The Impact of Half Priced Fares
In March, in a bid to address the increasing cost of living, the government announced it was giving a 50% discount on public transport as well as a 25c per litre drop in fuel taxes for three months. It was later extended by two more months and then in July extended till 31-January.…
7 Comments A few more ideas to plug the council’s revenue gap
Yesterday I covered the that the council has revealed it has a $270 million operational cost gap that it needs to fill, largely caused by higher than expected inflation and interest costs. A lot of public discussion has already begun on how to address that and it seems to be focusing on things like selling the council’s airport shares or leasing out port operations.…
Dear Wayne
Dear Wayne,
Congratulations on becoming the third Mayor of Auckland. You have some big footsteps to follow. While voter turnout was unacceptably low – and you really need to work with government to change how local government elections work – there’s no doubt your call to “fix Auckland” struck a chord with many Aucklanders.…
Flashback Saturday: Better cities mean a wealthier New Zealand
Most Saturdays we dig into the archives. This post by Peter was originally published in September 2014.
Last week I took a look at whether government policy to support regional economies could divert growth away from Auckland. Based on the historical evidence, the answer seems to be no – people want to live in Auckland and start businesses here, and it’s senseless to try and stop that.…
Submit on Reshaping Streets
The government are currently consulting on a suite of much needed changes to legislation that will remove red tape, to “make it easier for local authorities (like councils) to make street changes that support public transport, active travel and placemaking“. And that consultation closes later today.…
Activity Classes are not the Strategic Direction
Streets so safe that getting around by bike is easy, children are independent, and our elderly can move around town without feeling stressed. Public transport so attractive that no one ever feels forced to drive. A transport system that becomes gradually less expensive to operate, and more environmentally sustainable, as it is improved over time.…
Small steps towards a level playing field
Each year, the Government releases a bill to tweak the tax system. The bill announced yesterday includes a couple of transport-related changes.
Most importantly, the Government is proposing to make employer-subsidised public transport exempt from Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT). This is great and something we’ve long called for as well as something recommended by a Tax Working Group in 2019.…
Flashback Saturday: Ridesharing is making traffic worse
This post was originally published by Matt in July 2018
One of the promises of ridesharing applications like Uber and Lyft has been that they will help increase vehicle occupancy levels and reduce congestion. However, it seems like the opposite is happening and they are actually making traffic worse.…
Removing red tape to make it easier to reshape streets
The government yesterday announced consultation on a suite of much needed changes to legislation that will remove red tape in order to “make it easier for local authorities (like councils) to make street changes that support public transport, active travel and placemaking“.…
Flashback Saturday: Auckland Transport’s Parking Nonsense
This post by Heidi was originally published in July 2019.
AT has created a storm that never needed to exist.
Ten years ago, Aucklanders understood the law. You could not park a car on a verge or footpath, and vehicle crossings were for crossing the footpath, not places to park.…
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