“Brown-town”: the Wayne & Simeon show
Last week Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown kicked off what is always the most important thing a Council does every three years – update its ‘Long term plan’. This is the budgeting process for the Council and – unlike central government – the budget has to balance in terms of income and operating expenses.…
115 Comments Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans.
In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel extending from Wynyard Quarter all the way to Albany.…
CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them.
First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL.
Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each year to run and maintain the $5.5 billion City Rail Link once it opens in 2026.…
Dangling Transport Solutions
Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports:
Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New Zealand’s urban transport mix at an event hosted by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.…
PT use up but fare increases coming
Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the recent car parking issues at malls has probably helped encourage a bit of use too.
The previous busiest Sunday was November 24 2019, which was also a Santa Parade day.…
The New Government’s Agreements
Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government.
They also released the agreements between each party, and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning).…
21st Century City or 20th Century Carpark?
Yesterday I wrote about the council’s upcoming decision around the sale of the downtown carpark.
On the same day the herald ran an opinion by Patrick Reynolds in his role as deputy chair of the Council’s City Centre Advisory Panel, reproduced below with permission.…
Councillors: Sell the Downtown Carpark
Discussion around the sale of the Downtown Carpark has been heating up again lately, and it likely all comes to a head tomorrow when Council will effectively decide on whether to sell it or not.
The previous council’s Finance and Performance Committee approved starting the sale process back in December 2020, in large part due to the impact COVID had on council’s finances.…
Making PT better by experiencing it
A couple of articles caught my attention over the weekend that I think ultimately are somewhat related.
First up, following a number of articles last week about he new WX1 route, yesterday Todd Niall reported on how some senior managers from Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi tried it out.…
Congestion Pricing back on the agenda
Road pricing, congestion pricing, time of use pricing, whatever you want to call it, it’s back on the council’s agenda with a report going to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on the next steps. The recommendation is also that the committee “endorse the creation of a joint Auckland Transport / Auckland Council programme team to implement Time of Use Charging“.…
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