Density done well
There’s a large amount of discussion around density at the moment – how much Auckland should grow through intensification, how much through expansion, whether either of those will help housing affordability, whether people want big houses on big sections or whether they want something else and perhaps most of all, whether Auckland will accept a higher-density future.…
4 Comments Vancouver CBD traffic: back to 1960s levels
With the final version of the City Centre Master Plan now approved, a key element of achieving the vision for the city centre that the Council wants will be achieving what seems – at first glance – to be an impossibility.…
Vancouver Skytrain – ride the system
Further to my last post about the Vancouver Skytrain, I have found three videos which show – sped up – the whole system (except for a bit of the Canada Line). A few things about the videos really stand out to me: The extremely high frequency of trains you see travelling in the opposite direction
The extensive amount of high-rise residential development which has occurred around many of the stations (especially on the Expo Line, which is the oldest)
The fact that most of the Canada Line is in a tunnel, and the difference in tunnel shape between the cut & cover (square tunnel) and bored (round tunnel) sections The videos are a great way to get a good understanding of the system, and also to see a fairly extensive part of Vancouver.…
Vancouver’s Skytrain – the perfect PT?
As I noted in this recent post, Vancouver has had spectacular success with its public transport system over the past 20 years – generating huge growth in patronage, which has helped contribute to Vancouver generally performing extremely well in world liveability rankings.…
Further analysing Vancouver’s PT success
In my previous post I looked at why Auckland should be focusing on Vancouver in Canada as a city to emulate, particularly when it comes to public transport. In this post I will look in a bit more detail at Vancouver’s PT patronage success before in future posts moving onto looking at how Vancouver has been so successful at encouraging people onto buses, trains and ferries.…
Why Compare with Vancouver?
There have been a few posts recently that make comparisons between Auckland and Vancouver – and I’m planning to really focus on this comparison over the coming weeks, which begs the question of “why compare with Vancouver?” At a broad level, I think making comparisons with Vancouver is useful because it’s a relatively similar city to Auckland (in terms of population density, geographic constraints, ethnic diversity and to an extent, size).…
Copying Metrotown, Vancouver
The City Rail Link project undoubtedly provides benefits throughout Auckland, particularly through increasing the capacity of the city’s rail network. However, there are places where the project’s benefits will be felt most keenly. The CBD is obviously one of those places, but so is the inner part of the Western Line: say from Kingsland out to New Lynn.…
Fairer and Smarter Fares
In public transport circles there is always going to be a lot of debate over the levels of fares. Should they be higher to reduce the amount of subsidy required? Should they be lower to encourage greater ridership and/or for social equity reasons?…
What does ‘Transformational’ actually mean?
The word ‘Transformational’ is turning up frequently around discussions about Auckland’s future. I am encouraged by this as it surely means change. More than that doesn’t it particularly mean making bold decisions precisely designed to lead to different outcomes than we have now?…
Thinking long-term for our rail system
The Auckland Plan (submissions close October 31st) takes a fairly long-term viewpoint of Auckland’s future, looking to 2041 when the population may well be as high as 2.5 million. Here are the projected population numbers for Auckland over the next 30 years, and how they compare with cities throughout the rest of New Zealand: A population of 2-2.5 million in 2041, if the medium or high projections are what turns out to happen, would put us in a situation similar to that of Greater Vancouver (current population 2.2 million).…
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