Auckland Archive

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  Defeat for Nats in Auckland - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Still waiting for all the results to come in around the country, but the Auckland result is certainly a defeat for the Nats. Not only did Brown thrash Banks, but there is a soft progressive majority on the new Auckland Council. There are also a number of progressives on the Local Boards around Auckland. Some [...] read more
  October 9, 2010 4:48 pm - 24 Comments
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  New Lynn opens with new hope for Auckland - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I attended the opening of the New Lynn transport hub last Friday. I always enjoy attending the openings of great transport projects but this one was particularly fun. It wasn’t just a lot of boring speeches but included a troupe of dancing dragons, a Maori kapa haka group performed and Govenor General Anand Satyand, made [...] read more
  September 27, 2010 9:13 am - 6 Comments
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  Dominion Road and the North-Western Busway - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Those of you who have read some of my recent blog posts about Dominion Road should be pleased to hear that we saved the busway! After a fiery meeting  Auckland City Council agreed it would be foolish to allow cars with 2 passengers into the busway. This is great news as this is one of the [...] read more
  September 14, 2010 12:04 pm - 4 Comments
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  Tuakau sits-in to get rail in - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  As the Herald reports, this weekend three communities in the Waikato – Huntly, Tuakau and Te Awamutu, staged sit-ins at their local train station. They were there to show their support for a passenger rail service between Auckland and Hamilton. You can see some footage of the sit-ins here. The sit-ins had huge support with over [...] read more
  September 13, 2010 2:51 pm - 23 Comments
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  Last chance to get Dominion Road bus/cycle way - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Just a reminder that the last day for submissions on the redesign of Dominion Road is this Sunday, 29th of August. I’ve commented on this issue before so will be brief.  Auckland City Council is planning to redesign Dominion Road, one of the busier roads in central Auckland. Their plans for redesign currently involve letting [...] read more
  August 26, 2010 4:13 pm - 5 Comments
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  Academic angle on Super City changes - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Pro-Vice Chancellor of AUT University, and Professor of Public Policy with the University’s Institute of Public Policy. Professor Ian Shirley has chipped in his two cents about the Auckland Super City changes. “local government in Auckland will be replaced with ‘a corporate structure where the major beneficiaries will be the exclusive brethren of big business, [...] read more
  August 18, 2010 1:06 pm - 2 Comments
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  Auckland rail about to overtake Wellington? - by frog

  
  
  
  Rail service management in Wellington and Auckland seem to be experiencing a bit of a role-reversal lately. Wellington has a long history of (relatively) good public transport, starting with electrification of the regional rail line in the 1950s, and the highest bus and train mode share in the country.  This has no doubt contributed to [...] read more
  August 13, 2010 5:42 pm - 8 Comments
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  Trains are cheaper than helicopters - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Recently Steven Joyce, our Minister of Trucking Transport, claimed it would cost less to fly somebody by helicopter from Hamilton to Auckland than it would to subsidize a commuter rail service between the two cities. Luckily, Hamilton City Councillors quickly responded, pointing out that the actual cost of subsidizing a commuter rail service is hundreds [...] read more
  August 4, 2010 3:50 pm - 24 Comments
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  Fast-track the CBD rail loop - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Keith and I launched our Fast-track the CBD Rail Loop campaign today at Britomart – we had some great speakers and  I’m stoked to be promoting such an awesome transport project. I also had a chat to Sean Plunket about the loop today on Morning Report which was great. I’ve written a piece about the [...] read more
  July 26, 2010 8:11 pm - 43 Comments
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  Good news for Wellie commuters, now fast track Auckland too - by frog

  
  
  
  A third main line has been opened that will significantly increase capacity in and out of Wellington station.  Although the works aren’t entirely complete, from this week rail commuters should be benefiting from increased reliability and frequency. This is great news for all commuters.  As more people are able to take the train, there is [...] read more
  July 26, 2010 10:18 am - 5 Comments
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  Next Harbour crossing must include rail, walking and cycling options - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  The Aucklander reported today that the Minister of Transport has asked consultants to conduct a study into whether the next Harbour crossing for Auckland should be a bridge or a tunnel.* Parallel tunnels for road and rail going under the Harbour are the preferred option that was selected by various stakeholders  (including the New Zealand [...] read more
  June 25, 2010 5:34 pm - 27 Comments
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  Auckland gets trams - by frog

  
  
  
  As TVNZ reports, last week the Auckland Regional Council announced that they’re bringing trams back to Auckland. I didn’t have a chance to comment at the time but this is significant news. If you’re familiar with our transport history you’ll know that back in the 1950s Auckland had an extremely high rate of public transport [...] read more
  June 11, 2010 2:33 pm - 39 Comments
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  Supercity saga continues - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  The Auckland Transition Agency has revealed a few more drips and drops of information, and we now know (roughly) who will be housed where in the brave new world of Supercity. read more
  June 1, 2010 9:58 am - 10 Comments
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  Auckland says sustainable transport, National says motorways - by frog

  
  
  
  I hopped along to the launch of the Auckland Regional Land Transport Strategy last week. I’ve blogged about the strategy before so won’t say much. Basically it sets a different direction for transport in Auckland than that favoured by the National government. It prioritizes major sustainable transport projects like the CBD rail loop for funding [...] read more
  May 25, 2010 9:00 am - 4 Comments
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  The ‘Our Auckland’ results are in - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Congratulations to the crew at ‘Our Auckland’ who did what the government has singularly failed to do, and gave Aucklanders a chance to vote on what they thought of the government’s plan to set up the new Auckland council. A remarkable 96% rejected the government’s proposal; 95% do not think that enough attention has been [...] read more
  May 20, 2010 9:19 am - 1 Comment
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  Vote on a Super City referendum - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  As I blogged last week a new community coalition, Our Auckland, has formed to oppose the creation of the Super City. Our Auckland believe that Aucklanders haven’t been given a fair chance to have a say on the government’s decisions in regard to Auckland. Because of this they’re giving people a chance to vote on [...] read more
  May 10, 2010 11:16 am - 3 Comments
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  Water and democracy - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  Every New Zealander should be worried about Rodney Hide’s latest bill on local government — which will allow our water supplies [DOC] to be controlled and managed by private companies for 35 years, and will force Councils to focus only on ill-defined ‘core business’ [DOC] (which excludes, amongst other things, the environment).’ Multinational corporations are [...] read more
  May 5, 2010 6:40 pm - 18 Comments
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  Stop The Mining March, May 1st - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The march against mining Schedule 4 in Auckland was an unqualified success! They say “mine” we say “ours”! read more
  May 3, 2010 10:07 am - 25 Comments
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  New coalition forms to oppose Super City - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  If you read the Aucklander you’ll know there has been a new and very positive development in the story of the SuperCity today. A group of concerned citizens and community groups have come together to form an organization called Our Auckland. They’re campaigning to get National & Act to run a real consultative process with [...] read more
  April 30, 2010 2:30 pm - 3 Comments
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  Strong reaction against ECan sacking - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  It was standing room only at a public meeting organised by the Green party in Christchurch last night to protest the government’s sacking of Environment Canterbury. 100 people who couldn’t get into the meeting held an impromptu meeting outside. The meeting hadn’t even been advertised in the media—who knows how many would have turned up [...] read more
  April 15, 2010 2:01 pm - 41 Comments