The State of It
Yesterday I went to the launch of the Committee for Auckland’s third The State of The City launch. It’s great they are doing this work, and the event was very interesting. You can read the report itself here.
There has been a lot of media coverage since, some of which you’ve no doubt seen, ranging from the sensationalist (Stuff) to the bored and dismissive (Auckland Now).…
19 Comments 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.…
The (illegible) fine print: speed reversals hit train, bus, bike networks
The situation: Auckland Transport is in a lonely race to raise speeds on hundreds of local streets (over 1500, in fact) under the new Speed Rule. This is evidently by choice – other cities are taking a more considered and rational approach.…
On politics, professional ethics, and premature death on our roads
Today’s guest post is an open letter by Dr Bridget Doran, a transportation engineer, researcher, and human factors psychologist, on the question of politics and professional ethics in the context of the new Speed Rule.
It’s a timely read for our local audience.…
Pressure grows for commonsense correction on safe local speeds
Concern is growing about the wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there are growing fears about what this means for children.
A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the option to keep existing speeds, where they are working and have strong community support, or where land-use has changed.…
Time of Use charging progresses – but will it actually lead anywhere?
On Tuesday the long awaited Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in parliament and now heads off to select committee for public submissions. This is the legislation that enables Time of Use charging schemes – what’s typically known as congestion pricing – to be developed and implemented.…
National’s Urbanist Minister
On Friday, Chris Bishop, the Minister of Housing, Transport, Infrastructure and RMA Reform, gave an absolutely fantastic speech to the Committee for Auckland.
As a starter, he really sums up well why we need better cities with this line.
I make no apologies for being an urbanist.…
Gondolas for mass transit?
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.
Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand.…
Some questions for the government on speed limit increases
Yesterday, the newly minted Minister of Transport Chris Bishop and the Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon held a press conference to announce a tranche of 38 state highways where speed limits will be automatically increased, and a further 49 up for public consultation on whether speeds should rise.…
December-24 AT Board Meeting
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are.…
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