Green Party NZ Archive

  • Gareth Hughes

    Transport funding CONsultation - by Gareth Hughes



    A few months ago I wrote a draft submission on the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport funding and encouraged members of the public to send it in. Normally, I generally don’t encourage people to make form submissions on a topic but because the issue of land transport funding is pretty technical I wanted to [...] read more
    October 18, 2011 1:55 pm - 5 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Why won’t National listen to Auckland on CBD rail link? - by Gareth Hughes



    I was astonished that a few weeks back Auckland MPs voted against inviting the Auckland Council to submit on the CBD rail link debate. I can only talk about it now because the report containing my minority report was tabled in Parliament today. The Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee was discussing my petition to [...] read more
    September 8, 2011 4:52 pm - 11 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Round up of transport news - by Gareth Hughes



    I’ve been whipping around the country a lot lately visiting students at Orientation. So I haven’t had a chance to post much. But here’s a bit of a round up of the big transport stories of the last few weeks and my reaction. More funds for rail upgrades in Wellington. The government has announced an [...] read more
    August 2, 2011 6:59 pm - 10 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Pedestrianise Queen Street? Hell yeah! - by Gareth Hughes



    The Auckland Council is consulting right now on a discussion document called the City Centre Master Plan (PDF). It almost slipped under my radar but I’ve managed to draft up a quick submission to go in before the closing date – this Friday, the 17th of June. I encourage you to make an online submission [...] read more
    June 16, 2011 11:51 pm - 14 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Government’s transport funding plans just silly - by Gareth Hughes



    A while ago the Herald wrote an editorial about the Government’s transport plans for Auckland. They observed that if you define insanity as doing the same thing again and again while expecting a different outcome, then the Government’s transport policies are insane. While I was reading the Government Policy Statement on Transport Funding last week [...] read more
    May 15, 2011 8:44 am - 13 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Flash mob for CBD rail loop - by Gareth Hughes



    The Budget is fast approaching and so far the government has shown no sign that they will fund the CBD rail loop. In fact, their latest Government Policy Statement on transport funding shows that over the next 10 years they’re planning to spend $7 on roads for every $1 they spend on sustainable transport options [...] read more
    May 10, 2011 1:00 pm - 19 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Will Auckland ever get new trains? - by Gareth Hughes



    While Auckland’s public transport systems are getting seriously overcrowded, we are still waiting to find out which company has been awarded the $500 million contract to build the new Auckland electric rail cars (aka Electric Multiple Units or EMUs). The trains, themselves, won’t be operational until 2014 at the earliest. As motorway, after motorway, finishes 6 months [...] read more
    April 19, 2011 5:00 pm - 28 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Paying for CBD rail and Christchurch - by Gareth Hughes



    Lately I’ve had quite a few people ask me whether it’s realistic to continue pushing for the government to fund the CBD rail loop in the after-math of the Christchurch earthquake. I can understand what they’re thinking. After all, the CBD rail loop is an expensive project and the reconstruction of Christchurch will also cost [...] read more
    April 13, 2011 11:05 am - 1 Comment
  • David Clendon

    Who will determine Auckland’s future? - by David Clendon



    The cabinet papers that Rodney Hide has released relating to Auckland’s Spatial Plan make for interesting reading. It is obvious that this government will attempt to call the tune on Auckland’s development, despite the substantial mandate that Auckland voters gave to their mayor and council just a few months ago. A  discussion document that will in part inform the Spatial [...] read more
    March 21, 2011 4:56 pm - 7 Comments
  • frog

    A balanced approach to transport funding? - by frog



    Graphs of the day.. This graph shows the  growth in traffic on state highways over the last 20 years as reported by the transport agency. The pink line is heavy traffic (trucks) and the blue is all traffic. As you can see it grew pretty steadily up to about 2005. It then plateaued, dropped a bit in 2008 [...] read more
    March 19, 2011 11:07 am - 11 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Which motorway project(s) would you cut? - by Gareth Hughes



    So, the Minister of Finance has confirmed its full steam ahead with the national motorway gamble. Even the Transport Minister has made it clear that he will not consider cutting the budget for the poster-child of uneconomic motorways, the Puhoi to Wellsford ‘Holiday Highway,’ after the quake. Government cabinet papers also say that the government [...] read more
    March 18, 2011 2:00 pm - 25 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Wider motorway or marine reserve? - by Gareth Hughes



    Last weekend I visited the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve as part of Sea Week. I was there to help Forest and Bird and Friends of the Whau with a boat based clean up of the marine reserve. As you can see from the photo below we collected a lot of rubbish – especially given that [...] read more
    March 9, 2011 9:52 am - 8 Comments
  • frog

    Cool animated video of Auckland transport - by frog



    There’s a cool video doing the rounds on the blogosphere right now which shows the Auckland public transport network working over a 24 hour period. An animated map of Auckland’s public transport network from Chris McDowall on Vimeo. Watching it really highlights to me how radial the public transport network is. There are a lot of [...] read more
    January 25, 2011 1:53 pm - 20 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Before the holiday season ends send a submission on the Holiday Highway - by Gareth Hughes



    It’s almost Christmas time and I’m sure most of you are ready for a holiday. But before you go, if you live in Auckland, Rodney, Whangarei, or anywhere else and want smart transport decisions please take a few minutes to make a submission on the New Zealand Transport Agency’s latest proposal for the Holiday Highway – [...] read more
    December 22, 2010 1:45 pm - 2 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    New Auckland motorway causes congestion - by Gareth Hughes



    The Herald has carried another story today about how building a motorway has made congestion worse in Auckland, not better. Suprised? The New Zealand Transport Agency has admitted that they seriously under-estimated how much traffic their upgrades of State Highway 16 (SH16) to form the Western Ring Route would create. Motorists are now experiencing delays of up [...] read more
    December 21, 2010 1:10 pm - 47 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Sprawling housing not really cheaper - by David Clendon



    As promised, some further thoughts  about the way Auckland should or could grow. One of Auckland’s biggest problems is housing affordability and any plan to grow the city must address this.  While housing affordability is a serious issue for all NZers, it’s particularly bad in Auckland. Recently I asked the Parliamentary library to do some research which [...] read more
    December 15, 2010 12:08 pm - 20 Comments
  • Kevin Hague

    Rally brings hope for safer cycling - by Kevin Hague



    Yesterday, along with my colleagues Keith Locke and David Clendon (and Jacinda Ardern from Labour), I had the pleasure of attending the Bikes for Life rally in Auckland which you may have seen on the news last night. The rally was called in response to the recent spate of deaths we have seen on our roads. The husband [...] read more
    December 6, 2010 11:22 am - 8 Comments
  • David Clendon

    How will/should Auckland grow? - by David Clendon



    The question of how Auckland should grow is one that you can expect to hear an increasing amount about over the next year as the Auckland Council develops their spatial plan. The government has already made their position pretty clear – both through the release of their new document “Building Competitive Cities” and through Steven Joyce’s [...] read more
    December 1, 2010 8:30 am - 46 Comments
  • frog

    What would you spend the fuel tax on? - by frog



    So, you might have missed it in all the fuss about GST but the government tax on petrol rose by 3 cents/litre on of the 1st of October. I wouldn’t mind paying this increase if it was going to improve our rail, bus, walking and cycling options. But instead it will mainly be used to pay for [...] read more
    October 6, 2010 5:02 pm - 15 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    How to stop drink driving? - by Gareth Hughes



    A few days ago the Government announced another set of tough penalties for teen drink drivers. They have effectively reduced the blood alcohol limit for teenage drink drivers to zero. I think it is a case of youth scapegoating but I’m not complaining about this because we need to cut down on teen drink driving [...] read more
    October 4, 2010 9:58 am - 19 Comments
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