Fuel Taxes to go

The government look set to make things easier for big gas guzzling vehicles with the announcement yesterday that they’re progressing with plans to replace fuel taxes with road user charges. Cabinet has agreed to a series of important legislative changes to enable the transition of New Zealand’s 3.5 million light vehicles to paying for our roading network through electronic road user charges, rather than petrol tax, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop.…
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AT’s First Official CRL Map

The City Rail Link is going to be one of the most transformative projects Auckland has ever seen and it is now, most likely, less than a year away. Auckland Transport are more visibly starting to get ready for it, and yesterday they officially unveiled their rapid transit map for once CRL opens, including what they’re calling each of the lines.…
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The Government’s Northern Expressway Obsession

On Saturday there were some interesting discussions on TVNZ’s Q+A programme with Jake Tame about infrastructure with Minister Chris Bishop and Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga chief executive Geoff Cooper. In his discussion with Chris Bishop, Tame covers a range of topics from his various portfolios, many of which probably of interest, such as the impact of the government’s policies on the construction industry, on city deals and the government pushing councils towards asset sales, housing and in particular his response to the op-ed from Christine Fletcher late last week.…
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Congestion Charging: Location Options

New York is the most recent city to implement congestion pricing and it’s already (and predictably) been a success. Will Auckland be the next city to introduce it? Legislation to introduce “time of use charging” (congestion pricing) is currently making its way through Parliament, with the government intending to pass it before the end of the year.…
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Selling Tolling Rights

The idea that our existing transport taxes will fully cover the cost of maintaining and expanding our transport system has long been false. Governments of all stripes have pumped billions of additional spending in to fund major transport projects like motorway extensions.…
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The Transport Plans for Downtown West

As the City Rail Link works start to wrap up over the next year, focus is starting to shift to where next for improvement in the city centre and one of the areas to be focused on is the Downtown West area in conjunction with Pūmanawa Downtown West which is the redevelopment of the Downtown Carpark site.…
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New Density Rules for Inner West train stations

The government have announced more details about their plans to require even more density around some train stations to make the most of the City Rail Link. A few weeks ago, Chris Bishop who is the minister for both transport and housing, announced changes to how Auckland processes its zoning changes in response to government requirements for allowing intensification.…
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June-25 AT Board Meeting

Today the AT board meets again, and I’ve taken a look through the papers to find the most interesting items. For those wanting to attend or watch online: Auckland Transport, 20 Viaduct Harbour Avenue, Auckland (Meeting Room 1.04) Microsoft Teams link for the Board meeting on 24 June 2025 Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 455 861 336 967 Passcode: fa3rG6p6 Closed Agenda AT has been pushing a lot of items into the open agenda, but there are quite a few decisions up for approval in the closed session of the board meeting today.…
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National’s proposed changes to transport rules

Last week Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced some planned transport rule changes including some very welcome and overdue ones for buses, scooters and people on bikes. The Government is progressing a bold work programme to increase productivity and efficiency through comprehensively reforming New Zealand’s land transport rules, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says.…
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AT’s bikes on buses trial expands

Last year Auckland Transport piloted allowing bikes on a few NX1 buses to provide a connection across the harbour. They’ve now announced that from next month the trial will expand and more buses will be equipped with racks. Second phase of bikes in buses trial begins – cyclists can now cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge Auckland Transport (AT) is gearing up for the next phase of its bikes in buses trial from July 2025, aiming to make public transport more flexible, and enable a variety of active modes of travel.…
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