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.…
21 Comments 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: GPS@transport.govt.nz.…
Spectacular March PT patronage
Auckland Transport has finally got around to publishing their public transport report for March 2011, and the patronage results confirm a post of mine last week – they are spectacular. Here’s a summary: If we break down the summary to look at the numbers – there are some really healthy trends.…
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.…
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.…
What does “multi-modal” actually mean?
Depending on how you read into Wellington City Council’s decision to support NZTA’s suggested recommendations at their meeting last night, they either folded under NZTA’s pressure or simply reaffirmed their commitment to working with NZTA on a multi-modal corridor plan between the Ngauranga Gorge and Wellington Airport.…
Wellington RoNS show-down
Later today there will be a very interesting Wellington City Council meeting, that may have some significant effects on not only Wellington’s future transport options, but also potentially the prioritisation of transport projects in Auckland. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a developing split within Wellington City Council over their position on the Wellington Northern Corridor Road of National Significance (which I shorten as simply the “Wellington RoNS”).…
Wellington – and its RoNS
Well I’m in Wellington for most of this week, at the New Zealand Planning Institute conference for the next three days and then staying on at the weekend to check out the city a bit. It should give me the opportunity to ride a suburban Wellington train on the weekend, which I haven’t ever done before (I wonder if I can try to catch one of the new Matangi trains).…
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.…
Just what could a new Harbour Crossing look like
I have had a brief look at a few of the documents surrounding the release of the latest harbour crossing study and came across a few images of what a new bridge may look like.
First a top down view: Looks like things get pretty messy at each side where the bridge lands, so lets look at those a bit closer up, here’s the St Marys Bay side (sorry its a bit fuzzy) Wow the residents of St Marys Bay are not going to like this at all, they seem to want to extend the mess that is the CMJ right down to the waterfront and they seem to forget the whole point of the Victoria Park Tunnel was to try to minimise the impacts the motorway had on the area.…
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