Wow we’re in May already and with ANZAC day last Friday we skipped the round up so here’s a bumper crop of the things that have caught our attention over the last two weeks.
The last few weeks in Greater Auckland
- On Wednesday last week we ran a guest post from Darren Davis on public transport fares in Queensland.
- For Thursday last week Matt took a look at the announcement on progress towards a Northwest Busway.
- On Monday Matt covered some of the other big road transport project announcements from the week before
- On Wednesday we ran an open letter by Dr Bridget Doran on the question of politics and professional ethics around the new speed rule.
- Yesterday Connor continued coverage of Auckland Transports unilateral last minute changes on Project K.
City Centre Advisory Panel comments on Project K and the CCMP
Auckland Council’s Budget Committee held an open workshop on Wednesday, hearing from regional and advisory panels on the 2025/26 Annual Plan. One of those presenting was Scott Pritchard, the independent chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel and Chief Executive of Precinct Properties.
One thing that came up was Project K and the unilateral last minute changes AT is trying to do, with Councillor Richard Hills asking about the “the frustration of going through all those workshops and consultation with a really good plan that you supported and your members supported very highly for it to be changed almost completely, like it doesn’t look anything like what it was” and the impact of this.
Pritchard’s answer revealed a lot:
Look I’ll provide a personal lens on this. I was asked to come and chair this committee, as an independent, and I’ve done that for the last two and a half years. Put simply I’ll do that if I feel like I’m being heard. And the other nineteen members of the panel will continue to do it if they feel like they are being heard.
And so we participate in consultation and we provide our views and we hope that the advice we give is heard and that that is for the benefit of the city.
If that no longer happens you’ll find the effectiveness of panels such as ours, they won’t attract the members and they won’t attract the intellectual horsepower that the council might rely on and benefit from.
So when changes like this happen to Project K having gone through significant amounts of consultation and volunteers like us have spent a lot of time providing advice, that’s very frustrating, and ultimately it will undermine the value of these types of panels if those sort of things continue to happen.
And ultimately, its not getting the best out of a $5 billion piece of infrastructure.
It’s incredibly short sighted.
Electric Buses for the WX1 and a new 12 route
Last Sunday Auckland Transport launched some positive changes to buses in the Northwest including upgrading the WX1 to use electric double deckers and the new 12 route which improves on the old 120 service with better frequency and a faster route.
West Aucklanders now have a more efficient and environmentally friendly way to travel, after Auckland Transport (AT) launched a new fleet of 44 electric buses on Sunday to better serve a rapidly growing population.
The new buses, including 26 double-deckers, will run every ten minutes on AT’s WX1 Western Express frequent service from Westgate to the city centre via the Lincoln and Te Atatū bus interchanges.
Over coming months these brand-new electric buses will also replace diesel buses on the 11T, 11W and 12 routes.
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Auckland is leading the way for electric bus use in Australasia
“One of our key targets is that by 2030, we want all buses coming into the city centre to be electric,” AT’s Infrastructure and Fleet Specification Manager, Edward Wright, says.
“And right now Auckland has more electric buses, 224 of them to be exact, than any other city in Australasia.
“Each of these new double-decker electric buses can fit 100 passengers, and we have boosted capacity on the WX1 service by an additional 7,333 seats every weekday, and 51,000 seats every week.
“We’re adding another 31 electric buses to our fleet by the end of June. By August next year, we will have a fleet of 450 electric buses, which is around a third of the 1350 buses that operates AT’s services.
“Longer term, we have plans in place for Auckland’s bus fleet to be fully electric by 2035,” he says.
New frequent bus service also added to the network out west
AT’s Head of Public Transport Services and Planning Development, Pete Moth, says AT has also implemented a new frequent bus service in west Auckland.
“We have replaced the old 120 service with the Frequent 12 service. This new route links Greenhithe and Constellation Station on the North Shore, and unlike the old service, it will run along the motorway instead of residential roads – meaning faster journeys for most users.”
“It will initially run every 12 –15 minutes in peak times, and every 30 minutes at off-peak times. Once necessary charging facilities are in place, route 12 will run at least every 15 minutes, 7am-7pm, 7 days a week,” Mr Moth says.
Matt covered the changes to the 120 in this post, noting that the journey time from Greenhithe to Constellation station more than doubled at peak times due to buses getting caught in congestion. The old route is now covered by the new 902 service.
So he’s put together a quick chart comparing this part of the journey with the new 12 service which uses the motorway. The new route is (on paper) considerably faster than the old one, especially at peak times.
If anyone uses the 12, how have you found the change?
Easter Rail Shutdown Finished
Auckland’s two week Easter rail shutdown is over and trains are back.
Teams undertook upgrade and renewal works at more than 80 sites across Auckland’s rail network during the two-week closure. About 900 workers continued to deliver an ambitious programme including major infrastructure projects, as KiwiRail and Auckland Transport (AT) ready the rail network for the faster, more frequent train services the City Rail Link (CRL) will bring when it opens next year.
The rail elements of the Wiri to Quay Park (W2QP) Third Main project are now complete and entering the operational readiness phase. This critical project on the Southern Line separates passenger and freight trains on the busiest parts of the Auckland network.
“Despite some appalling weather, all projects we’d planned for the 16-day shutdown are now complete after KiwiRail teams successfully managed a large amount of work safely within tight deadlines,” says David Gordon, KiwiRail’s Chief Capital Planning and Asset Development Officer. “I’m really proud of our hard-working staff and contractors who gave up their Easter and Anzac breaks to make a big dent in the upgrade and renewal programme needed before the CRL can open.
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Other highlights of the April rail works include:
- Completion of the construction of the Wiri to Quay Park (W2QP) Third Main Line, now ready for its operational readiness phase
- Completion of Quay Park signals commissioning, successfully concluding all W2QP signalling works
- Progressing the final stages of Rail Network Rebuild (RNR) focused on priority areas of the Southern Line, between Wiri and Papakura
- The final stages of the Middlemore Station redevelopment
- Ongoing work on the Western Power Feed in Glen Eden, which will add greater electricity capacity to the network in Auckland, boosting its resilience and allowing for future growth
- Progressing construction of new train stations at Drury Central, Paerātā and Ngakoroa in South Auckland
- Commissioning signalling at Quay Park
- Building a third platform and additional tracks at Henderson Station, as well as continuing the upgrade of the lifts as part of AT’s station improvements
- Undertaking weather proofing maintenance at Newmarket Station
- Soundproofing works at Waitematā (Britomart) Station
- Maintenance work across Auckland, including replacing rails, turnouts, sleepers and ballast.
The Easter rail closure in stats:
- More than 80 sites
- More than 900 people
- 60% of Rail Network Rebuild Upgrades (RNR) delivered 24/7
- RNR teams worked across about 31km of the network.
- Excavated and replaced more than 2.4km of foundation and upgraded a similar amount of drainage
- Excavated and replaced almost 13,000 tonnes of ballasted track (the rocks that the track sits on) between Wiri and Papakura.
What does the “operational readiness phase” mean. Is it that they’ve got the infrastructure but haven’t actually planned on how they’ll use it yet?
Rail Freight Woes
It seems Auckland Transport aren’t overly happy with Kiwirail and it’s freight services, with Stuff reporting:
Auckland Transport has raised concerns with KiwiRail over the potential for “a catastrophic incident” with “multiple fatalities” on its metro rail network.
On February 27, AT board chair Richard Leggatt wrote to KiwiRail acting chair Rob Jager expressing “serious concerns” over the number of signal passed at danger (SPAD) incidents with freight and inter-regional trains on the Auckland metro rail network in the previous 12 months.
“These SPADs have the potential to cause a catastrophic incident with our metro passenger trains and multiple fatalities – we are seriously concerned,” Leggatt wrote.
KiwiRail freight and inter-regional trains are not part of the European Train Control System (ETCS) used by AT-owned trains, and therefore are not protected from SPAD incidents, Leggatt said.
“The frequency of SPAD incidents involving KiwiRail non-ETCS rail vehicles has increased and requires urgent intervention.”
A SPAD event is when a train passes through a stop signal.
KiwiRail’s SPAD event frequency rate reached more than 10 events per 1 million kilometres in the previous 12 months, while internationally, interventions were agreed at a level of less than one to two events per 1 million km, Leggatt said.
He wanted KiwiRail to make a number of changes, including restricting freight movements to outside peak commuter periods “as soon as practicable”, with freight “ideally” running between 10pm and 6am.
Leggat also wanted the state-owned rail company to bring forward implementation of ETCS on all vehicles to earlier in 2026, to align with the launch of City Rail Link, rather than later next year as scheduled.
It’s absurd that Kiwirail are running freights in the middle of the peak periods and we understand is a major issue blocking better frequencies and timetables.
Meanwhile further south, even if the government’s purchase of new ferries sticks to schedule, we’ll be without a dedicated rail enabled ferry service for four years, with Kiwirail announcing.
Interislander’s rail-enabled ferry, Aratere, will be retired to make way for the port re-development needed in Picton to prepare for the two brand-new ferries arriving in 2029, KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy says.
“KiwiRail is committed to fully supporting the smooth and successful introduction of the two new ferries, and their required infrastructure, while maintaining safe and reliable freight and passenger services for our customers.
“We have been advised that work on demolishing Aratere’s decaying wharf in Picton could begin later this year or early next year.
Aratere requires specific loading and unloading infrastructure so it cannot use the other Interislander wharf in Picton. Building a temporary berth for Aratere would be too expensive in a project where tight cost control is a priority, and risks delaying the necessary infrastructure work in Picton.
“Therefore, Aratere will be retired this year, and we will work through the detail of that decision – firstly with our own people, especially our Interislander crews. A ship is a special workplace and for some of our people, Aratere is a home away from home. The ship has been a workhorse of Interislander, giving huge service to freight customers and passengers alike since it entered service on Cook Strait in 1999,” Mr Reidy says.
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Although Aratere is currently Interislander’s only rail-enabled ferry, KiwiRail already carries rail freight on Kaitaki and Kaiārahi using an effective road bridging process.
“Until the new ships arrive, we will continue to move rail freight using road-bridging, but we will invest to super-charge this operation to ensure that all rail freight will be serviced at the levels our rail freight customers need and expect,” Mr Reidy says.
CRL WOW
City Rail Link have released some new images of the Mercury Lane entrance to the Karanga-a-Hape station and wow does it look good.
The internal scaffolding has come down at Mercury Lane, revealing Karanga-a-Hape’s incredible station entrance.
The ‘before’ image from 2022 shows just how far we’ve come, from a cavernous pit of rock and machinery to a world-class station entrance that will make Aucklanders proud.
Large, glazed windows on the southern façade of the entrance building bring daylight deep underground, with the natural light creating a visual and physical link between the street-level concourse and the underground platforms.
The impressive size of the entry shaft was determined by the space needed for lifts and escalators to bring people deep underground.
Two ‘stadium columns’ divide each flight of escalators, while metal-clad cross beams traverse the entrance shaft horizontally. The walls are lined in porcelain cladding, with transparent materials such as glazed lifts and balustrades, maintaining visual links across all levels.
We’re very much looking forward to being able to see it for ourselves and the rest of the stations, not to mention actually being able to use them to improve connectivity to the city.
Meanwhile, here’s a video looking at some of Melbourne’s new city centre stations
Living Roofs
A project to measure the benefits of living roofs in Auckland has shown surprising results that researchers hope take root.
The trial led by Auckland University, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and local council compared the performance of green rooftops to conventional ones in dealing with the elements.
Those working on the Living Roof Monitoring project atop of Auckland’s Central Library say the benefits could be wide ranging.
One of the most impressive findings has been the influence living roofs could have on stormwater management.
University of Auckland professor Asaad Shamseldin, who leads the research with Dr Kilisimasi Latu and Dr Conrad Zorn, said the results have been fascinating.
“They show that the living roof can, for a small rain, they could effectively absorb all the rainfall and even during heavy downpours, they could reduce or they could absorb 80 percent of the rainfall,” he said.
“But that’s not the whole story, they do have also other benefits in terms of air quality, and also in terms of mitigating urban heat islands.”
Meadow scaping!
A lot of people have been choosing to re wild their regular boring lawns into meadows!
When Sara Weaner Cooper and her husband bought their first home in Pennsylvania, they knew they didn’t want a perfectly manicured front lawn like their neighbours. They wanted something that was more than just turf – a flourishing, wild meadow home to diverse species of plants and animals.
…
“Meadowscaping”, or turning a traditional lawn into a meadow, is a burgeoning trend experts in the field are noticing, especially among younger generations who tend to be more climate-aware than their predecessors. Compared to lawns, meadows – open landscapes filled with an array of non-woody plants such as tall grasses, flowers and herbs – are less expensive to maintain, require less water and energy and help sequester more CO2. Most importantly, they also encourage biodiversity and they’re typically more appealing to pollinators, which are keystone species on which ecosystems depend.
Why Car YouTuber Matt Farah Is Fighting for Walkable Cities
Bloomberg’s David Zipper talks to car YouTuber Matt Farah, who’s also a huge advocate for limiting car use in cities.
If you’ve never heard of Matt Farah, he’s one of the biggest automotive personalities of the digital era. An ebullient podcast host, content creator and car influencer, his media platform, The Smoking Tire, counts more than a million YouTube subscribers; Farah has reviewed more than 2,000 vehicles there. According to its website, Farah “made his first YouTube video in 2006 and has done nothing but talk about cars ever since.”
But Farah also speaks forcefully — and knowledgeably — about the costs of constructing our lives around motor vehicles.
“In this city, some of the most desirable places to live are the most walkable,” he told me over lunch that afternoon. “But you can’t build more places like that right now, because of parking minimums and stupid s— like that.”
A little bit of fun to end the week
The invisible hand of traffic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DIR2i4GuQh1
Cartoon with caption by my buddy @jackhauen.bsky.social
— Gabrielle Drolet (@gabrielledrolet.bsky.social) 2025-04-29T17:57:40.975Z
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!
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I have been inventing reasons to catch the train all week. By far our best public transport facility, for those lucky enough to not live in Mangere, or Roskill, or North Shore or Maraetai etc…
When the Central Rail Link opens, all the faffing around by successive governments is going to look silly. We could have Light Rail connecting more of our city already underway. We would not need to boast about electric buses when Queenslanders have 50c fares on any public transport.
Public transport should be for free, for all, let the backwards thinking car drivers pay for our public transport. They destroy our roads, kill our kids, and cause us extreme breathing difficulties. THEY SHOULD PAY.
bah humbug
In an ideal world, it would be free. But people seem not to value free things so a small fare is fair. I don’t think the 2-zone fair should exceed 5 dollars anytime soon though but it will likely happen in 2027 at the latest 🙁
Free PT limits growth of new services as when the total cost is whacked onto the budget stretched council in debt they look to cut other things.
I agree. Or, as other have put it, Free is for Fools. When will advocates of free fares ever learn?!
There can be a case where free fares is good if the cost of collecting the fares is more than they are worth. The cost of HOP, the cost of delays while people tag on and off, the cost of ticket inspectors, the cost of buses running half full, etc.
Except that case can’t be made in Auckland. We don’t have ticket inspectors a bus running half full with people paying is still less expensive than a full free bus. Cost of delays tagging on and off could be fixed if we had some sort of IC like Japan. Lost fuel tax revenue/RUCs would be a huge blow to govt coffers.
good point, when you make something free you do devalue it to an extent. I think free services work great for short routes in very high density areas, like the red buses that used to (or still do? I don’t live in Auckland any more) loop around Queen St. In my view there is less compelling argument that a bus ride from Silverdale to CBD should be completely free.
Well said teacher we still have those red busses but you need to pay a dollar or use your AT hop card to get a free ride after or before a transfer. Free or near free fares don’t work in the real world without imposing colossal costs somewhere along the way. NSW had to scrap its $2.50 “funday Sunday” because it was costing the state too much and overcrowding Blue Mtns trains and Ferry’s. They ultimately used the regained revenue to improve weekend services something free fares would take away. There is no such thing as “free” somewhere along the line someone pays.
Currently working in Palma de Mallorca. They brought in free PT a couple years ago, the popularity of free PT has forced the growth of services. To accommodate the increase of patronage they’ve needed to run more bus & metro services, buy new busses, and draw up plans to substitute heavily used bus lines with light rail. I think funding comes from a number of sources, national government, local government, and tourist taxes. Enticing people out of their cars and to use public transport seems to have worked well and forced government to invest more to cope with the demand.
Free?
Really. Nothing is free. Its a matter of who that should pay for public transport and how we allocate current shared financial resources.
Your suggestion is that Instead of PT trips being subsidised at 50% by ratepayers, you suggest that it should be subsidised at 100% by ratepayers. Question is where do we then take the additional 50% from and how large is that subsidy.
What budgets needs to be cut and where should the council spend less?
And no, drivers aren’t taxed by the council, so the choice of generating funding from vehicles/motorists (or business whose model is built upon frequent motor-vehicle deliveries) is not available to us under current legislation.
I always wonder whether the ‘someone else should pay’ brigade ever consider that there is a finite amount of shared resources to distribute.
i always wonder why the “fiscally responsible” brigade fixate on money as the finite resource instead of the artificial construct that it is, and make excuse after excuse after excuse to perpetuate the destruction of native forest and productive farmland for suburban sprawl; the exploitation of finite fossil fuels, the costs that traffic congestion (which evidence has shown time and time again can only be fixed by public transport alternatives and walkable urban retrofitting) create, the pressure on the healthcare from respiratory conditions caused by air pollution… need i go on?
Ah well, the money-minded are incredibly short sighted and selfish and refuse to acknowledge externalities on their profits.
Well said Exile, the council will further cut the emissions saving budgets and actual PT services themselves to try and fund this and a couple more public rubbish bins trashing our environment further. Burrower don’t worry I’m doing my part to stop deforestation I don’t buy products with Palm Oil and I only buy paper goods from the Kawerau mill unlike other brands like Cottonsofts, Paseo, Livi, Kiwisoft, Tuffy which are all form Sinar Mas group in Indonesia where they have cleared a cool million hectares of rainforest. I also try to reduce buying packaged goods where possible knowing these have a big impact too.
Typical intelligence level of the anti-woke, brainwashed into thinking that their “individualism” makes any difference or that environmentalism is a single issue thing that conveniently never impacts their daily lives.
When you say “Public transport should be for free, for all,” what you are really saying is that all should pay for public transport that is used by a few.
What’s your definition of “a few”, e.g. 1%, 10%, 30%?
And is that a “I reckon” percentage or is it based on a survey, e.g. the New Zealand Household Travel Survey as published on the government transport website?
hey, better than corporate & fuel welfare for the upper class twits who drive SUVs that never go off road.
And it ignores serious equity issues!
The best PT in Auckland is in the inner, central and richer suburbs (no one reply ‘BuT tHeRe ArE lOtS oF sTuDeNtS iN tOwn!!!’)
So we’re giving massive subsidies to professional, white collar professionals, paid for by the blue collar masses.
Would be great for me personally, but it’s not very progressive…
(But it does explain why this blog is obsessed with letting bikes hit pedestrians — cyclists tend to be wealthier and whiter than the average pedestrian!)
If you look at the dollars spent per capita the best PT is in south Auckland, the worst is on the north shore.
Riccardo, would love to see that stats behind that, cause I genuinely don’t know what you mean by ‘Best’. Is it:
* Best ROI (e.g. most trips per dollar spent)
* Best user quality (e.g. Most dollars spent per trip)
* Something else
Also, how does it handle cross-zone trips?
“in the census only about 6.3% of people used public transport”
Ah yes, the census where the question was:
“What is the one main way you usually travel to work – that is, the
one you use for the greatest distance?”
This only to be answered by employed persons aged 15 years and over.
So excluding everyone under 15, students, elderly, people working from home, et cetera.
Great use of using statistics to your advantage.
I thought the Census asked travel questions relating to “Work or Study”?
Either way, with PT quality (and hence usage) varying so much across the region, it’s not a useful stat anyway…
Thanks Wilbert, now take your free PT and pay for it yourself. Oh wait you can’t afford that you need the rest of us to subsidise that. Sorry Wilbert accept your 50% subsidy it’s very generous. You can’t say “I’ll stop funding roads” as that’s what Police, Fire, Ambos use. So unless you want to lose access to all goods and services that arrive via roads you’ll behave and accept it’s only fair for PT users to pay for some of the cost just like we ask People travelling north to do on the toll roads. They pay a little bit extra for the added convenience.
“now take your free PT and pay for it yourself”
When/where did I say I’m in favour of free PT?
I simply asked a question of BlackFan what his definition is of “a few”, nothing more, nothing less.
Btw, trying to insult and belittle me, e.g. “you can’t afford that”, “you’ll behave and accept” doesn’t work with me so you can leave that out next time – I’m immune to that.
‘Intellectual Horsepower’ aka trust me bro
The new number 12 bus has been a disaster so far. Buses are late by several minutes, and sometimes they don’t show up at all. It also gets stuck in motorway traffic. Someone in my local Facebook group said it took them 3 hours to get to the CBD. Really disappointing — I was actually looking forward to this change. Guess I’ll stick with the ferry for now.
We did the Kiwi version of meadow scraping when we moved to a new property with a steep main lawn. Even with a Flymo mowing the lawn was hard yakka and we were sure that one day one of us would have ended up chopping off their toes. So we decided to do away with the lawn. We had DOC style path and steps built to provide access and structure then planted mostly in natives with a vegetable and flower garden. It took a fair amount of effort and quite some time scouring garden centers and nurseries for the plants we wanted. The great thing about natives is that once established they seed like crazy and we’re now a seedling source for the neighbourhood.
It was the best thing we could have done as it provides hours of enjoyment (even the weeding) and I have a wry smile on the weekend when the cacophony of lawnmowers fires up to know that’s not us anymore.
I would definitely recommend joining “the war against lawns”.
Pritchard’s right. Each time AT put their projects through the washer cycle again (or in this case, flip it into an acid bath) they show a disdain for citizens:
Panel members, school principals, special interest advocates, community liaison group volunteers, business and resident associations, children answering surveys or doing engagement projects at school, ‘stakeholders’ and submitters.
All putting in precious time so AT can tick the “consultation” box. Trampling this generosity into the mud, by disregarding the results of the process, is wasteful.
We all suffer in the end when people respond reasonably to this lack of respect, and stop engaging.
Consultation is a waste of time in general. How could AT possibly get a valid statistical representation? How much say should the family who live in the street have compared to a business who operates in the street compared to someone who drives down the street compared to someone who has never been near the street?
In the case of minor residential roads the people who LIVE on the street should have the most say. Major arterials should be business and commuter based with a little bit of input from the residents. State highways should be entirely Trucking industry/buisiness/long distance commuter based. It doesn’t matter if someone who lives on it doesn’t like the noise it’s a state HIGHWAY what did they expect. Yes 100 is annoying to live next to but before recently everyone new state highways pretty much were always 100 no matter what. They are long distance driving routes higher speeds can save lives by reducing fatigue. Traffic calming should also be banned from State Highways.
Orrrrr, Colah, we could go with the expert-determined speed limits based on safety by Vision Zero.
30km/h where the greatest risk is cars impacting pedestrians. Residential local streets, city/town centres and local centres, schools, anywhere where it is desirable to have large volumes of pedestrian traffic. At 30km/h speed limits, the survival chance if you get hit by a car is 90%.
50km/h where the risk of pedestrians being mowed down is minimised and the greatest risk is side-on collisions at intersections and driveways. Past 50km/h the risk of injury or death in a side-on collision increases dramatically. So this should automatically be the maximum speed limit allowed within any urban area.
70-80km/h where the risk of side-on collisions is minimised and the main risk is head on collisions – so single carriageway roads and highways with fewer at-grade interchanges or adjoining properties.
100km/h where the risk of head on collisions is minimised by a median barrier of some kind, and the main risk is rear-ending another car or collision with barriers and road infrastructure. So if you want a blanket 100 speed limit on all highways, you would support the installation of median wire barriers on every highway
100 should be the maximum allowed speed limit as past this fuel efficiency decreases sharply with the car engine needing to work harder to overcome increasing air resistance.
See? Vision Zero isn’t a big meanie conspiracy after all, are they? It’s common sense to make it safer for kids to walk/bike to school, restore a human-scale sense of community, reduce the costs of car-related injuries, deaths, and other health issues, AND make sure you’re getting the best mileage for the fuel you put into your vehicle!
Traffic calming also doesn’t exist on motorways, so Idk what cockamamie cager misinformation you’re on.
A surefire way to reduce road fatigue is to give people options to travel long distance other than driving. who knows, you might sate your kink for going fast on a high speed train; 160-180kph is possible on a well-maintained narrow gauge railway.
And I’d contest your claim, when in rideshares I’ve found going at high speeds on a smooth and mostly straight motorway makes me drowsy more than going at slower speeds on local roads with frequent intersections and a more pressing need to concentrate instead of being lulled off. Maybe Kiwis (and Aussies like you too) are just crap drivers when they b*tch about how they can’t avoid cycle lane protective kerbs and will “crash if they slow down”.
Also typical of a carbrain to dumb down the whole discourse to “IT’S JUST ABOUT NOISE SUCK IT UP WOKIES”. But i suppose your mind isn’t capable of handling more than one thing at a time.
Nah that’s the old way of doing things. Oh and of course I support median barriers on all state highways(provided they leave room for ambos to pass. (You might piss off the police who love making dangerous U Turns then accelerating up to 130 to get someone doing 110 lol) Let people decide if they want to burn more fuel (no faster than 120 though), more revenue for gov that way. Burrower some regions like the far north driving will forever be the only option unless you can somehow afford to fly (I certainly can’t). What are your “high speeds” on a straight motorway 80-100 is very very slow for a straight motorway 120 is a more appropriate speed limit. Where did I say traffic calming was on motorways????? Seriously stop lying. I was referring to traffic calming on state highways (that aren’t motorways). Burrower high speeds on unsafe roads are critical to Northlands economy the roads are the only lifeblood to the region. Seeing as people on here are jumping up and down at the thought of them getting a safer road we have to keep 100 otherwise we will have to build a new motorway. 100 should be the MINIMUM speed for interegional connectors. You’re privileged enough to not know what’s it’s like to live rurally and having to drive long distances which is nice but that ignores reality people and goods have to get where they need to go in a reasonable timeframe. Let’s assume the new motorway is built trucks can keep a consistent 90kmh the whole time that is a huge time saving and even bigger if you make the old road 70kmh the whole way like you’ve suggested. Also I’m not Colah I’m Lisarow (pronounced Liz-a-row)
you’re naming yourself after an australian town and you’re banging on about speed limits and “democracy” – it’s blatantly transparent you’re the same person as Democracy, Colah, Fassifern, Hamilton and all the other aliases you’ve put on because you’re pissy a private blog isn’t taking your “i already decided what i want to hear and if you push back on my arguments you’re bad and evil” tantruming
You wrote: What are your “high speeds” on a straight motorway 80-100 is very very slow for a straight motorway 120 is a more appropriate speed limit.
And now for some actual research:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/economic-analysis-of-optimum-speeds-on-rural-state-highways-in-nz/Economic-analysis-of-optimum-speeds-on-rural-state-highways-in-nz.pdf
Wilbert you’re trying to put evidence about emissions and cruise speeds into it the truth is Most NZers would like to see 120kmh speed limit on a divided highway like the Waikato Expsway. Go around the world 100 is a slow max speed limit many countries are 110 or higher.
“you’re trying to put evidence into it”
yes, that’s how the truth works. Facts don’t care about your feelings, Colah/Fassifern/Hamilton, and the facts are that 90-100km/h is the best highway cruising speed for fuel efficiency before it increases sharply.
But if you want to spend more on petrol, please be my guest!
I don’t mind paying a bit extra to save a bit of time. Hence why I always pay the toll when going to the far north it shaves a significant amount of time on the drive north. There is nothing more valuable than time! Most Kiwis when given the evidence will choose to cruise between 110-120 thank you for letting people decide, you can sit in the left lane while others pass to the right not a big deal is it in fact it’s the law.
well, then as i said before i look forward to all those greedy, selfish gobs suffering the same as the rest of us. You won’t be so concerned about time when there’s mass climate induced food shortages around midcentury and your quality of life is very uncomfortable.
i’ll be glad when the human race suffers the consequences of its own actions. i value my quality of life, and ending things on a better-than-bad note when the time comes; and hopefully i can inconvenience a few jerks like you when i go out.
“Go around the world”
I vividly remember another post where your argument was something like “I don’t care what they do in the rest of the world, this is NZ”. Seems you have forgotten about that.
Also, it is you who brought up the economy by saying things like “critical to Northlands economy”. I simply provided you with a link to research that shows the optimum speed is not what you think it is.
Same as the link I showed you where science tells us that the optimum speed in urban areas is, in fact, 30 km/h.
What’s more embarrasing though is the fact that the government’s claim that “higher speed is good for the economy” is based on a fallacy and evidence can be found on one of their own websites.
Burrower calm down the sky is not falling nor will it ever in our lifetime. Wilbert I’ve acknowledged many times 30 is safer but like most kiwis the time is more important, more speed matters to me because I’ve seen the time savings. And because it makes the wokies scream but that’s just an added side benefit I never thought about until we started reversing them. Just yesterday another road was REVERSED BACK TO 100kmh!! Momi ake!
I repeat, LithiColahFern, i look forward to the day you’re proven wrong and i look forward to it crushing you when you realise you can only blame yourself.
sarge you’re not doing any good for the anti-woke movement’s reputation of stupidity. scroll up to the comment of mine when i point out the rationale for 30km/h speed limits in areas where there is lots of pedestrian activity, or pedestrian activity is desired.
Or are you against the idea of kids playing and riding bikes in the streets? You know your crusade against shared paths (which many urbanists would agree with were it not for your inane whattaboutism) would be supported by lower speed limits that allow cars and bicycles to more safely share sharrow-type road space.
… oh what the hell am i asking, of course carbrains want an unwalkable dystopian suburban form that makes everyone stay inside all day. if they changed that, then they wouldn’t be able to keep whinging about how children “don’t go outside anymore”, it’s practically an industry at this point!
> 30km/h speed limits in areas where there is lots of pedestrian activity, or pedestrian activity is desired.
So you support 30 km/hr limits on shared paths then! What a stunning reversal! Thank you for joining the pro-pedestrian movement Burrower!
1 pedestrian bowler down, many more on this blog to go. But it’s a start!
… see this is why you pro-car trolls are unbearable and impossible to have any sort of debate with.
if you weren’t such an ass i would be more than happy – hell, anyone here would – to discuss the logistics of widening footpaths and cycle paths for adequate separation, where it may not be technically feasible and where a compromise such as signs to advise cyclists to ring their bell to warn pedestrians ahead would be acceptable
but you lot always, ALWAYS use it as a “ha gotcha!” moment to try and prop up your insistence that urban streets should be 50+km/h drag strips, that youth feeling unsafe to walk to their friends or to school and ending up dependant on their parents to drive them everywhere. You’re not interested in improving ANYTHING for pedestrians or cyclists, you’re just smug cager elitists trying to preserve your privileged mode of transportation and enjoying punching down on those you see as lesser because they don’t conform to what you want in the world.
You wanna know why i’m so misanthropic? take a look in the mirror. it’s the way you and Colah/Fassifern/whatever aussie town they’re calling themselves now behave.
Burrower, why are you lying?
I’ve told you many times — I support 30 km/hr roads (in many of the settings proposed). I support restricting cars. I support greater PT (across all of Auckland, not just in the wealthy inner suburbs). To call me pro-car is simply not true.
But I also support following the law, as is. Just because I think the law should be different, doesn’t mean I get to ignore it.
Cyclists on this blog, happily boast about breaking the law and endangering pedestrians. Something I thought a blog that was pro active models would oppose. But it turns out cyclists are like everyone else, and only care about applying laws to other people — not themselves.
so yeah, there’s my 100% honesty for ya both. i do not care that being delayed by 30 seconds because of a speed limit. i do not give two craps about the economy, and i have no reason to believe strangers on the internet are telling the truth about “40km/h cyclists” especially when they deny basic physics about a 2 tonne car carrying more kinetic energy than a 100kg cyclist-bike combo. i am disabled, i suffer in hot weather, i have experienced first hand how car-biased NZ cities are, so you WILL both forgive me for being pissed off when you preen about maintaining some status quo.
you can both go get bent, and quite frankly i hope something happens to you that makes you see how much of a pair of asses you really are, because apparently the only way any of us dumb apes learns is through suffering.
> You can both go get bent, and quite frankly i hope something happens to you that makes you see how much of a pair of asses you really are, because apparently the only way any of us dumb apes learns is through suffering.
Burrower, I was hit by a bike *on a footpath*. Something you don’t care about. Cause you think rules are only for people you don’t like. Hypocrite.
Thought you’d support more pedestrian friendly paths — but clearly, you think bikes are better than everyone else. Why?
Burrower I’m not going to stoop to your trolling but you’re the one telling people to “get bent” and putting others down for sharing their vulnerable stories. You’re the one who should be banned (although I’d like to you to stay because I believe in free speech). I don’t think you realise free speech means free speech and o respect your right to comment. I’m not babying anyone but you’ve clearly been brainwashed by the media to believe the entirety of human civ will be gone in our lifetime which is obviously not true. Many of the “extreme fires” have been deliberately lit by companies wanting the land for palm oil or farming. That’s not climate change it’s just greed. Besides flying is increasing emissions are going to climb even if we all stop using cars all of a sudden. The emissions of flying is much much higher than any car.
Boring arguments guys, sick of this going on and on, seriously wasting everyones time. Cluttering up my inbox. Can’t believe I haven’t unsubscribed yet, but will now and just read what is relevant. This blog is getting wrecked by this (currently called) Lisarow, can we be quicker to delete everything he writes, give me admin rights and I’ll sit on the delete key all day for fun.
One of this blog’s User Guidelines is:
“All comments should make a positive contribution to the discussion and stick to the topic.”
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/user-guidelines/
I thought there was one about repeating arguments but maybe not anymore and wish there was.
This has been the long end of the stick, mainly from Lisarow [insert other alias] about the speed limit reversals being a thing people want or don’t want going back and forth getting now where for weeks and descending into Stuff/Herald level comment level or worse. Now you come in again with “I can’t give it up about being hit once by accident” on a shared path lumping everyone in to the same camp as being “anti-car and pro-bike hitting pedestrian hypocrites”.
Grant, I welcome the idea of that! I wish you were around earlier, when people were claiming:
* Claiming going 40 km/hr on a shared path is reasonable
* Posting false links claiming bikes have priority on the NorthWestern cycleway
* That illegal riding doesn’t matter, cause bikes weigh less than cars
By the way, I was hit on a *footpath*. A footpath that people on this blog admit to riding over regularly (Purewa Bridge).
i thought sarge’s story start out being that he was hit on the Glen Innes to Orakei shared pathway (which as per NZTA is intended for both pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, and other forms of micromobility/active mode transit.
amusingly disengenious but also predictable if he’s changing it now to bikes riding on the *sidewalk* which i know this blog does not endorse. or he could be a confused old bugger calling things by the wrong name. you never know for sure with trolls.
Just because you lie Burrower, doesn’t mean everyone else does…
Purewa Bridge is a *footpath*, between two sections of that shared path. It’s exclusively a *footpath*, with clear signage, because of it’s narrow width (you can’t even walk two wide on it).
However, I’ve never seen a cyclist (other than me) dismount in that section. Including commenters on here, who brag about riding over it! I guess saving 30 seconds is more important than pedestrian safety…
I’ll take an apology for you falsely accusing me of lying now, please and thank you…
Seriously Burrower, you could at least have googled that bridge if you were unfamiliar with it. Instead of accusing people of lying…
Or do you ride so fast along that *footpath* that you miss the signs? In that case, please slow down (and look up the signs in StreetView).
For bonus points, can someone name the other pedestrian only parts of that path?
It is confusing, cause no one ever follows them (and there’s only 12 signs or so)…
Google Maps shows “Purewa Bridge” as the road bridge between Orakei train station and Ngapipi/Kepa Rd.
Well Grant maybe I would stop if one of the writers would show a little honesty. It’s not hard to find that most kiwis want faster, Burrower proves this by constantly putting Sarge down for sharing a vulnerable story. Grant if you read the user guidelines it says “If you notice any inaccuracies in posts please get in touch” which I am gladly doing but they never correct it so I have to call it out here. Saying things like a majority of kiwis want slower is just NOT TRUE there is multiple examples of this whether it be Polls, Conulstation, Silent Majoirty, No one actually slowing down for the lower speeds, 40% of people speeding in the far north even with a camera there, National campaigning on reversing speeds and winning. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s lying. The blog has also tried to claim multiple times that most of the road deaths in Auckland are from Peds/Cylists getting hit by cars but this is just not true. Accuracy and honesty are very important to me which is why I made a series of comments with links to the source but these got deleted.
> go right ahead and see how the moderators like it.
You wished violence and harm on me and another commenter, so don’t go playing that card…
> Google Maps shows “Purewa Bridge” as the road bridge between Orakei train station and Ngapipi/Kepa Rd.
That’s not what it shows at all (I don’t know if you’re lying or bad at Google). It’s a bridge *with a footpath* (Streetview is your friend). You probably got confused because it doesn’t show a cycle path across there (cause it’s a footpath, i.e. Not for bikes).
If you do open up Streetview, you’ll see the signs saying ‘Shared Path Ends’ and ‘Cyclists Dismount’. Although they do seem invisible to 99.999% of cyclists. It’s amazing how people will endanger others when they can run away quickly…
nnnnnope, google maps does not show me anything that you are saying i should be seeing. only the road bridge north Orakei Station. a google maps link with coordinates would be helpful instead of a colloquial name that is not officially recorded. but i understand if you just want to lie like a certain orange-spray tanned wannabe dictator did about immigrants eating animals. noone here supports “40km/h bikes on footpaths”, they support the separation of pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure or spaces, and yes you greedy car heads should be recepient to narrower lanes if you truly did care about cyclist-pedestrian safety
i stand by what i said, i refuse to take establishment troll-punching down without a fight, and if the mods here remove my comment i won’t bitch and whine about it like ColahFassi-whatsit does, because I’m not a Veruca Salt spoilt brat.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nU6ubmm5vqoGaGtT8?g_st=ac
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Efr7Rbj3wueDbeYK7?g_st=ac
Now will you apologise?
Seriously, what are you hoping to achieve here?
You know it’s a footpath (not a shared path or a road bridge). You know it’s unsafe for cyclists to ride along the footpath, just to save 30 seconds.
You know that demanding wider paths is obviously the long term solution. But we should expect people to follow the law while that is built.
I bet you’d never say “It’s not cars fault they endanger other people — they just need better infrastructure!!”. Why the double standard for bikes? Do you hate cars or hate peds?
Great work Sarge you shut the troll right up. They are clearly trolling creating alarmist statements about climate change that just aren’t true. Also wishing harm on others when the argument isn’t going their way…… Burrower is only interested in evidence when it suits their narrow minded narrative.
I’m empathetic enough to understand you’ve been brainwashed by alarmist media to think the sky is falling and it’s all doom and gloom. Don’t worry about it Burrow it’ll all work out in the end I’m GenZ and have absolutely no concerns about the climate alarmism. I’m more concerned about if I’m ever going to able to afford a house or just COL in general and how long it takes to get to & from work freeing up time to enjoy life.
“have absolutely no concerns about the climate alarmism”
Yes, keep on believing that.
Meanwhile in real life, general insurance costs in 2025 will go up by at least 10% (property, motor) because the global reassurers are reassessing New Zealand’s risk exposure.
This will, of course, be translated to higher premiums for the customer so will affect COL.
This was the 1st day at Henderson ;-
Nice roundup.
I took the bus from Lower Albert St out west thursday night. It’s still wiggling it’s way through narrow CBD streets getting held up at intersections where it’s too big to manouvre.
With CRL test trains running some weeks ago, and station photos above looking very nice and complete, surely construction is largely finished?
When is Albert St going to be reopened to buses?
I’ve often wondered about this for construction in general — there doesn’t seem to be any cost to claiming road space for excessively long amounts of time.
From memory, their is an financial incentive to clear the space sooner, but it’s very small. Maybe it’s time for this to be revisited…
* there…
I’m okay with being called a troll, but not illiterate…
Central Government really needs to get with constructing more public transport rapid transits in Auckland particularly if we want to become a bigger and modernised city that everyone of all ages can reside! The reality for most Aucklanders is that there’s lack of fast rapid transits that get you your destination at ‘reasonable journeys’ and that really needs to change if we want to become a accessible, convenient and modernised city. Auckland really needs another rapid transit goes to & from the city to bypass our congested/bottlenecked main corridors which our buses get clogged with public vehicles and stuck in congestion during busy hours of any day. That I bring up either a North Shore Heavy Rail line or Dominion Rd Heavy Rail line is needed for Auckland accessible, convenient and modernised city.
As Auckland grows, so too does the need for high density apartments nearby Heavy Rail Stations. Right now were not increasing supply of one to two bedroom units in 6 to 20 level high density apartments so it gets 50-60 year olds into apartment units so married couples or couple looking to start a family by purchasing 4 bedroom house in the suburbs. Top of that, people living in high density apartments or any apartment blocks rely on Heavy Rail to get to places cause most apartment blocks don’t have garages or enough parking for vehicles for all.
There’s a massive issue about commuting to places in Auckland! There’s unemployment going up, less businesses able to take-on new employees. This is a big opportunity to invest in an another Heavy Rail line so businesses gain confidence in foot traffic coming to their stores and increase jobs in Heavy Rail stations area by reducing unemployment. For North Shore Heavy Rail line, we need Takapuna to turned into a bigger shopping mall, lure bring big outlets like Kmart, JBHIFI, Noel Leeming, only way is by constructing Heavy Rail line underneath Takapuna to boost business confidence and assurance. Also need Smales Farm to grow into a small shopping centre. For Dominion RD Heavy Rail, we need this line to either terminate at Onehunga or Henderson (via New Lynn) and get New Lynn shopping centre turning into a mall and bring outlets like Event Cinemas, New World, Rebel Sport, JD Sport. Henderson’s West City mall also needs to gain big outlets too, only as that’s going to happen is by knowing there’s going to be more public foot traffic and know public can accessibility visit outlets not only by public vehicle by also public transport. Making public transport accessible and convenient will reduce employment figures and get people into jobs without having to worry how to get there and journey time it’ll take. It’ll even reduce the youth unemployment rate too for those 15-18 year olds, by making Heavy Rail rides more direct and commuter have more options of suburbs to travel at a reasonable time and gives not only youths flexibility, but also anybody flexible options of suburbs to travel for employment and later work. There’s a real need for more service industry jobs cause not everyone can afford commute due to difference situations and often need flexibility. The more heavy rail will open up, more bigger malls and shopping centres well get so people can find work easily and commute easily without issues.
Avondale Southdown Heavy Rail line is already paid off! $6 Billion is the purchase of the land bought years ago! Only thing missing is the design, locations of stations and cost. But cost will be in the $100 millions! There’d likely be 5 stations (Owairaka, Mt Roskill, Hillsborough, Onehunga north, Waikaraka). A tunnelled Dominion RD Heavy Rail would definitely be $7 Billion since CRL was $5 Billion! Distance wise, CRL 3.45 KM long, Dominion RD Heavy Rail tunnelled is 4.5 KM long with 4 stations (Bellwood Ave, Balmoral, Pollard Park, Windstone). A Dominion Rd line wouldn’t require significant TPH, it need per hour less than 3 TPH with 6 car train each time since only mainly serving 4 stations and the distance of the line.
Dominion Road is more suitable for light rail. It needs trams carrying 400 people every 4-5 minutes and stations 800m apart that can replace buses, not a heavy rail train every 20-30 minutes with too few underground stations. Better service and more capacity for less cost!
Avondale-Southdown is not already paid off. $6 billion is the construction price tag. There is no source for your claim; every news outlet cites $6 billion as construction cost. In 2017 KiwiRail costed ASL as $1 billion for a double track line but did not include electrification, and this was before the inflation and runaway construction cost increases after 2020.
PLEASE understand that convenient frequency is so vital in public transportation! Half hourly service is NOT convenient and will NOT attract people to trains, ESPECIALLY if you are replacing buses with this train tunnel of yours. Dense residential and mixed use development will overload such infrequent service too, forcing people back to driving.
True rapid transit requires at minimum 6 TPH (10 minute service) off peak. There is no point expanding the heavy rail network if you cannot maintain 6TPH minimum on each radial line and branch that is part of the Auckland rapid transit network.
If you have the multibillions to spend you’d be better off constructing a standalone driverless metro network on a new 1435mm standard gauge system. They can move more people than heavy rail, with 90 second headways in the core section and 600 passenger capacity trains.
“PLEASE understand that convenient frequency is so vital in public transportation! Half hourly service is NOT convenient and will NOT attract people to trains, ESPECIALLY if you are replacing buses with this train tunnel of yours. Dense residential and mixed use development will overload such infrequent service too, forcing people back to driving.”
Sure we can arrange for a 6 TPH for a Heavy Rail Dominion RD! Be only on peak times! Could have the line terminating at Onehunga or both at Onehunga & Henderson and doing full loop clockwise and anticlockwise on CRL with possibly building a station in New Windsor.
And” Dense residential and mixed use development” won’t be forcing people back into driving! No! Actually what you’ll find it’ll do is bring convenience, accessibility, growth, flexibility, stronger economic outputs to the suburbs it’s serving, grow house prices in suburbs serving cause of the convenience & accessibility, move people living in 1 or 2 bedroom apartments in CBD area and move to the suburbs so there’s more rentals available in the market and enabling faster & direct service than the bus! People of Auckland want more Heavy Rail! NO to shitty slow, cheapskate old LIGHT TRAM!
okay, how are you going to fit an extra 6tph in when the City Rail Link has an initial capacity of 18tph, taken up by 16tph at peak (8tph west-east and 8tph southern). How are you going to bypass the signalling constraints? Will you take trains away from another line?
How will your junction for this Dominion Road tunnel work anyway? Where will you build it? Which buildings will need demolishing? All you are doing here is scribbling lines on a map with operational feasibility being an afterthought.
You are really not that smart if you can’t understand that low frequency train service doesn’t attract ridership and inconvenience is what drives people to drive regardless of urban density. You’re grasping at straws. People want to not have to wait half an hour if they miss the train.
Light rail is superior for the dominion road corridor. it is not a cheapskate option, mere bus enhancements would be cheapskating in the long run. Driverless metro is an equal to heavy rail in terms of capacity and better in convenience and frequency. Heavy rail dogmatism will not help.
The ideal extent of the Heavy R ail network would be a Swanson-CRL-Airport line and a Pukekohe-CRL-Manukau line, each every 8-9TPH at peak and 6TPH off peak, plus lower frequency services for Henderson-Newmarket-Otahuhu and express services to Pukekohe and Pokeno. Light metro is most suitable to the North Shore and Northwest replacing the busway(s), a light rail network would span Wynyard Quarter-Mt Roskill and New Lynn-Onehunga. All major lines would run at least every 10 minutes all day for superb turn up and go frequency and convenience that would encourage people to use public transport and make transferring between services easier too.
“How are you going to fit an extra 6tph in when the City Rail Link has an initial capacity of 18tph, taken up by 16tph at peak (8tph west-east and 8tph southern). How are you going to bypass the signalling constraints? Will you take trains away from another line?”
The trains won’t operate at 16 TPH during peak by the time CRL up! Even it was, yes I’d reduce East-West and Southern by reducing 2 TPH each of their peak times giving EAST-WEST and Southern back to 12 TPH, by adding a looped clockwise & anti-clockwise of 6 TPH Dominion RD line coming into CRL network included East-West and Southern line total of 18 TPH, fitting Dominion RD line comfortably!
“You are really not that smart if you can’t understand that low frequency train service doesn’t attract ridership and inconvenience is what drives people to drive regardless of urban density. You’re grasping at straws. People want to not have to wait half an hour if they miss the train.”
Actually they’ll be waiting 20 mins of 3 TPH since off-peak. All what Aucklanders care about these days is more direct rapid transit services such as Heavy Rail that get you to more direct destination in fast way, with providing flexibility, convenience and accessibility, not the amount of mins at a station waiting! Aucklanders also care about knowing whether if there’s a rapid transit station in this case Heavy Rail in urban suburbs commuting to & from and knowing it’ll get commuters to destination at near/same speed as a car would! Aucklanders don’t care about amount of mins waiting at stations, only care about rapid transits being built and public transport fast in-which builds ridership!
“How will your junction for this Dominion Road tunnel work anyway? Where will you build it? Which buildings will need demolishing? All you are doing here is scribbling lines on a map with operational feasibility being an afterthought.”
Demolishing? What are we demolishing? There won’t be any demolition, only building 4 brand new stations under Dominion RD! With operating feasibility, we wouldn’t even have Heavy Rail exisiting in Auckland at all! Only thing it be paying is the electricity costs which has no problem, since its ‘operationally feasible’! What an idiotic question! Lol
Ah of course, reducing train frequencies so there is zero service frequency increase or capacity increase over the present day 6TPH peak on Southern, Western, and Eastern Lines. How clever of you. Surely with the intensive transit-oriented development you advocate for, nothing will go wrong with increasing rail demand while not improving service capacity. (/sarcasm)
Don’t make me laugh. There is plenty of analysis to show that waiting is a huge deterrent to public transport usership – including this blog proving that changing between the Western line and Southern line at Karangahape to get between the west and Newmarket would have an average overall time the same as a direct West-Newmarket service at a lower frequency. Bus patronage increased when the new networks brought in more frequent routes that ran every 15 minutes instead of half hourly. People want convenient turn-up-and-go transit that they can use like a car, whenever they feel like it; without having to consult a timetable and plan basic journeys like a military operation.
You really are detached from reality if you think that you can build a tunnel without surface disruption. Where’s the tunnel boring machine starting, where’s it finishing, how are you going to get it out? Are you assuming that you can just continue the (already near-finished) City Rail Link as a tunnel south? that’s laughably unrealistic. Not to mention the station boxes and access too, you need to connect underground stations to a surface building that has lifts, escalators, ventilation, emergency exits, ticket machines and gates, a kiosk…
I am so sorry (again, sarcasm) that you’re offended by me asking the tough questions and giving your daydreams a reality check. But what you are proposing is pie in the sky fantasy, and suboptimal compared to light rail along dominion road. Dominion Road needs buses adequately replaced, which means surface level stops every 800m instead of underground stations more than a kilometre apart. Dominion Road will be far improved with a green-tracked light rail median providing a green space as intensification occurs. And a light rail with 5 minute headways will provide more capacity, convenience, and ease of use than underground heavy rail with 20 minute headways.
12TPH x 420 passengers per LRV = 5040 passengers per hour per direction
3TPH x 750 passengers per heavy rail train = 2250 passengers per hour per direction (less than half of light rail).
by comparison the Dominion Rd bus routes have moved 24 buses per hour x 100 passengers per double decker bus = 2400 passengers per hour direction – also more than your heavy rail plan, and not coping with patronage when most of the route is single storey suburban houses.
You see your folly now?
Again, embracing light rail and driverless metro is only a good thing for Auckland! the heavy rail network can focus on the Southern, Eastern, and Western Lines plus the long distance passenger and freight trains, driverless metro would add a second rail spine of equal capacity to serve the North Shore and Northwest replacing motorway-aligned busways (likely the Airport too, and possibly East Auckland too when the Eastern Busway needs replacing), and light rail can replace the most-used bus lines and urban busways while improving urban form, providing green tracked space and eco-friendly stormwater drainage. We need rapid transit of all modes with minimum 10 minute (6TPH) headways off peak!
+1
The government really needs to get serious on curving and bringing ‘Cost of Living’ crisis down right now, otherwise it’ll cost them the election in 2026. What you going to do?! Build more roads and no public transport rapid transits, expect businesses to change their behaviour in reducing prices of goods so it bringing in economic prosperity by growing the economy? How can regular workers who work in Auckland get ahead? If so, really reared the car into a slip, other words ‘delusional’!
When’s the government going to learn that businesses only change their behaviour by forced changes by government like policy changes?! People in lower income and middle income haven’t been feeling much positive outcomes ever since you’ve came into parliament. That’s why we’re still seeing people fleeing the country due to ‘Cost of Living’ pressures! Everything from cost of public transport fares, housing, public transport commute times to getting to places, fast public transport, construction of rapid transits and direct routing are massive issues people of Auckland face everyday.
The government really needs to invest more into Heavy Rail, so suburbs can grow to their full potential by growing amount of businesses, controlled housing limit, property value goes up every-time Heavy Rail line is fully constructed & operating cause of the convenience & accessibility for resident living around suburb in which can make building high density complex in massive amounts all at once hard and be built one at a time with communities approving high density complex!
And here we have Simeon Brown opening the construction of a cycleway as minister of Auckland.
Dominion Rd right hand turn ban idea interesting prelude to light rail down there perhaps.
Yes, when’s the ‘Minster for Auckland’ going to understand that Dominion RD in-need of a Heavy Rail corridor! Dominion RD use is exhausted and even you implement a ‘Road-user charge’, it’ll displace more vehicles onto another road(Mt Eden RD, Sandringham RD) except be ‘free of use road’ to & from the city and face what Dominion RD is facing, be no more room for extra vehicles just like Dominion RD! Road-user charge isn’t an effective idea in solving Dominion RD issue!
Tunneled HR on Dom Rd is total overkill. Surface level LRT is more appropriate, and cheaper.
You need to find another route for HR. Avondale-Southdown.
road user charges raise revenue for infrastructure maintenance, incentivise people to use public transport or drive off-peak REDUCING the number of vehicles on each road, and paying for better streetscapes and improved public transport. You could upgrade the bus network to 10-15 minute frequencies so that 80% of auckland residents, workplaces and schools are within a 5 minute walk of a true frequent bus route, light rail or heavy rail line, paid for out of a comprehensive road user charge bringing in $200 million per year.
i mean, you think a 20 minute wait is better than a 5 minute wait for a train for some reason, so i don’t have much faith in your critical thinking skills.
forgot the link
https://youtu.be/Ts_wP9tJr_s?si=LMid6yTxs0uBl0Iu
The bus changes are good, but far too small.
There’s many changes/tweaks that could be made to the timetable, but doing so costs the operators — so they don’t agree.
Maybe it’s time to bring bus operations back in house, so we can fully change timetables/routes/schedules as needed.
what with the trolls more interested in provoking and gloating, and the suicide-baiting in the replies, i think the comment section rules need tightening up.
it breaks several user guidelines. neither side are making a positive contribution. complaining about post topics and moderation, lack of civility, and one user making multiple accounts and indulging in soft climate denial.