Revealed: 2021 draft Cabinet paper shows Labour’s last minute light rail switch
Over the last year, I’ve been writing a book on the story of light rail in Auckland between 2014-2024. A lot happened – much of it public, and quite a lot not – and the history of the project goes to the heart of our struggle to build things in New Zealand.…
86 Comments Who benefits from secrecy around public infrastructure?
You might have seen this video, which we received as part of a recent OIA request. It showcases the original light rail plans developed by Auckland Transport between 2014-2017.
The video was apparently produced in early 2018 by Auckland Transport, just a few months before the project was handed off to Waka Kotahi/NZTA.…
More Homes vs Light Rail
Last week, the Coalition for More Homes sent a letter that we really shouldn’t have had to write. But first, some backstory and some acronyms.
Auckland Council is required to implement Government planning reforms called the NPS-UD and MDRS. The NPS-UD (National Policy Statement on Urban Design 2020).…
Sooo… Tunnelled Light Rail
On Friday the government announced their decision on Light Rail.
I should start by pointing out that it’s fantastic the government have agreed to invest so much in public transport in Auckland. At $10.3 billion in today’s value, or $14.6 billion with inflation by the time it is finished, this will easily be the largest single transport project ever attempted in New Zealand.…
Light rail veers off course
The government has released the recommendations from the Auckland Light Rail team (ALR), ahead of this being considered by Cabinet later this year. This appears to be a case of trying to gauge public reaction so they don’t end up with a repeat of the Northern Pathway – and that’s understandable given the cost of the options now range from $9 billion to $16.3 billion.…
Staging the Northwestern
As described here, Auckland is in the middle of a multi-decade process of retro-fitting a Strategic Rapid Transit Network (RTN) to the city.
The process used to date for this is best described as incremental. All of our current RTN began very much below the ideal standard but have been more-or less constantly improved since.…
Rail Across the Waitematā: some thoughts
The North Shore Line, The Northern Line, Te Raki Tereina… NZTA in a recently released report showed that there is some urgency in starting work to replace the Northern Busway with a higher capacity rail system on a new crossing. This is because: Demand to access the city centre from the Shore is on a sustained growth path with ongoing growth on both sides of the harbour.…
Development update: June 2018
Here on Greater Auckland, we’ve got the sponsored RCG Development Tracker page which shows hundreds of housing projects across Auckland (and NZ): apartments, terraces, retirement villages etc. It also shows big commercial developments and Auckland’s rapid transit network.
After a great post from Matt the other week, I’ve updated the Development Tracker with the proposed light rail lines along Dominion Rd and out to the airport, and out to the North West.…
Light Rail Ticketing
Light rail plans are progressing fast, which got me thinking about the different options for doing ticketing for these services.
First off I think it is likely the service will have to either not accept cash fares or will need to provide ticket machines at all Light Rail stations.…
Light Rail is not really about the Airport
There’s been plenty of talk about light rail in the media and why we shouldn’t build it. So we thought we’d offer a different point of view. On Tuesday, the Herald published the below piece from me about it. There’s a lot more that I would have or could have said if it weren’t for word limit.…
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