This government’s legacy for transport in Auckland
The following is an op-ed I wrote which ran in the NZ Herald on November 3. It’s turning out to be even more topical than ever – read to the end for an update with recent events… In July 2016, dignitaries geared up to ride along a brand new cycleway on Quay Street in Auckland.…
42 Comments Wayne Brown wants Auckland to be an efficient, green city
Stopping sprawl and turning Auckland into an efficient, green city? Sign us up, Mayor Wayne Brown!
On Friday 31 October, the Mayor and councillors were officially sworn in, and the Mayor made a speech outlining his priorities for the coming term.…
Manchester: an urban renewal case study
I lived in the UK in the 1980s, so whenever anyone describes the Auckland city centre as “dilapidated” (as the Herald did in an recent editorial), I can’t help chuckling. While we do have very real problems, we have nothing like the complete physical ruin of whole areas and communities on the scale that was so widespread in post-industrial Thatcher’s Britain, especially in the north where the Industrial revolution began, like Manchester below.…
At a crossroads: How a new Auckland Council will traverse transport policy
Connor stood on the City Vision ticket in the latest local elections, in a personal capacity.
This ran in The Post on October 21 2025. Despite the lowest ever local election turnout, this was perhaps Auckland’s most consequential election so far.…
Reality bites: RoNS will bankrupt the nation
The government’s mega-roads programme is now looking to cost an astonishing $40-50 billion, based on new documents released yesterday by the NZTA.
On Monday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop touted the fact that $1.2 billion would be spent towards funding for design, consenting and property acquisition for six of the projects.…
Auckland Council’s 2025 Elections: Initial Results
We now have our first glimpse of the shape of the new council following the local body election on Saturday. The results emerge in three stages: “progress results” landed on Saturday afternoon, and “preliminary results” on Monday afternoon, with special votes (and thus the final outcomes) to come on Friday.…
What this local election means for transport in Auckland
Connor Sharp is running for the Waitematā Local Board in this year’s election. On Saturday (pending any close-run races), we’ll learn who will govern our city for the next three years.
While the mayoral race feels like a foregone conclusion – to the point there’s barely even any media coverage of it – who else will be sitting around the council table, and who will sit on the various local boards, will have a big impact on the city’s future.…
Time to get off the gas
With energy policy and the cost of power in the headlines this week, here’s a timely guest post by regular reader, and freelance Business Analyst specialising in pricing and operations management, Stephen Reynolds. (Header image: Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA4.0) Many New Zealanders view exhausting our fossil fuel reserves as inevitable and enabling us to move on from the emissions they generate.…
Auckland Transport No More
Mayor Wayne Brown has spent much of his time in office bemoaning the role of Wellington in how Auckland plans for the future often saying “Wellington needs to stop planning Auckland“. But on Friday he happily handed control of the city’s transport future over to Wellington, labelling it “a major victory for the people of Auckland“.…
Improving Local Government Representation in New Zealand
This is a guest post by Malcolm McCracken. It previously appeared on his blog Better Things Are Possible and is shared by kind permission. Local government elections in New Zealand face persistent challenges with low voter turnout and a shortage of candidates. …
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