Why we can’t have nice things: a look inside the black box of traffic engineering decision making
A new research paper has helped shed some light on why we continually seem to see substandard and delayed street outcomes from Auckland Transport that completely ignore Auckland’s agreed political and policy goals. It reveals a complex and dysfunctional decision making process that might be representative more generally of the institutional inertia that exists at AT.…
78 Comments AT’s (lack of) Achievement of Carbon Emission and Fuel Usage Targets
This is a guest post from reader Takaite
Background
As 40% of Auckland’s carbon emissions are due to transport, if Auckland is to contribute its share to NZ’s carbon reduction targets this is an area where reductions have to be made.…
July-18 AT Board Meeting
Today is the latest Auckland Transport board meeting. As usual, I’ve been through the papers.
Closed Session Agenda
There are quite a few items on the closed session agenda this month and all are up for approval/decision. The most interesting ones are: AT Board Policies
Contract Variation Agreement for the Provision of Manned Services
Ferry PTOM Procurement Update
Future Ferry Strategy
Deed of Lease of KR Land at Takanini Park and Ride
Lease of Units at Devonport Wharf
AMETI EB1 Revised Forecast
Procurement of ETCS equipment
Review and Approval of AT Board Subcommittee Charters Open Session Board Report
There’s quite a few interesting items in this report and I skipped some of it due to how long the post was already getting.…
Guest Post: A Letter to Shane Ellison – CEO of Auckland Transport
This is a Guest Post by Lance Wiggs. It first appeared here and is republished with permission.
Dear Shane
You’ve begun your role as the Chief Executive Officer of Auckland Transport at a moment of crisis, with hundreds of Auckland families coping with the death of their loved ones on the city’s roads every year.…
Regional Fuel Tax Approved
Yesterday the Council made a fairly momentous decision to proceed with the Regional Fuel Tax, after a long and pretty good debate on the issue. Here’s what RNZ reported on the decision:
Councillors voted 13 to 7 in favour of the tax.…
Public feedback on the Regional Fuel Tax
Tomorrow the Council will make their final decision on whether to proceed with the Regional Fuel Tax – which is fundamental to delivering the ATAP transport programme by helping to fund the following projects: As part of the legislative requirements for introducing the fuel tax, the Council undertook consultation earlier this month on the proposal.…
May-18 AT Board Meeting
Today is the latest Auckland Transport board meeting and as I do, I’ve been through the board papers to find the interesting bits.
Closed Session
There’s quite a bit in the closed session this meeting. Some of the items for decision/approval include: Matakana Link Road – Presumably this is AT staff asking the board to approve a 50km/h urban road that’s more expensive per km than most motorway projects.…
Help let businesses help with PT costs
With petrol prices on the rise, it is once again raising suggestions that the government should cut fuel taxes to ease the burden on the public. The National Party in particular are pushing this line, although they don’t say how the government could then afford to pay for current transport plans.…
Crazy motorway plan shows how far we’ve come
Every now and then something so ridiculous comes along it’s hard to ignore. That came over the weekend courtesy of the ACT party’s candidate for the Northcote by-election, Stephen Berry. It start initially as a comment about what he’d rather see for transport in Auckland I’d rather see the motorway network, including a harbour crossing at Northcote to Pt Chev and Devonport to Orakei.…
Light Rail procurement starts
The government isn’t mucking around when it comes to light rail in Auckland. Less than two weeks after confirming it as a priority in the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP), yesterday they announced they’re launching the procurement process and that they’ve already received an unsolicited proposal for it.…
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