Weekly Roundup 17-October-2025

The dust is settling on the local election and while we await the final results – now due Saturday morning – here’s a few things that caught our eye this week.

Header image is by Malcolm McCracken of Ockham’s Toi and Whetū development.

This Week in Greater Auckland

• On Tuesday, Matt (and co) explored the initial results of the Auckland Council election.
• On Wednesday we had a guest post from Darren Davis about electrifying the Golden Triangle.

This roundup, 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.

Election Results delayed (with some under scrutiny)

We’ll have to wait a little bit longer for those election results. As reported by The Post:

A surge in last minute enrolments and votes prior to election day in the supercity has resulted in a delay to the official count for local council elections.

A spokesperson for Auckland Council said there had been an “unprecedented volume” of more than 10,000 “special votes” cast.

“Because of the extraordinary number of special votes, the process of validating these will require more time.”

…..

Instead of the final result being announced on Friday, the spokesperson said all would be revealed on Saturday, October 18, after 10am.

One set of results is under close scrutiny for election fraud. As reported by Simon Wilson in the NZ Herald last night, the chief electoral officer has reportedly filed a complaint with the police, of alleged “severe electoral malpractice”:

The result in the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe board was unusual. While the total number of votes cast fell in almost every other local board area, it rose in Papatoetoe.

Across the city, the average fall was 6.7%. In the Ōtara subdivision, next door to Papatoetoe and with similar demographics, the vote fell by 1%.

But in the Papatoetoe subdivision, the vote grew by 7.1%.

On the local board, Papatoetoe has four seats and Ōtara three.

The voter growth in Papatoetoe was not reflected uniformly through the result for the subdivision. Candidates who had stood in 2022 and stood again this year received very similar levels of support.

The Papatoetoe subdivision, like many parts of South Auckland, has traditionally been a Labour stronghold. This year, the successful candidates came from a new ticket: the Papatoetoe-Ōtara Action Team.

E-bike revolution

An in-depth piece ($$$) from The Economist exploring how much e-bikes are transforming the way people get around in cities.

Interestingly, these are the reasons highlighted as to why bikes are becoming so dominant:

The first reason for this two-wheeled renaissance was Covid-19. After the pandemic struck, sales of bikes soared as commuters tried to avoid public transport and governments introduced pop-up bike lanes to encourage social distancing. In one American survey 18% of respondents said they had bought a bike, many of them for the first time ever, contributing to a 16% increase in the average weekly number of bike trips between the summers of 2019 and 2020. In Tokyo 23% of businessmen switched to cycling to work to avoid crowds on the train.

The second reason was the advance in battery and e-bike technologies, which made them cheaper and more fun to ride. By giving cyclists a pedal assist, these open up riding to people who cannot comfortably squeeze themselves into slim-fit Lycra. Workers can turn up at a meeting without breaking a sweat or needing to change. They are especially useful for transporting children and groceries, which is hard going if done by pedal power alone. E-bikes have also massively accelerated the use of local bike-share schemes, and made them profitable. With Chicago’s “Divvy” bike scheme for example, e-bikes are now ridden 70% more than “classic” bikes, despite being a lot pricier.

[…]

The third reason is a spread of bike-friendly infrastructure. Bicycles mostly died out as a form of transport in the mid-20th century not only because cars were faster and cushier, but also because cars made cycling catastrophically dangerous. In 1950 no fewer than 805 cyclists were killed on the roads in Britain—ten times the number killed last year. In 1987 P.J. O’Rourke, an American satirist, gleefully predicted that cyclists would “go extinct” as they were run over by lorries. Alas for bike-hating motorists (though happily for everyone else), he had not anticipated the invention of the separated bike lane.

Bike lanes create cyclists because they largely eliminate the risk of being crushed by careless or aggressive SUV drivers. Surveys show that rates of cycling are higher in countries where cyclists feel safest. And there are few things that make riders safer than lanes that separate them from cars. These are a lot cheaper to build than new subways, allowing cities to reduce traffic and save money by encouraging people to switch from four wheels to two. “If you build bike lanes well, and have a bike system that can compete with the car, then bikes can go a long way to mitigate congestion,” says Brent Toderian, a former Vancouver chief planner.

If Auckland had gone further during those early pandemic years on rapidly enabling bike infrastructure, instead of dragging its feet… how many more people would be currently enjoying the benefits of being able to choose to get places on wheels?

CRL testing this weekend

Note that trains will be impacted this weekend due to CRL testing. A week early for Halloween, but nonetheless pretty cute messaging from Auckland Transport:

And, if you’re wondering why they can’t do this testing at night:

Rail connections to Northport

Northport recently got approval to expand their wharf – but if it’s to go ahead, it needs a rail connection.

The reverberations from a hard-fought Environment Court ruling to allow Northport to extend its docks into Whangārei harbour’s mouth could rumble up to the Bay of Islands, and down through suburban Auckland to Ōtāhuhu and beyond.

Rail Minister Winston Peters says he’s preparing to seek the Cabinet’s approval to build a 19km rail spur out to Northport at Marsden Point. And in the same pack on his desk, from KiwiRail, is an accompanying business case to reopen the main trunk link north to Otiria, near Moerewa in the Bay of Islands.

At the same time, Peters and KiwiRail say Auckland’s existing railway lines will become much more busy with frequent City Rail Link commuter trains; the existing network ultimately won’t have capacity for significantly intensified freight movements as well.

KiwiRail argues the forecast increase in freight trains may also require the construction of a new inland port to serve the expanding industries of north-west Auckland, and definitely its long-sought $10 billion-plus line from Avondale down through suburban Onehunga to Westfield Junction.

…..

He says the Northport expansion goes hand-in-hand with KiwiRail’s four-year project to build a rail spur from the main trunk line out to Marsden Point. The first phase of the container terminal extension, a 170-200m berth extension, could be built in as few as 18 months, for an estimated $70m – but there’s little point starting until they know the port will be connected by rail to the rest of the country.

Sampson argues the rail is “crucial”. While the port can handle other bulk cargoes, especially with an additional block of land behind it for storage, he says containerised imports will support growth and population in the Upper North Island, as well as being very important to the Auckland market.

One container ship might drop off 1000 to 2000 containers in one discharge – and importers want 80 percent of those in the Auckland market within 48 hours. “So rail’s really the opportunity, rather than putting 2000 trucks on the road.”

As for the Avondale to Southdown corridor:

By far the most vexed challenge is moving freight into, out of, and through the Auckland isthmus. The construction of the City Rail Link means all the lines through Newmarket and central Auckland will be required for passenger rail, almost all the time.

At present, says Dave Gordon, freight trains to and from Northland have to go through Newmarket in central Auckland, and even a smallish freight train takes up as much time and space on the rail schedule as two commuter trains.

…..

“We’re mainly looking at it through that lens, as another commuter loop,” Gordon says. “Until you get five to six trains per day each way between Auckland and Northland, you have enough capacity on those lines to not require Southdown-Avondale. And that’s quite a few trains. But the bigger driver will be the demand for passenger services as well. Both will play a role.”

Building this as a “commuter loop” is likely to have little value, and this seems to be a case of KiwiRail trying to find a way to get someone to pay for it. Worse, by adding passenger-running services here, it will reduce capacity on the Western Line heading towards the City Rail Link.

AA calls for higher fines for driving offences

It’s good to see the NZ Automobile Association in the news advocating for changes in the fining system to improve road safety. Fines haven’t changed since 1999, so the value has been dramatically eaten away at by inflation in that time.

Interestingly, the AA is also pushing for changes to the type of penalty, depending on the offence. This is certainly something else that needs looking at.

“Our fines and penalties are well behind the times, and this is undermining road safety. The system needs a thorough review to make it relevant and effective at driving behaviour change,” he said.

“Most similar countries have tougher driving penalties than New Zealand and lower crash rates. Effective fines and penalties aren’t the whole solution, but they are an important part of it.”

He added that some offences also carry “sanctions which appear to be inconsistent with the potential harm they could cause”, such as an unregistered vehicle attracting a $200 fine and demerit points.

“Yet, other offences with vastly different safety implications are less severe – failing to stop at a red light and not wearing a seatbelt each incurs a $150 fine and no demerits.”

The government last year finally made some changes to parking fines, which also hadn’t been updated since 1999 – so hopefully they’ll catch up with updating these these ones too.

SH26A speed changes consultation

NZTA is currently consulting on some changes to Morrinsville Road just outside of Hamilton. This change is under the new Speed Rule instituted by Simeon Brown, and there looks to be a few hoops to jump through.

Note the “Cost Benefit Disclosure Statement outlining safety, travel time, and cost impacts”, now necessary to the government’s “balanced and targeted approach to speed limits” which puts economic impacts on the same level as safety.

If you’d like to have your say in the consultation you can do so here until Friday 28th November 2025.

We propose lowering the speed limits as follows:

• From 80km/h to 50km/h from the existing 80km/h threshold sign which is 330m northeast of Morris Road to approximately 170m northeast of Silverdale Road.
• From 80km/h to 70km/h from approximately 170m northeast of Silverdale Road to approximately 100m southwest of Ruakura Road / SH26 / Lissette Road roundabout.

For the urban section where it is proposed to reduce the speed limit to 50km/h, the future roundabout will be visible from all approaches and so drivers will be able to adjust their speeds accordingly.

For the peri-urban length between the proposed new roundabout and Raukura roundabout heading towards Morrinsville, the proposed 70km/h speed limit is consistent with other similar local roads.

Speaking of speed limits…

A recent study from RMIT University looked at what switching from 50km/h to 30km/h speed limits meant in Melbourne. Lo and behold, here’s what they found (emphasis added):

Reducing residential speed limits from 50km/h to 30 km/h would protect cyclists from danger and make riding less stressful while not causing traffic delays for cars, according to new research.

Researchers from RMIT University rated traffic stress levels for every road in greater Melbourne and modelled the effect of lower speed limits on bicycle and car travel.

Reducing the speed limit to 30km/h across residential areas doubled the amount of bike travel on low-stress streets – creating a safer environment for children and less confident cyclists, said the study’s lead researcher, Dr Afshin Jafari.

“Slowing traffic makes bicycle riding less stressful, encouraging more people to choose bikes as a safe and viable mode of transport,” Jafari said.

Many existing cycle routes – narrow paths on 60km/h roads – were highly stressful for bicycle riders, which is one of the main reasons people choose not to ride, he said.

Our only question here in Aotearoa is: how long it will take to return to evidence in our speed limit policies…?

Could communal tables enable more social connection?

Can tables enable more than just private dining? Susanna Moreira writes on the role tables play in social connection.

Commensality often serves as a ritual for bonding, negotiation, and celebrating important events. In many Spanish-speaking cultures, the stretch of time after the meal when the entire family stays seated and talks is so present that there is a word for it: sobremesa — literally translated as “upon the table” (though in Spanish it more accurately means “dessert” or “after-meal conversation”). But, despite often being associated with sharing a meal, the table can be considered a flexible platform open to many possibilities for appropriation and interaction.

Whether it’s for putting together a family puzzle, for sharing a workspace with others, or for meetings, debates, and conversations, tables are capable of gathering groups and stimulating face-to-face interactions, strengthening bonds and meaningful exchanges. These are some of the reasons why communal tables, which aim to be a kind of invitation for a large group of people to gather, have been explored in temporary or permanent installations in public spaces around the world.

And there is of course, the sharing of food:

The Communal Barbecue (La Barbacoa Comunal) is an urban and landscape renewal project in the industrial area of Castell d’Aro on the Costa Brava. Inspired by the idea of collective meals as a social and revitalizing element for public spaces, the design features three key elements: a sculptural barbecue, a large zigzagging table seating up to 50 people, and the re-naturalization of the surrounding environment. This design actively encourages socialization and communal dining in a natural setting, offering flexibility and accessibility through empty spaces that adapt to various needs.

La Barbacoa Comunal (The Communal Barbecue) – Lluis Tudela

Māngere bus changes

Last week Auckland Transport revealed a few changes coming to bus routes in Māngere. There’s a few more changes you can check out but here’s a noticeable one for the 309 route:

From 2 November 2025

Route 309X will be reduced to two morning and two afternoon trips on weekdays. These services will operate until the City Rail Link opens at which point they will be reviewed. These trips will depart:

• Māngere in the morning at: 6.55am & 7.33am. Arriving at Newmarket at approximately 7.35am & 8.18am. Arriving at the Civic at approximately 7.55am & 8.43am
• the city centre in the afternoon at: 4.57pm & 5.27pm. Arriving at Newmarket at approximately 5.10pm & 5.40pm. Arriving at Māngere town centre at approximately 6.12pm & 6.42pm

Route 309 will get more trips.

A new Route 311 will run between Māngere Bridge and Ōtāhuhu Station through Mahunga Drive. It runs from 5:15am to 11:45pm every 15 to 30 minutes.

A new route layout for Route 326 creates a better connection between Māngere and Middlemore. It will loop around Gray Avenue and sections of Portage Road where there aren’t any buses now. These streets will get new bus stops and pedestrian crossings. It will no longer travel on Māngere Road between Ōtāhuhu College and Ōtāhuhu town centre and train station but there are other options available nearby. It will now run until midnight.

We are making services more frequent on weekends and evenings on routes 31, 32, 33 and 325.

Interesting videos

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That’s it from us this week, enjoy your weekend!

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