Imagine, a city
This summary of where we’re at was originally presented at a City Vibes event run by The Urban Room on 9th December 2025, and like all our work, is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans.…
56 Comments Pre-Rapid Transit
A clear game-changer for Auckland would be the earliest possible completion of the long-planned Rapid Transit Network. We have a growing and improving bunch of lines, on a long held and evolving plan, but as yet not enough of the whole to gain the great multiplying benefit of the network effect.…
First judicial review for the Minister of Transport
In September, Eloise Gibson reported for RNZ that the Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, fast-tracked changes to tailpipe emissions standards to meet a car industry deadline. Now, legal questions are being asked about the process that led to those decisions.
As reported on Monday, again by Eloise Gibson for RNZ, the minister is being taken to court by an electric-car advocacy initiative over the engagement that resulted in weakening the pre-existing standards:
The Better New Zealand Trust said it was unreasonable of Brown to direct his transport officials to consult only four motoring groups – all of which were against the standards – before making a decision.…
The Policy and Memory Vortex
When you start doing research into transport and urban topics and policies, one thing you realise is how messy and chaotic many government websites are. Given that these are (in theory) the most accessible version of the official archive, that’s a challenge.…
Weekly Roundup 12-April-2024
Welcome back to another Friday. Here’s some articles that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Wednesday Matt looked at the latest with the Airport to Botany project.
On Thursday Matt covered the revelation that Auckland Transport have to subsidise towing illegally parked cars.…
Safer streets around schools: have your say by 28 August
This is a cross-post from our friends at Bike Auckland, with an intro by Fiain d’Leafy, their Chief Biking Officer. Feedback on AT’s current tranche of proposed safe speeds is open until Monday 28 August. This post explains why it’s important to take a moment to add your voice, and how to speak up for safer speeds around schools.…
Groundhog Day: will AT finally do the right thing on Great North Road?
Update: The AT Board approved this project! See nice write-up here by Simon Wilson. Onwards! Tuesday 27 June is Groundhog Day for the Auckland Transport Board, which finds itself at a self-imposed crossroads on Great North Rd.
The Board can finally green-light the design it first approved for construction back in October 2021, after what has been an extraordinary process of delay.…
Flashback Wednesday: Where do we put our fury and our grief?
This post was originally written almost exactly a year ago by several Greater Auckland writers, with a contribution from Jon Turner, the deputy chair of the Puketāpapa Local Board. We still often think of Levi James and his family, and how they were failed by Auckland Transport.…
Waterproofing the City
As the planet continues to cook, extreme weather events like those we experienced over the last two weeks are set to become more frequent. How we plan our cities to mitigate the risks of climate change will inevitably be more salient going forward, and that will only increase over time.…
Kidical Mass: the future on wheels
This post began as a thread over on Twitter, where it struck a chord. All I did was share some thoughts and photos from last weekend’s lovely Kidical Mass bike ride (hosted by Bike Auckland under the banner of Biketober and the inaugural Auckland Climate Festival)… and it really took off.…
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