It’s Friday and we’re are the end of February already meaning here comes March Madness. Here too are some of the things that caught our attention this week.
This week in Greater Auckland
- On Monday Matt covered parts of a fantastic speech by Chris Bishop.
- Tuesday had Matt take a look at the funding announcement for removing level crossings
- There’s been a bit of noise from the Mayor about not understanding Te Hā Noa recently. We made a created a quick explainer.
- On Thursday Patrick asked Auckland, what is it good for?
This post, like all our work, is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join our circle of supporters here, or support us on Substack!
Road Lobby Tactics
New Zealand’s “road lobby” uses the same tactics as the tobacco industry to obstruct transport policies like walking and cycling, a new University of Otago study says.
The study, published in the Journal of Transport and Health, looked at submissions made to five different government consultations between 2020 and 2022 related to transport and emissions reduction.
The organisations dubbed as New Zealand’s “road lobby” are the Automobile Association, Motor Industry Association, Motor Trade Association, Transport NZ, and BusinessNZ Energy Council.
Submissions from the Bus and Coach Association and Energy Resources Aotearoa were also studied.
…..
Miller said these arguments often combined and became “circular” – effectively blocking policies that would shift transport away from reliance on private vehicles.
“We saw this overarching story, which went, ‘Yes, we think people should be encouraged to walk and cycle, but at the moment it’s just unviable for people to travel without a car because we don’t have good enough alternatives'”.
“But, in other areas of the submissions, there was lots of arguments saying, ‘well, we shouldn’t reallocate funding from roads, or road space, from cars to other types of transport – to walking, to cycling, to public transport – because we need to invest that money in roads to improve road safety outcomes'”.
“So then you kind of go around and make a circular argument, whereby nothing changes.”
These strategies are similar to those used by other powerful industries to resist a policy they don’t like, Miller said – like tobacco, junk food, or alcohol.
It’s funny how in refuting the claims, one of the road lobby groups did exactly the thing they’re accused of.
A spokesperson for the Motor Trade Association (MTA) said it advocates for their members and for motorists more widely and rejects any comparison to the tobacco industry.
The spokesperson said that the MTA supports emissions reduction for transport.
“It should be noted that the vast majority of New Zealanders still rely on and enjoy using private vehicles as a means of transport for work, leisure and essential purposes,” the spokesperson said.
City Rail Link reflects
In their latest video, they look at the last five years of construction for the Te Waihorotiu station
CityNerd and GA event was a success!
Last night we had a great turnout at the Ellen Melville Centre, where Patrick chatted with Ray Delahanty aka City Nerd about all manner of urban things!
If you’re interested in coming along to any events in the future, a great way to get free tickets is sign up to a paid subscription for our substack.
The return of the St James?
Council have again approved funding to finally restore the St James theatre
After years of delays and uncertainty about its future, the restoration of Auckland’s St James Theatre can finally continue after Auckland Council confirmed its funding commitment towards the project.
At a meeting of the Council Governing Body on Thursday, Councillors voted to grant $15 million to the theatre’s restoration, funds which they first committed to way back in 2016.
Since the theatre closed in 2016, the restoration has been held up and pushed back due to a series of obstacles concerning funding gaps and political doubt.
Work had initially begun on the restoration, however, in 2017 an adjoining apartment development that was set to contribute money to the project folded, putting the entire refurbishment at risk.
Elizabeth Line Success
The Guardian reports on the fantastic success of the Elizabeth Line in London which is already beating predictions.
Last month the Elizabeth line reached a milestone of 500 million passengers since it opened in May 2022. That figure has all but restored rail’s official passenger numbers to pre-Covid levels, fuelling the belief of those in the industry who forecast usage would boom again.
The well-heeled commuters from the stockbroker belt who once poured into London are yet, if ever, to return in pre-pandemic numbers, but the Elizabeth-line stations of Liverpool Street and Paddington have overtaken Waterloo in the list of Britain’s busiest.
From Paddington’s smart office development in west London, to houses, jobs and conferences landing near new stations at points east, such as Woolwich and Thamesmead, regeneration has been the story of the line.
In recent reports published by Transport for London (TfL) and the engineering consultancy Arup analysing the line’s impact – based on data that was yet to capture the full swell of passengers – more than 90% of customers said it had changed their area for the better. Nearly two-thirds said it had also made it easier to access jobs and employment.
TfL’s analysis shows that within a kilometre of an Elizabeth line station in London, the number of new houses is 8-14% higher, and nearly 400,000 jobs have been created since 2015. House prices around the stations have also increased sharply.
…..
About 35% of its passengers come from pure “abstraction”, in Department for Transport parlance: luring customers in from other lines, who might otherwise have commuted in on a Great Western train from Maidenhead, chugged through the West End on the Central line, or taken the far pricier Heathrow Express train to the airport. Another third of the passengers were already on TfL Rail, the outer London precursor subsumed into the Elizabeth line.
But almost 30% are people who would have driven or previously decided that the journey was not worth the effort.
It’s likely we’ll see similar success here with the City Rail Link.
New York Congestion Pricing Success
Speaking of success, the NYT reports that congestion pricing has also been successful so far.
New York’s congestion pricing plan raised $48.6 million in tolls during its first month, a strong start for the program that exceeded expectations and kept it on track to raise billions of dollars for the region’s decaying mass transit system.
The revenue figures, expected to be released publicly on Monday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, are the latest sign that the tolling plan is working, even as President Trump has moved to kill the program.
The M.T.A., which oversees the plan, expected to collect an average of $40 million a month in the program’s first phase.
The first month’s revenue will pay for $11 million of expenses related to setting up tolling cameras and other parts of the system, and environmental projects to address concerns about urban pollution that might arise because of changing traffic patterns. That leaves about $37.5 million that can be applied toward financing a slew of major transit repair projects, said Jai Patel, the M.T.A.’s co-chief financial officer.
…..
The revenue figures could further strengthen the agency’s case to continue congestion pricing. There has already been a substantial reduction in the number of vehicles entering the congestion zone, which runs from 60th Street in Manhattan to the southern tip of the borough. And travel has sped up along several heavily clogged roadways, bridges and tunnels throughout the region.
On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul met with Mr. Trump to defend the toll, armed with a 22-slide presentation showing that, in addition to the traffic benefits, commercial office leasing, Broadway attendance, and foot traffic in the tolling zone have climbed. Her presentation also cited a recent survey showing that a majority of frequent drivers into Manhattan support the toll.
The Brutalist Timezone
The Spinoff takes a look at Christchurch’s newish brutalist icon.
It’s become of one of Christchurch’s most famous landmarks online, but why? Alex Casey steps through the portal of the brutalist Timezone.
Ask anyone what Christchurch’s most iconic building is and you might expect to hear some of the dusty old classics like the Cathedral, or the Town Hall, or the Arts Centre. But for a growing number of locals, and hundreds of thousands of people obsessed with weird-looking buildings on the internet, a dazzlingly dystopian challenger has recently entered the arena: the “brutalist” Timezone entrance on Hereford Street.
A hallucinatory neon portal piercing through a 28-metre-high wall of concrete, the entrance to the central city Timezone arcade appears to elicit a powerful response in all those who encounter it. “I walked past this high as giraffe balls once and almost had a panic attack. Brutalist excellence,” recounted one visitor to the city. “I find this building deeply unnerving,” mused one CBD-dweller who works nearby. “It’s giving prison,” said another.
The Bike Bus
The Guardian reports on the revival of the Bike Bus in the US
It’s a movement, not a moment.” That’s the mantra from Sam “Coach” Balto, a former school teacher from Portland, Oregon who quit his day job to stoke a revolution called the “bike bus” – groups of kids and families cycling to school together.
How did one person in a mid-sized American city turn a weekly bike ride into something of a phenomenon? He leaned on the power of social media. In the past two years his videos have been viewed by hundreds of millions of people.
Riding bikes to school shouldn’t be a big deal, but it nearly became extinct in the US after decades of helicopter parenting, automobile-oriented cities and the epidemic of dangerous and toxic car traffic that accompanies them.
Like a scientist restoring a threatened species, Balto turned his passion for the benefits of physical activity in young people into a trend that has gone from his current home town in the Pacific north-west to the White House in Washington DC (where he was invited by former president Joe Biden to attend a holiday reception), and beyond. Today, Balto estimates there are more than 200 bike buses across the US.
Finally, a good reminder from councillor Julie Fairey.
If anyone tells you a cycleway is “gold-plated” and it doesn’t look as amazing as Quay St then tell them they’re dreaming. Most Auckland cycling infra isn’t even concrete plated, it’s paint plated.
— Julie Fairey (she/her) (@juliefairey.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T04:49:15.705Z
Have a great weekend.
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Enjoyed the event with CityNerd yesterday.
The Q&A was fun the “freight train issue at Papatoetoe” on the way home was less fun.
I mean, sure, I would’ve been better off waiting and hoping a train got through, but for the love of God can the 321 please run (a) after 7pm and (b) on weekends? There is absolutely no resilience in Auckland’s PT network if you want to go south from the CBD (or vice versa) without it. Yes, last night the trains were eventually getting through but there are unplanned functional shut downs all the time. Even he ability to just be moving is helpful.
I’m not sure it’s the most optimised no train, no 321 scenario but I was working with timetables so if I missed the best option that’s why… what I ended up doing was catching a 70 to Panmure, a 323 to Otahuhu and then the 33.
Obviously ysesterday I should’ve checked if there was a train rolling through Panmure but I forgot, only go see on from the 323. And equally obviously I should have just waited around at Britomart, but that’s not the point. There’s been plenty of times where the trains have been actually down and it was with too little notice for rail replacement busses. Luckily those previous occasions were before 7pm and on weekdays so the 321 was there.
Yeah, I’ve long said the 321 should run bigger span, weekend and perhaps more frequent, 20 mins all day.
Well I came in by car, and meh you didn’t miss a lot. There is a big ass parking garage only half a block down from Wellesley Street, so I only got to enjoy one city block worth of traffic. Overall it is quite surprising that you can actually pull this off at basically peak PM rush hour. (and yes I should have been charged some congestion charge for that)
I did consider coming in by bus but I have just one time too often learned the hard way to not do that. Public transport is a one-trick pony, and the trick is not “going to an event in the evening”. (a point which was mentioned in the Q&A).
Timezone timeslip is a bit deceptive. Streetview has got some then and now views to watch change. The views of the building from Cashel St and Worcester St are also very important and give a different result. There is already some striking street art on the façade, with space for more if no building happens.
Christchurch is the real poster-child for street art since the earthquake. Take a look at one of my favourites, the old multi-storey car park 185 Gloucester St from 2015, now demolished.
On the Elizabeth Line “house prices around the stations have also increased sharply.” That’s a bad thing.
Inside story for Timezone building – this was a really interesting conundrum for urban designers at council and the developers design team. Two options were considered, Option A was to have the building all the way to the street with ground level activation, but car parking at levels 1 to 3 up against the street. Option B is what you see, where the car park is sleeved by a future building. The call was collectively made to favor a long term outcome, one that reduced the visual presences of cars from the street.
While riding to work the other day I realised how far I end up riding to avoid Mt Albert Road. It seems crazy that AT has built new cycleways, some of which are very expensive, but still haven’t provided any new cycling facilities on the two main cross town isthmus arterials (Greenlane and Mt Albert Road).
How to they prioritise and sort these projects? Surely those two must be near the top of the heap by now?
YES – Greenlane and Mt Albert Rd’s are the most treacherous on the Isthmus for cyclists – I use the footpath for portion of these roads
St James redevelopment and restoration is long overdue, so great news. Hopefully it’ll bring some life back into the area.
I had a very long trip on the train this morning, 1st in a few years, giving me plenty of time to contemplate dwell times and acceleration/deceleration. Pulling up to the platform at Britomart was excruciatingly slow.
Fixing the trains feels like it’s taking a similarly long time.
Speed reversals for Auckland annouced today. Good on the govt for doubling down on this especially calling out the dumbest reductions like Pakuranga road (no evidence) and Weymouth Rd(extremely unpopular). This is democracy in action a majority wanted this and that’s what’s happening. Imagine what is possible if the majority wanted moar trains! It goes to show how important it is that we are honest and open with people about transport. People didn’t like the blanket approach the last govt allowed AT to take Blanketing all arterials down to 50 and blanketed the removal of 70kmh speed limits .
you want honesty?
cars are space-wasteful and inefficient at moving people, and you’re a classic example of the selfishness the alt right encourages. Your insular thinking is an example of why democracy is a failed system that represents money, not people. Democracy should not exist if people are only going to be misled to demand something that is empirically bad for them.
Mislead? We came to that conclusion on our own thank you very much. The Govt told us slower speeds were better but we the public rejected that, democracy at work. What’s selfish about it? How is reducing speed limits when the majority doesn’t want it not selfish? You’re the selfish one who wants to force lower speeds onto the unwilling. There is actually limited evidence to suggest lower speeds on the roads I mentioned were actually safer. So yeah it’s not selfish it’s only right.
“oh boo hoo, the poor oppressed car drivers can’t get to work 0.5 seconds faster because they have to slow down around a school, boo hoo hoo this is worse than what the nazis did”
do you even hear yourself you privileged nonce. I’ve had to do 2 hour round trips, 10km on foot, to go food shopping, every week for over two years. Try that on for size and then complain about how having to drive 10km/h slower is so oppressive and disadvantages you so.
And as usual, you cite ZERo evidence – because you have none, just “me go vroom vroom fast” compensating-for-something feelings. Typical of the “haves”, throwing a tantrum the minute they lose 1% of the slice of pie and feigning to be the majority because they’re a bunch of spoilt pasty brats.
Facts trump feelings. You’re wrong, and your concept of self-serving ‘it’s democracy when it agrees with me’ is meaningless. The experts must prevail; or are you in favor of antivaxxers running the health system and letting kids die of measles as America is trying?
https://journalofroadsafety.org/article/32265-understanding-the-role-of-speeding-and-speed-in-serious-crash-trauma-a-case-study-of-new-zealand
https://www.itf-oecd.org/lower-speed-means-fewer-road-deaths
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4382
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewinkless/2024/07/17/making-cities-slower-and-safer-for-all/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/large-majority-of-kiwis-want-slower-speeds-despite-government-policy-to-restore-raise-them/IG7XOVLSONCR5EBNO3K2ADEUYM/
That survey is total BS and you know it. I did some light reading they were all face to face interviews for 30 mins anyone who works full time wouldn’t have been included as these are generally the people who spend the most time using the roads. I also note the questions asked appear to be worded in a way to make sure it’s pro safe speeds. Where if you look at the black and white question “Do you want to reverse speed limits reductions since 2020 hey presto 66% in favour of that. https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/350074748/public-politicians-dont-lower-speed-limits
And yet, the results are what they are.
towradgi, you lot cry and throw a tantrum over having to go 10km/h slower, it’s pathetic when I’ve been doing 2 hour 10km weekly shopping round trips on foot for 2 years now. I know *real* inconvenience that the ideology of extreme car dependency has forced onto me for the “crime” of Not Driving.
And naturally you have nothing to back up your assertions but your own feelings, whereas I have done research. There are several citations that you should read in depth; hard evidence that reducing speed limits does not unduly increase travel time; does reduce congestion; does reduce air and noise pollution
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewinkless/2024/07/17/making-cities-slower-and-safer-for-all/
or shall I assume that you are in favour of increased rates of accidents, deadly accidents, and higher rates of asthma, heart conditions, and stroke risk caused by air pollution + the economic drain to the tune of $5 billion per year car insanity costs us? not that the boffins in NACT want you to know that.
The Vision Zero speed limit recommendations are based in reality. 30km/h where the main risk is hitting a pedestrian or cyclist – and the chance a person survives being hit by a car at that speed is 90%, as opposed to 10% for 50km/h. and that’s not getting into the reduced stopping distance and increased reaction time either – so 30km/h IS logical for any town centre and local streets in residential areas. 50km/h for where the main risk is side-on collisions with vehicles, hence why it should be the maximum limit in any built up urban area with frequent intersections or adjoining properties; this takes into account impact testing and injury/death risk since side on collisions. 70km/h for where the main risk is head-on collisions with other vehicles – rural single-carriageway roads. And 100km/h for where the only risk is collisions with infrastructure or vehicles moving in the same direction – highways with a barrier separating traffic flow. Not unreasonable at all. And it is also bad urban design to jam a car-sewer expressway into a simple arterial corridor; Te Irirangi, Pakuranga, and all the roads you love to hoon up and down at 70+ should be detuned to classic urban boulevards, not wannabe motorways.
https://abley.com/our-insights/speed-limits-casualty-outcomes
For a start lower speed limits are proven to REDUCE traffic flow as traffic often flows better at higher speeds. Yes they may do some of that mode shift stuff but that doesn’t apply to Auckland because our population is lazy. You’re basing it on someone else’s biased reports, you would have no idea how much speed reductions really slows down your trips as by your own admission you don’t drive. Let me tell you I’ve noticed my trips take much much longer after the phase 3 reductions can’t wait for those to be reversed! This is what the majority wants Burrower anyway you can jump up and down all you want you will NOT be able to stop Pakuranga road or Weymouth road from being raised you just can’t. I suppose I must feel some sympathy towards you as I know what it’s like for someone to let rip with their ideology ruining their agenda. (Experienced that when the majority told AT not to lower speeds and they just did it anyway hence the backlash and subsequent reversals). Anyway Suck It Up you cannot stop Pakuranga and Te Irirangi ones as they were extremely unpopular when they were lowered. Vroom vroom. https://centrist.nz/is-the-auckland-safer-speeds-campaign-based-on-a-flawed-study/
“For a start lower speed limits are proven to REDUCE traffic flow as traffic often flows better at higher speeds.”
Not a good start as there is plenty of research done into this, e.g.
https://nielsbenedikter.de/traffic/speedlimit30_EN.pdf
The “Centrist” as a source? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
but sure, yeah, don’t take the word of a subhuman non-driver such as myself! i’m a lesser being, of course, and me spending 2 hours on foot to go food shopping each week is nowhere NEAR as much an inconvenience as you getting home one minute later because a speed limit was dropped by 10kph. That’s worse than what nzi germany did, obviously!!!
/s
Turns out Towradgi was cooking the whole time. Like Reality Check Radio, you know what to do, boys!!
Milk that lolcow
Did you ever consider that many people who voted for National (or any other party) are not in agreement with all of their policies?
A lot of people voted National to give Labour a richly deserved kicking, not out of complete agreement with every on of their policies.
and look at the good that’s doing. the right lean fully into pandering to the wealthy and use populism + stoking up culture wars to give gullible people a target to get angry at and distract them from the fact they aren’t doing anything to benefit them.
the “centre-left”, if you can call them that, keep sliding further right to try and court a voter base that thinks anything to the left of their views is Communism, while insulting and alienating their actual and future voter base who sit more to the left.
more proof the human race can’t be trusted with democracy since it inevitably devolves into two-party nonsense and from there gives fascism a hand up, and the quicker the whole society thing collapses and we go extinct the better – especially if the current generation of greedy scumbags responsible gets to suffer as much as their victims
yawn…
Thanks Burrower I won’t take any word from you then. I’ll keep complying with the clown 30kmh speed limits watching everyone overtake me dangerously. Once the speed is reversed I will return to travelling at 50kmh and it’ll be no less safe if not more safe once it’s reversed when I factor in no dangerous passing. So what if Democracy is a popularity contest that’s the point, you just don’t like anything that doesn’t suit your agenda and want complete control. For example I think it’s total rubbish to be funding “free” school lunches with all that plastic packaging and waste but I’m in the minority so I just accept that and move on.
Interesting.
First your argument is based on “increasing speed increases flow” which is proven to be incorrect by mathematics.
And then you switch around and your argument becomes that you’re being dangerously overtaken.
Let’s see what your argument becomes when that’s refuted.
Oh wait, ‘majority’ of course.
Correct Wilbert, now suck it up democracy is in action. Nothing will stop Pakuranga road from rising. Vroom vroom.
The response you can expect from a 12 yr old.
And that’s another one exposed for not wanting to engage in a proper debate. E.g. when called out on the “increase in speed increases flow” fallacy, you just switch your argument.
Again, too bad because people will not be bothered reading your entries anymore, even if you make a valid point.
So in the end you’ll just be seen as a (minor) nuisance.
Good job.
Well Wilbert we will just agree to disagree on the issue that’s the beauty of democracy.
Just to call out the sad tweet from GA here about the Mc Villy road speed limit(BLENZ). Don’t weaponise blind kids into your lower speed agenda. I know it would require you to actually go to the school and find out just how the kids get home (every one of them is picked up in vans and cars) and the exit for the school is nowhere near the road. That’s just the driveway exit. Now I agree raising the speed limit is also just a waste as the speed limit for that road is irrelevant as everyone just decides their speed based on traffic they should really just remove the speed signs altogether. It’s just sad to see a respectable blog site lose sight of reality in their push for lower speeds elsewhere.
Well, I’ve now given you 3 chances to respond to your statement that:
“For a start lower speed limits are proven to REDUCE traffic flow as traffic often flows better at higher speeds”.
Simple mathematics has proven you wrong and your only response in the end is “we agree to disagree” and “that’s the beauty of democracy”.
The point is though that there is no “agree or disagree” or “democracy” involved. Unless you disagree with mathematics.
You can keep on dishing out your platitudes and keep on including other arguments but you’ve still sidelined yourself. I for one will skip your ‘contributions’ from now on.
Wilbert it seems you are confused I’ve already rejected the premise of your evidence/statement.
People also don’t like getting sent to the hospital because cars are traveling at unsafe speeds where drivers and pedestrians/children arent able to react in time
But yknow I think if there’s more people driving than walking, maybe we should only care about what drivers might want instead of anyone else, since democracy is just a popularity contest
Someone needs to get a “Miniluv” sign on that Timezone building
Kerrin Leone finally said something about transport hope to hear more
https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/02/28/mayoral-hopeful-kerrin-leone-auckland-wants-younger-vibrant-approach/
Sorry but Leone is just talking a whole bunch of waffle. “I’m passionate about a train to the airport”. That’s great but she hasn’t said if she would build it or even fund it. “Younger,vibrant” I mean sounds great and all but what does that mean. It just sounds like a load of waffle to try and gain votes from the unassuming.
“We’ve got to keep pushing for Maori and Pasifika leadership in this city” always had to be about race FFS. As a young Pasifika person this doesn’t entice me one bit to vote for her. Not that keen on Wayne either tbh. I hate when people make race their reason for election I will not be voting for her I want to move past all the race baiting and race based issues as it often puts us in a bad light. With all due respect Efeso (RIP) was not “close” he lost by quite a big margin despite many of us making a big deal about voting for him the silent majority had their say they don’t want rates to go up heaps which I understand with the COL.
Lol two comments of waffle