The East Tamaki Industrial Area
People who work in and visit the East Tamaki Commercial and Industrial Area will soon be able to choose from a vastly better offering of travel options. The first project on the books – all the way to Botany – is the Eastern Busway.…
49 Comments A Safer Course
Image Credit: Boating Safety Mag
Waka Kotahi CEO Nicole Rosie recently penned an article on Stuff, about the tragedy of our road safety crisis, in which she reminded us that safety needs to be approached from several angles. She made the excellent point:
why isn’t this massive public health issue in the spotlight throughout the year, not just during the holidays or after a “bad weekend” or a high-profile crash?…
Turning the Waka Around
HMNZS Taranaki, Otago, Waikato, Canterbury Credit: National Museum of the NZ Navy
This year should see a lot of changes at Waka Kotahi.
At the end of May, the Ministry for the Environment intends to publish its Emissions Reductions Plan (ERP), which will lay out the policies and strategies for meeting the first emissions budget.…
Let’s Discuss Priorities
What is Auckland Transport spending our money on? Resolving our challenges or exacerbating them?
It’s nothing short of a transformation that we need, as the CEO has talked about for years, with people “at the heart” of the changes: Auckland Transport have adopted Vision Zero, which:
places responsibility on the people who design and operate the transport system to provide a safe system.…
Liveable Arterials
Imagine we stop driving cars so much. Imagine having traffic levels like those in Level 4 Lockdown, when only essential journeys were taken by car – as a normal traffic environment. Put on ice for a moment any doubts about whether we could or should do this… and let me paint a picture of our streets if we managed to do so.…
Yes! We can do all those sorts of things.
“We can close the road, we can divert traffic, we can do all those sorts of things.”
That’s Auckland Council’s finance and expenditure committee chair Desley Simpson, speaking to Newshub on the Saturday of Labour Weekend, 2021. She’s right. These ages-old engineering measures are easy.…
The Entrust Election – Climate, Democracy and Better Streets
If you live in one of these areas of Auckland, someone in your household can vote in the current Entrust election:
As a climate campaigner, I am hoping the election can lead to some better climate outcomes. But I also think the electricity system isn’t served democratically.…
Shining a Light into some Dark Places
Image credit: Alec Tang, via twitter
Throughout the world, the pandemic has changed street environments – for better or worse, depending on how they’ve been managed.
It’s clear we’ve been extremely lucky with our Government’s response to the public health situation.…
The Ministry of Education
COVID-19 Response Minister, Chris Hipkins, volunteered fodder for jokes yesterday, when he stumbled on an unfortunate combination of “spread their wings” and “stretch their legs.” Advice from @chrishipkins for those who want to "get out and spread their legs" pic.twitter.com/xIt8YUTy2J
— Dan News (@dannews) August 22, 2021 Chuckles aside, what was no laughing matter was his perverse transport advice:
It is a challenge in higher density areas for people to get outside and to spread stretch their legs when they are surrounded by other people, and so in some cases it might be more sensible for them to drive a short distance to get to somewhere where they can be further from other people.…
Regional Streets for People
Today, Auckland Council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee is meeting.
One item on the agenda is titled the Regional Streets for People Programme. This low-budget Councillor-initiated programme deserves scrutiny because it offers opportunities for jump-starting climate action AND it reveals systemic barriers to progress.…
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