Bus changes: Q&A
A week or so back I blogged some preliminary thoughts on the changes to bus routes that ARTA is currently consulting on. In general, I supported the changes as they provide some level of simplification – although I noted that it could be argued the changes didn’t go far enough and some level of unnecessary complexity remained.…
Comment Public Transport & open data
Here’s a great little video from the excellent Streetfilms on the benefits of “open data” for tracking public transport. Essentially, “open data” would include data that outlines timetables, bus stop/train station locations and (eventually) real-time information on where every bus train, train and ferry is in the whole city – with the key point being that the transit agency would make that data available for anyone who wants it.…
Integrated ticketing: wow, some news!
It has been a while since we heard anything about the progress of implementing Auckland’s integrated ticketing system, so it’s welcoming to see a media release by NZTA today saying that some progress is being made in the establishment of the national ticketing standards that will ensure inter-operability between all public transport smart-cards in New Zealand in the future.…
The “PT effectiveness project”
As I noted in yesterday’s post, NZTA has been undertaking a significant amount of work into finding out ways to get “better value” out of public transport investment. As I also noted yesterday, NZTA currently gets around $4.40 worth of road user benefits for each dollar they spend on subsidising public transport in Auckland, so they’re actually doing pretty well at the moment.…
Auckland Transit Blues
An interesting article on Auckland’s public transport system in the Canadian newspaper –The Globe and Mail:
Auckland transit blues
Toronto’s main business lobby, the Board of Trade, recently called for the outsourcing of public transit services to private companies, part of their free advice to the next mayor on reducing the city’s deficit.…
ARTA’s Regional Public Transport Plan
Keeping up with all the transport strategies, plans and policies that float around in Auckland is a pretty hard task, but it would seem that the final version of a fairly important plan: the Regional Public Transport Plan, has been released today by ARTA.…
Buses must be faster
In Auckland transport circles, a lot of attention is given to the rail system, and in particular what is wrong with it, what upgrades to it are underway and what upgrades to it are planned (or should be planned) in the short, medium and long-term future.…
Independent Inquiry On Sydney’s PT
For those that follow PT developments across the ditch it has been pretty obvious that the NSW State Government has been less than hopeless at resolving Sydney’s public transport issues, in particular rail system issues, where the State Governments have repeatedly announced major rail projects only to cancel them a year later.…
Integrated Ticketing: The Sooner The Better
One of the things that has been a big disappointment for me is seeing the shape the new Auckland Transport will take. Not only because of its structure and lack of accountability to those paying rates (which will hopefully change in the final form of the third Auckland Bill) but also because we will lose the Auckland Regional Transport Authority which, despite some grumbling from transport advocates, has started to move Auckland in the right direction since it was formed in 2004.…
Progress on Auckland’s PT
I learned quite a few interesting and useful things about the progress of various public transport projects throughout Auckland today, as well as various other aspects of how things are going. I will briefly outline what I can remember, but feel free to ask for further information on anything in particular in the comments thread: Resource consent for building the Onehunga Station was received last week, and construction has just begun on this station (the first step being to demolish existing buildings on the site).…
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