Stealth mode: the surprisingly powerful city-centre access hack
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel and a candidate in this months Entrust election It might surprise you to learn that in Auckland, our harbour city, wrapped around the shores of the beautiful Waitemata, bicycles bring as many people to the city centre in the morning peak as the ferry system.…
47 Comments Northwest Busway Next Steps
Auckland has a long history of transport mistakes, and one of the major recent ones (as outlined by Darren Davis here) was to not build a Northwest busway at the same time as rebuilding most of the Northwestern motorway a decade ago.…
A few PT announcements
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare
I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance after the previous government removed Fringe Benefit Tax from doing so to effectively bring it into line with carparks.…
New HOP readers for future payment options
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already on buses today.…
Western Express Success
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said
“Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen fantastic growth on this frequent bus route which connects Westgate with the city centre, carrying more than 275,000 passengers so far.…
What’s happening with Airport to Botany
One of the few public transport projects the current government have said they support is the Airport to Botany project (A2B) and it’s one we haven’t covered in a while so worth looking at where things are at.
A business case for the project was completed in 2021 before being confirmed by the boards of both Waka Kotahi and Auckland Transport and like the Eastern busway it will connect to, includes some big roading components too.…
The Maddest March since COVID
March is now over and so too is March Madness – though public transport will likely stay busy at least until school holidays in a few weeks.
So how did PT perform in March …. pretty well it turned out.
Just prior to March I wrote about how average weekday trips exceeded 330k for the first time since the pandemic, reaching 91% of pre-pandemic levels for the same time period.…
It’s March Madness Time again
We may still be in February but yesterday marked the start of March Madness, typically the busiest time of the year for transport of all modes. That’s due to a number of factors, such as: The summer holiday period is over meaning All schools and now University’s being back – and for the latter when expectations are high, before some eventually lose interest and start to drop out.…
What should be next for public transport in Auckland
With the demise of light rail, the question arises of what next for public transport in Auckland. That was the topic of an interview I had on Radio NZ yesterday, but I thought it was worth expanding on that some more with what I think should and shouldn’t be the focus.…
Straightening the 25 route
With the death of light rail, this post from Puketāpapa Local Board member Jon Turner late last year feels particularly relevant. A while ago I asked AT about the potential to run the 252 route down Dominion Road as the ‘standard’ route, with the View Road detour only being run by either the 25L or 25B.…
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