Fuel tax increase deferred
An interesting announcement today by transport minister Steven Joyce – that the proposed 1.5c a litre fuel tax increase that was to take effect in July will now be cancelled – or more realistically delayed until next year and the year after (with bigger increases likely to be necessary to make up the difference):
Transport Minister Stephen Joyce announced this afternoon the 1.5 cent per litre increase due to come into effect on July 1 had been deferred.…
7 Comments Joyce wants more uneconomic RoNS
A couple of days ago I discussed one of the Ministry of Transport’s discussion papers that has been prepared to inform the development of the next Government Policy Statement (GPS) for transport. The GPS is an important document because it is effectively the government’s input to how NZTA should spend the $3 billion or so that sits in the National Land Transport Fund each year.…
Who is going to pay for Auckland’s electric trains?
Prior to March 2009 it was reasonably clear how rail electrification in Auckland was to be paid for. The project effectively costs $1 billion: half of which needs to be spent on infrastructure works and half on the trains themselves. The government was to pay for the infrastructure and the Auckland Regional Council would pay for the trains.…
How to “unleash” Auckland’s transport system?
A few weeks back there was a very high profile launch of the Auckland Spatial Plan discussion document, known as “Auckland Unleashed”. The launch was accompanied by a great video of Mayor Len Brown outlining his vision for rail’s role in shaping his vision for Auckland over the next 20-30 years.…
Oil prices and transport priorities
There was an interesting question and answer session in parliament today between the Green Party’s Gareth Hughes and Finance Minister Bill English, over the government’s infrastructure investment priorities and how they may be affected by rising fuel prices: The full text of the debate can be read here.…
The secret $83m to be spent on Penlink
Auckland Council’s Draft Annual Plan includes a section on transport, outlining in broad terms the money the council intends to spend over the 2011/2012 year on transport. Overall, transport spending is the biggest section of Auckland Council’s budget – so I was quite surprised to see the lack of detail in the Draft Annual Plan on where transport spending is going.…
Draft Annual Plan: my submission
As promised last week, I have done a model submission on the transport elements of the Draft Annual Plan. Submissions are due by this Friday, so it would be good to ensure everyone gets theirs off reasonably soon. Unfortunately, with the Annual Plan containing a massive lack of information on where the council will actually be spending its transport money, a lot of my submission is dedicated to the need for more information and more detail on what is going to be funded.…
The world has changed
You probably wouldn’t notice, at first glance, how the world of transport in Auckland has changed so dramatically over the past three years. Perhaps you might, if you caught a train and noticed that it was jam-packed instead of half-full; or a bus down the northern busway and struggled to get on it instead of having it to yourself.…
Auckland Council: just as bad as the government when it comes to transport?
There are a lot of plans being talked about at the moment, none more so than the “Auckland Spatial Plan”, which is due to be launched later today. But another plan, that has so far very much flown ‘under the radar’, is the 2011/2012 draft annual plan – which is open for consultation until April 1st.…
PT-washing: not just an Auckland disease
Reading through NZTA’s completely mental motorway plans the other day got me thinking about a phrase that often comes to mind when dealing with NZTA: and that is “Public Transport-wash”, or PT-wash. It’s a phrase that I think I came up with last year – playing off the term “greenwash” – to describe the process by which NZTA (or other agencies) emphasises the minuscule public transport aspects of a largely roading project, or a transport policy document, in order for it to gain wider support.…
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