Light Rail is not really about the Airport
There’s been plenty of talk about light rail in the media and why we shouldn’t build it. So we thought we’d offer a different point of view. On Tuesday, the Herald published the below piece from me about it. There’s a lot more that I would have or could have said if it weren’t for word limit.…
35 Comments Cheaper Fares or Better Services?
The draft Government Policy Statement clearly indicates that the Government are keen on encouraging more people to use public transport. In the release for the GPS they state this about the 46% increase in funding for PT: This will support an expansion in public transport networks.…
Continuous improvement needed to drive ridership
Public Transport in Auckland has improved remarkably over the last few decades. The number of annual boardings have almost tripled from a low of just 33 million to 92 million today, well ahead of population growth and most of that in the last decade.…
Covering the news, Motorways and Safety
There were a couple of news items yesterday that kept popping up that I want to discuss
Four lanes to Whangarei
Last year during the election campaign, National’s transport policy could probably best be summed up by this: Despite being empty promises, it’s a policy that’s proving to be like a forest fire that’s stubborn to put out, with hot spots unexpectedly flaring back up again from time to time.…
What’s changing in the next batch of trains
Our electric trains have been fantastic and successful addition to the city. More successful than officials predicted, helping to drive ridership on trains to double in four years to 20 million trips annually. They’ve been so successful that many services now have capacity constraints.…
The Maddest March yet
I always look forward to the latest ridership numbers from Auckland Transport but March holds a special place thanks to “March Madness”, the time of the year when the usage of buses and trains peak. I had been a little worried about the results for this March due to the combination of two fewer business days, train staff taking industrial action at the beginning of the month and there being a hugely popular series of Adele concerts last year.…
Upcoming submissions
Over the next week there are a couple of important submissions that you should make on key transport initiatives: The draft Government Policy Statement – submissions close on May 2nd.
The Regional Fuel Tax legislation – submissions close on April 20th.…
Electric buses in Auckland
This week will see the first two 100% battery powered electric buses for public transport hit the streets in Auckland on the City Link route. They’re not quite the first ones overall though as AUT launched one as a shuttle between their campuses last month.…
Apr-18 AT Board Meeting
Next Tuesday the Auckland Transport board meet again. As usual, I’ve had a look though the papers to find the things I think are interesting.
Closed Session
The closed session is where all of the interesting stuff happens. There are quite a few items but most look fairly boring.…
An Auckland City-State?
Recently Metro Magazine published an interesting, albeit it somewhat messy piece by former Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey asking if Auckland should become a city-state. The basis for it is similar to many of the conversations we’ve had, that Auckland’s population, growth and economy are almost completely different to what’s found elsewhere in New Zealand.…
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