Tourist trains from Southland to Northland?
This post is a news roundup and a few musings on the tourist trains in New Zealand.
Readers might not realise but we actually have three long distance train routes in New Zealand: The Northern Explorer between Auckland and Wellington, the Costal Pacific between Picton and Christchurch (currently suspended due to the Kaikoura earthquake), and the Trans Alpine from Christchurch to Greymouth across the Southern Alps.…
143 Comments Ferry trade-offs
On a post about Auckland’s planned rapid transit network a while ago, one reader asked the question of why we don’t plan more ferry services:
We have a nice big harbour with good access from the North Shore and East Auckland.…
A Quay Park stadium?
The concept of a downtown stadium is back in the news again, with new mayor Phil Goff proposing a site on the rail yards next to Vector Arena. It’s interesting that this keeps coming up, my theory is that the public are beginning to recognise the importance of well-located infrastructure and the value of centrality and good transport links.…
Postcard from Bogota
Following a few days in Mexico City, I’ve had the pleasure of staying a week in Bogota, Colombia. Bogota is both the federal capital and the capital of Cundinamarca state, and while it probably doesn’t yet figure as a world capital of culture or clout, it certainly is a thriving mega city of regional importance.…
Postcard from Mexico City
I’ve had the pleasure of spending the last week in the bustling and incomparable city of Mexico D.F, and thought I’d share a few musings on urbanism and transport from the great metropole of Mesoamerica.
A little historical context to start.…
The Devonport-Parnell Bridge
Digging around online the other day I came across an Auckland Council Archives webpage with a series of old plans and charts on early Auckland harbour bridge and tunnel concepts. I do recommend having a poke around for fans of this sort of thing.…
Jean Batten Place time lapse
Through the wonders of modern smartphones I’ve put together a sped up clip of a few minutes activity at a downtown intersection. This shows the intersection of High St, Shortland St and the Jean Batten Pl shared space in action. This clip shows everything, pedestrians crossing every which way, cyclists weaving through queues of traffic, drivers going the wrong way down the street and the inevitable tradesmen doing dodgy u-turns.…
Birkenhead Transport orders triple-articulated double decker bus
Birkenhead Transport announced today that it is planning replace its entire fleet with a single triple-articulated double decker bus. The bus is 57m long and over 4m tall.
Owner, managing director and part time relief driver Max Headway had this to say:
“Birkenhead Transport is known as a forward looking innovator in the Auckland public transport sector, and this latest vehicle purchase backs up our reputation as industry leaders on the cutting edge of bus transit technology.…
The transport benefits of street trees in cities
A while ago Kent and I made a proposal for a tree lined boulevard in Auckland. Curiously, the biggest theme of the comments section was about the perceived lack of value that trees bring to the street corridor. It seems that most people consider street trees to be at best, decoration, and at worst a waste of time and money, dangerous even.…
Auckland from above
Here are a few photos taken above Auckland from a scenic helicopter flight. Apologies that these aren’t up to Patrick’s usual standard as they were taken through the window on a phone.
First up Pt Chevalier and Mt Eden, classic dense but leafy street grids of villas and bungalows.…
Processing...