Onehunga buses improved
The focus for improvements to public transport around Onehunga in recent years has been in the form of trains with services reinstated to the town centre back in 2010 after being stopped 37 years previously. The station has since been wired up and is now ready and waiting for our new electric trains to arrive.…
54 Comments Submissions on alternative funding options close today
The intensity of the Unitary Plan ended up distracting us a bit from the discussion around alternative transport funding, although perhaps that was intended. Submissions on the funding options close today so this is a quick recap and explanation of my submission.…
Who should pay for grade separation?
As our rail system has improved, people are increasingly starting to see value in being nearby it. This is leading to more and more people who live along the rail line to want new stations in their communities. We have seen calls for a new station in the valley below Selwyn College, a new station on the site of the old Tamaki station and a new station at Parnell.…
Are fewer people wanting to drive?
We already know that people are driving less and owning fewer cars. As we have shown before, since the mid 2,000s both vehicle ownership and the number of kilometres travelled (VKT) have plateaued and then fallen in recent years on a per capita basis (VKT has fallen in real terms too).…
Veolia’s profit doubles even though patronage declines
This bit of news caught my eye a week or so back, although at the time we were a bit overrun with Unitary Plan matters. It seems that Veolia is doing quite well out of their Auckland rail contract:
Veolia Transport Auckland, which runs the city’s urban passenger trains, almost doubled its annual profit last year after it changed the way it does business.…
Did the MOT get the Land Transport Management Bill Wrong?
Last night the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill passed on it’s third reading, which means that it is set to become law soon.
The Land Transport Management Act dates from 2003 and it set up the New Zealand Transport Agency and established the rules under which it operates in order to achieve “an affordable, integrated, safe, responsive, and sustainable land transport system”.…
Sprawl and Housing Affordability
Whether or not having a ‘limit’ around the edge of Auckland (call it a MUL or a RUB of whatever) drives up the cost of housing is a fairly long-running debate. The argument in favour of this assumption is encapsulated by an opinion piece in the NZ Herald a week or so back by Don Brash:
At the moment, less than 1 per cent of New Zealand’s area is urbanised.…
Good news for Queens Birthday
Hopefully everyone had a good long weekend and while people may wish they were still on holiday rather than back at work/school/whatever, at least everyone has had the opportunity to do that.
For the first time since records began there has not been a single road death during the Queen’s Birthday weekend.…
NZTA Post Implementation Reviews
One of the most important parts of any project is to review it after completion to see what went right, what went wrong and to see if the project did what it was expected to. This is especially important with transport projects due to the often massive costs involved in new or upgraded infrastructure.…
Wiri Update
Early last month Matt and I visited the construction site of the new Electric train facility in Wiri under Gothic skies and were very impressed to see how much progress is being made compared to our last visit: Above the view from the north, the reverse, below: This shot taken from the new foot bridge seen here: and here: It won’t be long now before this stabling yard will be full of shiny new trains: Inside the main building with its seven maintenance berths, overhead gantries, and whole train jacking systems: Here’s a bunch of German made jacks waiting to be installed in pits so full three car sets can be elevated at once: All looking very impressive and on target for commissioning as the trains arrive.…
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