We need a smarter response from the Auckland Business Chamber
There’s an often misattributed quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It captures how I felt reading an op-ed yesterday by Simon Bridges, former Transport Minister and now head of the business lobby group the Auckland Business Chamber, whose website says:
Successful business ensures there are vibrant and successful communities, and the Chamber contributes to this through their support and advocacy that delivers the best platform from which business can operate.…
45 Comments AT Rejects Allowing Electric Vehicles in Bus Lanes
Back in May, the Government announced a policy of allowing electric vehicles into bus lanes and high-occupancy vehicle lanes as part of a package to increase electric vehicle uptake. We opposed this because it would clog up lanes, slow down buses, reducing PT speed and ultimately potentially put our recent ridership growth at risk.…
RoNS 2.0?
The government’s Roads of National Significance have dominated transport spending over the last eight years and within the next 4-5 years, almost all of the motorways originally proposed will have been completed. Yet despite this, current plans are for transport spending on state highways is set to continue to increase over the coming years – NZTA are currently forecast to spend $1.9 billion on state highways this financial year, based on MoT projections, by 2024-25 this it is likely to be close to $2.9 billion a year.…
Earthquake recovery
The impact of Sunday’s earthquake and its aftershocks have been astonishing to see, especially the damage caused by slips along State Highway 1 and the rail line around Kaikoura. They are numerous and many are absolutely massive. I suspect the impacts of this quake will be felt for some time, and not just to the areas physically impacted.…
Council-Government agreement on CRL signed
Another milestone was reached on the City Rail Link (CRL) yesterday with the government and the council signing their first official agreement to work together and jointly fund the project. The Heads of Agreement (HoA) sets out how the two parties will work together to come up with a more detailed ‘sponsors’ agreement which is likely to be signed off next year.…
Key unlocks Quay St
Aucklands newest and one of its most prominent cycleways was opened this morning on Quay St by John Key along with transport minister Simon Bridges, Mayor Len Brown and a host of other officials. The opening was certainly helped by the thunderstorms of we had overnight easing and the clouds even parting to make for a calm winter morning.…
Thoughts on the CRL ground breaking event
So yesterday was the symbolic ground-breaking, or perhaps more accurately the ground-exploding for the City Rail Link. If you weren’t there and didn’t watch the live stream the video is below and the actual ceremony starts from about 48 minutes. I thought I would give some of my views of it.…
Government Neuter Bus Lanes
The government want to increase the currently dismal uptake of electric vehicles, increasing the numbers on our roads from about 1,200 to 64,000 in just 5 years. To do that yesterday they announced a package to encourage more people to buy an electric car.…
A good highway upgrade
The government made two significant state highway announcements within a week. The first was the announcement of a new motorway in Tauranga which was followed last week by the announcement of a significant $278 million upgrade to the 32km of SH2 between Pokeno and Mangatarata.…
Another Tauranga motorway approved
Tauranga continues to aspire to the title of mini-Auckland with an announcement from the government on Friday of $520 million for another motorway into the city, the 6.8km Tauranga Northern Link. The funding even includes a money set aside for a future extension of the to be built motorway a further 6km+ to Omokoroa.…
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