Turanga, they’re questioning the numbers used to justify it.

The plan to charge motorists $4.30 and trucks $8.60 a trip has come under heavy criticism from people in surrounding areas, who have waited years for the new highway to open.

The NZ Transport Agency has released its tolling assessment for the new road under the Official Information Act. It includes a section on compliance under “legislative requirements and practicality test”.

One of these requires that, for a road under consideration for tolling, “not less than 10,000 vehicles are likely to travel the road per day”.

Transport agency modelling forecasts 10,902 vehicles a day using the road in 2025, rising to 14,250 a day in in 2048.

But the figure of 10,902 requires a huge increase from the traffic counts available and Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis says the transport agency’s number don’t add up.

When the old State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge closed in 2017 due to rockfall, it carried 7600 vehicles, including 1100 trucks a day.

A traffic count provided to RNZ from 2019 showed 5565 vehicles used the alternative Saddle Road on a particular day, and 1944 used fellow alternative the Pahīatua Track. Of those 7509 vehicles, about 11 to 12 percent were trucks.

We recall reading about locals pushing for the road to be four-laned, claiming it was about future-proofing for growth. The work done as part of the decision to four-lane the entire project is probably what Waka Kotahi are using to justify the tolling, which is somewhat ironic.

We’ve also seen locals opposing tolls on Penlink, despite this having been planned and discussed as a toll road for decades. This raises the question of whether tolls should really be included into the business cases process, rather than discussed when the road is nearly finished. Tolling would change how viable some of these big road projects really are, and confirming it at the start of the project sets expectations with locals. This could be a kind of “no tolling, no road” deal.

Embracing te reo Māori across the transport network in Tāmaki Makaurau

A nice piece by Te Ao Māori news about Auckland Transport’s efforts to embed te reo alongside English and NZSL in its announcements and signage. The video accompanying the story includes the “soothing whaea voice” of Josy Peita, whose dulcet tones you’ll be familiar with if you regularly catch the bus or train. Also some nice vox pops from members of the public.

AT head of Māori outcomes Lillian Tahuri says the company’s reo journey started in 2016, with Auckland Council’s Māori language policy. “It’s been a journey from zero to where we are now – we’ve got 100 per cent of our reo dual signage in all [of] our train stations, bus stations, on all of our platforms and ferry terminals.”
Tahuri explains that 97.8 per cent of AT’s audio is bilingual, as some of the stops are too short to have audio in both languages.
The team says it is grateful for mātanga reo such as Pania Papa, Leon Blake and Sir Tīmoti Karetu for their hand in bringing this vision to life.
Te reo Māori is also being implemented in cycleways, footpaths and infrastructure buildings.
Of the city’s 1.7 million population, Tahuri says an estimated 300,000 people use AT’s networks each day, and the public response has been overwhelmingly positive.“We even [have] our own staff excited to be sitting on a bus hearing Josy – [her] soothing whaea voice.”

Bridge to the future

With all the talk of massive bridge projects lately, it’s easy to forget we just used to “chuck ’em up, bro”. This is the second Grafton Bridge, in a colourised image (original held by Te Papa) by Tales of NZ on Facebook. It came to us via the excellent City Centre Residents Group newsletter. Where would you put one of these?

Looking west from Grafton across Grafton Gully towards Symonds Street, showing the footbridge leading to St Martins Lane and the Symonds Street Cemetery (centre). The bridge was removed in September 1904.

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