Road Dieting
Here’s a great video from Streetfilms called “Road Dieting” – the process of making roads work better by removing lanes from them. What is particularly interesting are the observations that not only does road dieting make the street work better for pedestrians, cyclists, shop-keepers and residents, but that it can also help improve the traffic situation – presumably through fewer lane-changes and fewer situations where people get stuck behind someone trying to make a turn.…
8 Comments Congestion Pricing
Since I wrote a post about congestion pricing/charging a week or so ago, a post has emerged on the excellent Human Transit blog, and Streetfilms have also put together a video on the issue: As I noted in my previous post, I’m somewhat agnostic about congestion pricing.…
The importance of making cycling feel safer
Time and time again I hear about people who say they’d cycle to work, to do their shopping and for other activities more often – if only it were safer. Now of course a certain proportion of those people may just be using safety as an excuse for simply not getting into the habit of it (I’d probably fall into that category), but it cannot be doubted that the perception of cycling being dangerous is a major barrier to increasing the number of people who cycle.…
Transit-Oriented Developments
A great video from Streetfilms on transit-oriented developments (TODs) – with a particular focus on the effect New Jersey’s light-rail system has had on encouraging development around it: I think a fundamental principle of Auckland’s upcoming spatial plan should be to find out ways to encourage and incentivise – through appropriate transport improvements, zoning changes and clever financial tools, a greater focus on TODs.…
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.…
Cycling in Long Beach, California
Here’s a great video about what the city of Long Beach, California (which forms part of greater Los Angeles) is doing to make cycling a more attractive means of transportation. What I find particularly interesting in the video is the support the measures have from local businesses, who realise that 12 customers with bikes can “park” in the same available space as one customer with a car.…
This is who should run Auckland Transport
Janette Sadik-Khan is the current Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, appointed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on April 27, 2007, to replace Iris Weinshall. Over the last couple of years Janette has done a huge amount of work to improve the livability of New York City, as well as improving key transport measures such as improving safety and getting more people to walk or cycle to work.…
Speeding Up Public Transport
One of the biggest flaws with buses in Auckland at the moment is that they are generally so incredibly slow. There are probably just a few routes around Auckland where catching the bus is faster than driving – such as the Northern Busway and perhaps some arterials with bus lanes like Dominion Road and Onewa Road.…
Fixing the Great Mistake: Autocentric Development
A couple of great videos from Streetfilms on steps New York City is taken to reduce the dominance of cars within Manhattan. “Fixing the Great Mistake” is a new Streetfilms series that examines what went wrong in the early part of the 20th Century, when our cities began catering to the automobile, and how those decisions continue to affect our lives today.…
Is NZ falling behind the US? Part 3
In the third installment, I’ll compare the development of “bicycle culture” in NZ and the US.
Many may be thinking with the National Cycleway we may have the leg up on the Americans in this category but as we’ll see many cities in the US are at the beginning of their own bicycling booms.…
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