Housing, wealth, and inequality
House prices in Auckland are high and rising, which is causing concern in many quarters. But do we know what sort of effects high house prices may have on New Zealand society, now and in the future?
Politicians and commentators from all quarters have argued that they are undermining the equity of New Zealand society by making it harder for young people to buy houses and squeezing household budgets.…
69 Comments Rates for Crown-owned land?
Last month, Local Government New Zealand called for charging rates (i.e. local government property taxes) on Crown-owned land. The idea’s also been supported by the Productivity Commission and ACT’s sole MP, David Seymour:
Local Government NZ, which represents the country’s 78 local and regional authorities, is holding its annual conference in Rotorua.…
Supply and demand and regional airfares
Back in June, Stuff published a report on regional airfares, focusing on the way that prices are affected by major events such as concerts and sports competitions. Now, I’m no airline economist, but I’ve got a general interest in transport pricing so I figured that it would be worth taking a look at the topic.…
The economics of fare policies, part 3
For those that don’t read Transportblog on a daily basis, this is the third part of a series I’m writing on the economics of public transport fare policies. Part 1 discussed a key rationale for public transport subsidies – lower fares keep people from clogging up already-congested roads.…
How much should we value resilience?
A few months back, I took a critical look at some dodgy arguments about the need for expensive security measures for cities to be “resilient” against terrorism. The whole thing got me thinking: how should we value protection against low-probability events?…
The economics of fare policies, part 2
The announcement of Auckland Transport’s new fare policy made me curious about the economics of fare policies, so I’m taking a quick look at them. In part 1 of this series, I argued that 100% cost-recovery isn’t a realistic goal for public transport.…
The economics of fare policies, part 1
A few months back, Auckland Transport put out its new fare policy for consultation. The draft policy, which they call Simplified Fares, has two main elements: Standardised fare zones that ensure that journeys within or between zones cost the same regardless of whether you’re travelling by bus or rail [ferries are excluded]
No transfer penalties between services, which is a key element in enabling a frequent connective network.…
Large intersections
Last week, I took a high-level look at the opportunity cost associated with Auckland’s car-centric transport system. Simply put, cars use up lots of land, and public transport, walking, and cycling don’t. At a time when we’re struggling to find space to accommodate the city’s residential and economic growth, this is likely to be increasingly inefficient.…
The cost of space (for cars)
Earlier this month, urban policy researcher Todd Litman published a useful summary of some of his new research into the cost of sprawl:
Our analysis indicates that by increasing the distances between homes, businesses, services and jobs, sprawl raises the cost of providing infrastructure and public services by 10-40 percent.…
If congestion is so bad, we should price it
Last Thursday, the Government shut the door on the idea of road pricing for Auckland, saying that it would prefer to undertake “a year-long negotiation with the council on an agreed 30-year programme focusing on reducing congestion, and boosting public transport where that reduces congestion.”…
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