More Homes vs Light Rail

Last week, the Coalition for More Homes sent a letter that we really shouldn’t have had to write. But first, some backstory and some acronyms. Auckland Council is required to implement Government planning reforms called the NPS-UD and MDRS. The NPS-UD (National Policy Statement on Urban Design 2020).…
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Next steps for light rail

It’s taken a while to fully digest the light rail announcement from a couple of weeks ago. As I said at the time, and in quite a few interviews since, I have mixed emotions about it all. On the one hand it’s amazing to see the government willing to invest so much in Auckland’s rapid transit network – but on the other hand I worry the ‘tunnelled light-rail’ option has taken the worst parts of the two modes they looked at: the high cost of metro and the lower capacity of light-rail.…
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The Light Rail Indicative Business Case

Following the release of the government’s decision on Light Rail two weeks ago, the Auckland Light Rail team (ALR) released the Indicative Business Case (IBC) used to make the decision and although some of what are probably the most interesting parts of it are redacted, and they still haven’t published the appendices, there is some useful information in it.…
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Sooo… Tunnelled Light Rail

On Friday the government announced their decision on Light Rail. I should start by pointing out that it’s fantastic the government have agreed to invest so much in public transport in Auckland. At $10.3 billion in today’s value, or $14.6 billion with inflation by the time it is finished, this will easily be the largest single transport project ever attempted in New Zealand.…
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Lessons for Light Rail from City Rail Link’s Past

In his guest post last week on his view about light rail, Transport Minister Michael Wood started with a lesson from history. Firstly, a few words about the history. This matters because the historic failure to secure the necessary political support and investment for rapid transit in Auckland tells us something about what we might need to do differently if we want the project to advance this time.…
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