Wellington Update: Transdev and Diesel Buses and cycleways
They’ve been a few interesting pieces of news from Wellington over the last last week.
Transdev to run Wellington’s trains
Transdev – who run the trains in Auckland – has been picked as the preferred operator for the trains in Wellington. …
45 Comments ATs rail tender postponed
Auckland Transport have announced that they’ve postponed their tender for running train services in Auckland. Back in April they said they shortlisted Kiwirail, Serco and Transdev to run services from the middle of next year. I had assumed they must have been getting close to picking a winner.…
What’s being done to fix rail reliability and speed
Last week I wrote about the issue of dwell times on the new electric trains and how they combined with other factors mean the EMUs that are meant to be much faster are have instead actually ended up being slower. Rail users will also be acutely aware that the performance of trains has been appalling in recent months – on that it’s been reported that while the withdrawal of the old diesel trains will remove one of the causes of unreliability, the new trains are having teething problems and will need 6-12 months of bedding in.…
Why is Auckland’s rail system so expensive to operate?
On Monday the NZ Herald ran an article about the cost comparisons between operating Auckland and Wellington’s rail services. Based on the numbers in the article, it doesn’t tell a particularly pretty story:
Aucklanders facing a new transport rate are paying far too much to subsidise the city’s trains, says councillor Mike Lee, a long-time champion of rail.…
Auckland Train Ops Shortlist
Auckland Transport have announced the short list of companies to run Auckland’s trains from July next year onwards and none particularly fill me with confidence. Auckland Transport has short-listed three companies that will be invited to tender to operate passenger rail services from 1 July 2016.…
Why are trains failing so much?
With March Madness in full swing it seems that Auckland Transport and Transdev have taken a new approach to dealing with the high demand, driving customers away through rubbish performance.
Train users from across the region – but it seems particularly West Auckland – have been suffering after what feels like daily issues that are putting even more pressure on already stretched services.…
Will we see new train operators in Auckland and Wellington?
As many readers will know from the monthly board meeting updates we see, Auckland Transport are in the process of putting out a new tender to run all rail services in Auckland from Mid 2016 onwards. Wellington has also going through this same process and ATs reports say they’ve been working with the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) on some aspects.…
Default to Chaos
One of the factors behind the stunning 18% increase in rail patronage over the last year is bound to be the improved reliability that we’ve been seeing. With greater reliability people can trust services more and are much more likely to use them.…
Can Cameras reduce fare evasion?
Transdev have announced they are going to trial body mounted cameras in a bid to further lower fare evasion.
Fare evasion is an ongoing issue for public transport throughout the world – and Auckland is no different. Transdev has a team of around 50 Ticket Inspectors checking train customers at stations and on trains to ensure they are travelling with the correct ticket and, as part of their revenue protection efforts, Transdev is committed to a programme of ongoing improvement.…
Rail Punctuality improving
The herald today picked up on an important trend that’s been happening without trains in recent months, much improved on time performance.
Becoming ruthless with their whistles and no longer waiting for last-minute “runners” at railway stations has helped Auckland train crews to achieve record punctuality.…
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