New Albert St video, same design problem
The most contentious issue with the City Rail Link these days is how Albert St will be reinstated following all of the construction works. It’s important we get it right and time is short given the trench is already starting to be refilled.…
108 Comments Thinking about free fares
Usually about once a year, often around this time, the issue of public transport fares comes up, often in relation to Auckland Transport’s annual fare review. Sometimes the discussion revolves around whether we should have fares at all.
That debate was reignited yesterday by Todd Niall at Stuff, initially in an opinion piece and later in the day in an article.…
Is Auckland Council going to ruin the Drury growth area?
The largest of the three new greenfield growth areas on the edge of Auckland is to the south and most of that will occur around Drury – both to the east and the west of the Southern Motorway. This has long been signalled in key planning documents, right back to the 2012 Auckland Plan.…
Lime trial extended
Good news yesterday with Auckland Council announcing they would extend Lime’s e-scooter trial till the end of March – it had been due to expire this coming Monday. Along with the extension, Lime will also be implementing some changes, such as having roving ambassadors and more education about the use of them.…
Rural highway conundrums
Transport spending, like everything else, is all about trade-offs. There are a lot of improvements to be made and only a limited pot of funding from which do them and so those improvements need to be prioritised. One of the most urgent priorities is to improving safety.…
Ongoing New Year’s Eve debacles symptom of a bigger problem
Despite some very small and (seemingly) reluctant steps by Auckland Transport to close off parts of the city centre to traffic on New Year’s Eve, there was still a dangerous and very messy situation with cars mingling with thousands of revellers as midnight approached: @AklTransport @AklCouncil @AklDesignChamp @DarbyatCouncil Happy New Year all, looking forward to a great 2019.…
2019 – The year ahead
With 2019 now underway, and following my wrap up of 2018 last week, I thought it would be good to look at some of the things we can expect from the year ahead. In no particular order.
City Rail Link
At the end of April the builder of the tunnels and stations is expected to be announced.…
2018 – A Year in Review
With 2018 drawing to a close, I thought I’d pull together a quick post wrapping up the most important things that happened during the year.
Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in making Auckland greater.…
The year of the e-scooter
It’s now the holiday season so expect shorter, and fewer, posts over the next couple of weeks.
I think when we look back at 2018 in transport circles, it will be thought of as the year of the e-scooter. Citylab have a really good summary of how e-scooters exploded around the world this year, including a fair run down of some of their key issues.…
New Years Eve the perfect time to trial Queen Street pedestrianisation
In late November, the council voted to proceed with investigating a plan that would reshape the city centre to focus on pedestrians rather than cars. One especially exciting development was the addition of the following motions, at the behest of councilors:
c) endorse the use of trials and “tactical urbanism” initiatives in order to test and consult on the initiatives in clause b) ii) and iii) above
d) request staff to trial an “open streets” initiative in the City Centre and work with interested Local Boards to trial it in other centres
We have many ideas about how where these trials could take place and it is great to see a trial of High Street proceeding yesterday, as part of the “Late Night Christmas” street festival, thanks to Heart of the City.…
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