ART of the metro
At last!
Shine down on us Robbie, we’re actually getting there.
In the same week that two brand new – and already wildly popular – city centre sculptures have been unveiled, and the opening date for our fabulous new underground urban railway was announced, Auckland Transport has also quietly agreed with our artful pitch on naming the top-tier transit services.…
65 Comments Westgate Te Waiarohia Station Opens
The Northwest Busway reached a major milestone yesterday with the official opening of the first permanent piece of busway infrastructure – the Westgate Te Waiarohia Station. (See details here about services, and ministerial media release here.)
The rapid transit service that will run on the future Northwest Busway – the WX1 – was launched in late 2023 with interim stations on the Te Atatū and Lincoln Rd motorway interchanges and just some basic bus-stops at Westgate.…
We have a date! CRL opens 13 September
In exciting news, at last we have the date confirmed for the launch of the City Rail Link:
Sunday 13th September 2026
Whoop whoop! Here’s the Government media release. The official announcement was planned for 9am, and we’ve observed the embargo out of politeness.…
CRL Visits and Timetables
While we still wait to find out the date the City Rail Link will finally open, Auckland Transport yesterday released the timetables that will be used, and announced public ‘First Look’ events at the stations. First Look Events
AT will be opening up the stations, one weekend at a time, for people to look through.…
Western Line Level Crossing Early Challenges and Feedback
A few months ago Auckland Transport finally started talking about the need to replace level crossings on the Western Line – something I think will become glaringly obvious in a few months once the City Rail Link opens, especially when frequencies increase, likely early next year.…
Build this beautiful, affordable and visionary new bridge
The following is an op-ed which ran in the Sunday Star Times and online in The Post on July 12th 2026.
You can find more information about the bridge proposal here. The way we routinely approach big transport problems is broken.…
How we got the CRL: Interview with Len Brown
Late last year I sat down outside Waitematā Station with the Godfather of the CRL to discuss how he did it, plus some further ruminations on our city’s development.
As we count down to the opening of the City Rail Link, just a matter of weeks now, it is really interesting to go back over how the project was fought for and finally approved.…
Te Ara Tupua: Resilience and choice
Next weekend I’m heading down to the capital for Matariki and to ride Te Ara Tupua. In advance, I’ve been thinking what we can learn from the evolution of this corridor over time.
I was last there in January 2026, when Waka Kotahi kindly gave me a tour of the nearly complete project: Land Bridge
The best way for Aucklanders to think about this key link between Wellington City, the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa is that it’s their Harbour Bridge.…
Trains to Tauranga: What needs to happen?
This is a guest post by Darren Davis. It originally appeared on his excellent blog, Adventures in Transitland, which we encourage you to check out. It is shared by kind permission. Prologue
It’s been 25 years since the Bay of Plenty has had a regular passenger service in the form of the Kaimai Express.…
Presenting the Bridge proposal to Auckland Council
Yesterday, Patrick and I presented Nicolas Reid’s bridge proposal for the next Waitematā Harbour crossing to Auckland Council’s Transport and Infrastructure Delivery Committee.
We got a good hearing from councillors, and some great questions – you can check out the full presentation, about ten minutes followed by about twenty minutes of Q&A here,
You can see our presentation slides here.…
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