Does intensification increase traffic congestion?
Earlier this week, I took a look at the relationship between congestion and density. I was investigating geographer Phil McDermott’s claim, based on some dodgy data comparing between cities, that increasing density would increase congestion.
Economists know that it is difficult to make inferences about causality using cross-sectional analysis.…
42 Comments Arguing for sprawl with “strategic misrepresentations”
A number of recent posts have taken a look at some of the “strategic misrepresentations” that people have used to argue for a sprawled-out, roads-focused Auckland. We’ve taken aim at some of the common fallacies, including: Auckland isn’t dense enough for good public transport – in fact, it’s a medium-density city that is misrepresented by Demographia’s flawed statistics
A car-based transport system will be cheap – in fact, all of the initial cost estimates were wildly undercooked and the costs to build motorways have never stopped increasing
Auckland is too congested to function – in fact, average commute times are a cruisy 25 minutes, well below many overseas cities.…
Fact-checking hyperbolic arguments for more roads
Following the gridlock on the roads last Saturday, the NZ Herald published several perspectives on how Auckland should cope with disruption to its transport networks. Matt weighed in with an excellent piece on the need to build Auckland’s long-awaited rapid transit network, which would give people an alternative to congested roads.…
How traffic engineering standards can break our cities
Many of you will know me as just a facetious blogger who spouts off about random things from time to time. This is indeed true.
What is also true, however, is that in a previous life I worked as a transport engineer.…
Supply curves slope upwards. Demand curves slope downwards. Are we accounting for this?
In a number of recent posts I’ve taken a look at both the demand for new roads (tends to be lower than expected) and the cost to build new roads (tends to be higher than expected). This has led to a bit of trouble for road builders in many developed countries – it’s getting harder and harder to find good projects.…
Engineers versus … everyone else?
How do you define “optimal conditions” in a transport sense? The graphic below paints a stark difference in opinion on what constitutes “optimal conditions” for different professions:
Now I’m both an engineer and an economist, so feel I have some insight into the motivation for whoever developed this graphic.…
Rapid transit has passed the acid test
I recently ran across a New Zealand Herald article from 2000 on the region’s plans to start building good rapid transit infrastructure. (Which, as Patrick highlighted in a recent post, is exactly what is holding Auckland back relative to its peer cities.)…
Is road funding a case of “survival of the un-fittest”?
In several recent posts I’ve taken a look at people’s revealed preferences for roads (nobody’s willing to pay directly for them) and public transport, walking, and cycling (people are queuing up to get on the train). In those posts, I’ve argued that observing how people vote with their feet (or their wallets) can teach us a lot about demand for different travel modes.…
Can public transport save households money?
People sometimes argue that we should provide more public transport because it will reduce households’ transport costs. But is that actually true?
I took a look at this issue in a recent working paper on Location Affordability in New Zealand Cities that I presented at the 2014 New Zealand Association of Economists conference.…
Job growth in New Zealand – Auckland leading the way
In a recent post I looked at the geographic distribution of New Zealand’s economic activity, finding that the majority of the country’s GDP is produced by its three major cities – Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
However, it’s also really important to look at the growth of regional economies over time.…
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