Trends in vehicle travel in NZ
Nerd alert; this post is chock-full of graphs. Plus a few “hypotheses”, just to keep things exciting. And a dog, because I like dogs.
For those of you who are new to the data game but want to participate in the nerdy excitement, let me first explain the rules.…
60 Comments The NZ Herald: Whipping up fear?
I’m a proud Aucklander.
My job often takes me overseas. I’m actually writing this from Brisbane. And often when I fly back to Auckland I find a small tear forming in the corner of my eye. I’m happy not just because I get to see colleagues, friends, family, and Baby Kuku (see below).…
Movement and Place – Taking a historical perspective
“Movement and place”: A simple concept that underpins many of the debates on this blog.
For those who have not heard of the “movement and place” concept before, let me briefly re-cap. “Movement” describes how cities need to accommodate flows of people and products.…
NIMBYs: Redefining community?
Of late we’ve seen a number of rather animated discussions on the topic of “NIMBYs” (not-in-my-back-yard), such as: Milford – where people objected to a proposed plan change for higher density apartments and townhouses on the grounds that it was “out of character”.…
The Pullman Hotel – Scant regard for the public realm?
About 5 years ago what was then the Hyatt Hotel (since renamed the Pullman Hotel) underwent major renovations, which involved adding some apartments on the northern side of the building and rebuilding their frontage with Princes Street.
The location of the hotel is shown below, on the north-eastern corner of the intersection of Princes and Waterloo Quadrant.…
FBT WTF: Suspiciously vocal opposition?
In this recent post Matt L considered the Government’s proposal to extend fringe benefit tax (FBT) to employer-provided parking in Auckland and Wellington’s CBDs.
The Government is keen to extend FBT to employer-provided parking because the parking being provided has a fairly high (market) value.…
Get Connected – Futures in public transport? Careers evening at UoA
Are you passionate about cities? Want to know more about public transport?
If so then you might be interested in an upcoming event being held at the University of Auckland: “Get Connected – Futures in Public Transport” (NB: The link takes you to the Facebook page for the event, where you can RSVP). …
How cities fail their cyclists … Auckland
In this recent post Matt collated some stunning photos of Auckland. More than most cities, Auckland is blessed with a wonderful natural environment. But some of the comments on Matt’s post gave me cause to pause, because they noted that all the stunning photos of Auckland were taken from approximately 300m up in the air and/or at night.…
Better buses
Several recent posts have extolled the merits of “better buses” for Auckland. These posts have generally focused on the following issues: Corridor infrastructure – as discussed in this post, there are strong arguments in favour of expanding Auckland’s bus lane network so as to improve bus speeds/reliability.…
Growing public transport patronage – Expansion or retention?
Peter M’s recent post on “Making light rail make sense” threw up a lot of interesting comments.
One of the more interesting arguments went something along the lines of “many people will never catch a bus so we should invest in rail“. …
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