Guest Post: Why does Labour ignore transport so badly?
This is another Guest Post by occasional blog commenter Peter
There was a lot of response and reaction to my blog post earlier this week, which criticised most political parties for either their transport policy or their general image. I ruffled a few feathers and had a few good debates in the comments.…
67 Comments Auckland Transport’s take on the GPS
My opinions of the draft Government Policy Statement for transport funding were articulated in this recent post. Papers from Auckland Transport’s May board meeting outline the issues of concern to them in the document. Helpfully, Auckland Transport provide some useful tables that more clearly highlight areas of funding that are proposed to increase and decrease over the next 10 years.…
Transport in the Budget
In what is otherwise a fairly dark budget, it seems that transport – even rail – has got off reasonably lightly. Of course unsurprisingly there’s nothing in the budget about the CBD Rail Tunnel: the government’s review of that project seems to have gone on the back-burner – and the Ministry of Transport is even refusing to release to me any information on the work they’ve done in relation to the project so far this year.…
Submit on the 2012 GPS
Since the release of the “Engagement Document” for the 2012 Government Policy Statement (GPS) on transport funding I have written a couple of posts (particularly this one) on the document – and what I think of it. The Ministry of Transport have been pretty quiet about things (not surprising since I imagine they’re utterly embarrassed by it) but everyone actually has the opportunity to make a submission by May 27th.…
Getting more from our PT subsidies
Herald columnist Brian Rudman wrote a good article yesterday, highlighting the need to get better value out of the amount of money we spend on public transport subsidies. This was an issue touched upon at Tuesday’s transport committee meeting, specifically in the presentation by Auckland Transport CEO David Warburton.…
Auckland Transport’s first few months
David Warburton, CEO of Auckland Transport, made a presentation at the Tuesday meeting of the Auckland Council Transport Committee. The presentation was a general overview of how Auckland Transport has done in the past few months, while also identifying a few issues moving forwards into the future.…
NZ Herald on funding squeeze
An article in today’s NZ Herald picks up on the funding squeeze for transport that I posted about a couple of days ago. For a start, it points out the irony of potentially significant funding shortfalls at the very time we’re seeing public transport patronage skyrocket:
Auckland Transport faces a tight funding squeeze as it struggles to cope with unprecedented numbers of commuters switching to buses, trains and ferries.…
Funding squeeze starting to hurt
Over the past week I have written a number of posts about the upcoming 2012 Government Policy Statement for transport and its effect on the “funding bands” that guide the amount of money NZTA can spend on particular things. My general feeling about the GPS draft document is that it’s utterly stupid and illogical, but also that it’s not particularly more stupid and illogical than the current 2009 GPS – which I suppose isn’t really saying much.…
Analysing the 2012 Government Policy Statement ‘Engagement Document’
Perhaps prompted by the various items on Radio NZ this morning, the Ministry of Transport has finally got around to publishing a discussion document for the next Government Policy State for transport funding. You can read the document here and you can also make submissions on it between now and May 27th by emailing: [email protected].…
The next GPS: out of touch with reality
I’m still to find a copy of it anywhere on the internet, but it seems that Radio NZ have seen the draft version of the 2012 Government Policy Statement for transport spending. Their description of it is unsurprising, but also depressing:
The Government intends to increase spending on new state highways but cut or effectively freeze funding in all but one other area of transport spending.…
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