Rethinking the Manukau Harbour Crossing
With the election of a new Government, it is highly likely we will see Light Rail from the City to the Airport via Dominion Rd and the Southwest built within the next decade. This was not only a campaign policy of the Labour party but a major part of the confidence and supply agreement between the Labour Party and the Greens.…
71 Comments Roads of National Party Significance
For a long time there was a joke that the last government’s Roads of National Significance (RoNS) were missing the word ‘Party’ from the name. That amended name seems even more appropriate now following National’s latest move, to start a number of petitions asking the government to build the roads National promised during the election.…
Devonport Ferry Shuttle Trial
Auckland Transport are crowing about a new service they plan to trial to get people to and from the Devonport ferry terminal. This is something we’ve seen mentioned in ATs board reports. A new rideshare service in Devonport will give customers improved access to public transport, reducing congestion and freeing up parking.…
Thoughts on Vancouver
Over the Christmas and New Year period my wife and I a few weeks over in Canada. Much of that was up in Whistler but we ended the trip with 3-4 days in Vancouver. Below are some of my observations relevant to what we discuss here.…
10 Years
Change and Continuity Rather than just look ahead a short distance I thought it may be productive to project forward a decade or so into Auckland’s future urban form. Partly as this is surprisingly easy because of the long lead in times for urban infrastructure, we know what’s coming, and partly because a longer look ahead gives us a better sense of the what the coming change is likely to mean.…
Water water everywhere
I arrived back in Auckland on Friday, having been out of the country for a few weeks on holiday, and what a day to arrive back in the middle of a storm. A storm that should raise a lot of questions given its impacts, particularly on our transport system.…
Biting the Breast that Feeds Us
I was saddened to read some recent news articles (here and here) that described a young mother in Auckland being kicked off the bus for breastfeeding her child. My heart goes out to this woman and her child.
As someone who will soon be a parent myself, I was saddened to find this is still a problem for two reasons.…
Cities need Transit, both to thrive, and to do so more equitably.
Continuing our summer holiday reading this New York Times article on New York’s Subway, The Case for the Subway, touches on many important issues. Its overt subject is the terrible current state of the Subway, but along the way it covers universal issues about how cities work and the role of effective Transit systems in successful cities.…
Streetfilms: Traffic in New York City
The latest video from Streetfilms is worth watching, it highlights a number of the transport challenges New York City is currently facing: New York is facing its most serious transportation challenge in decades.
Subway reliability is way down, and the bus system is shedding riders at an alarming rate.…
“Expanding Auckland” a 1960 documentary
To understand why Auckland is the way it is, we must look back at our past. Old documentaries about Auckland’s history are fairly rare and usually fascinating.
Here’s one from 1960 called “Expanding Auckland”. We’ve published this before but it’s worth watching again.…
Processing...