public transport Archive

  • 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

    Greater Wellington failing regional economy - by Gareth Hughes



    The roll-out of real time displays — screens that tell passengers when their bus or train will arrive — has been delayed yet again, Greater Wellington Regional Council reported yesterday. This is yet another setback in a long line of setbacks and broken promises stretching right back to the year 2000. European bus and train [...] read more
    June 17, 2011 5:11 pm - 23 Comments
  • frog

    Budget 2011: Gareth Hughes’ speech on transport - by frog



    Kia ora, Mr Assistant Speaker. It is a privilege to take a call in this Budget debate, and I intend to focus on transport issues. When it comes to transport, this Government, under Steven Joyce as transport Minister, is simply on the wrong track. This Government is creating monuments in concrete and asphalt to 1950s-style [...] read more
    June 10, 2011 4:02 pm - 11 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    People-powered train - by Gareth Hughes



    I’ve just alighted from a 100-person walking train I organised down Queen St in Auckland, travelling the route of the proposed, but as yet unfunded, CBD Rail Loop. We stopped at the site of the possible Aotea Square rail station for speeches next to the statue of Mayor Dove Myer-Robinson, which was appropriate considering this [...] read more
    May 14, 2011 7:49 pm - No 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

    Fuel tax deferral won’t help - by Gareth Hughes



    Kiwis are feeling the pain at the pump, and the Government’s grand “solution” is to defer a 1.5c increase in the petrol tax until next year. Let’s put this in perspective. 1.5 cents a litre will save the average driver less than $1 when they fill up their tank. It’s about 0.6% of the total [...] read more
    April 27, 2011 3:42 pm - 24 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
  • 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
  • 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

    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
  • frog

    Support for CBD Rail link strong and growing - by frog



    There’s a poll on the Herald site asking if you think the Government should contribute to the CBD Rail tunnel. At nearly 15,000 votes, the vast majority (77%) say yes. Given that the Herald readership and online poll results tend towards conservative and business-oriented, there’s no reason to think that the popular support for this [...] read more
    November 30, 2010 9:56 am - 12 Comments
  • frog

    Auckland CBD rail loop business case stacks up - by frog



    The long awaited Business Case for the CBD Rail Link was finally released on Wednesday this week, and it makes a compelling case for central government investment in the project. Just through traditional analysis of transport benefits, which usually underestimate the long term benefits of public transport projects, the economic case does stack up. But [...] read more
    November 26, 2010 3:10 pm - 27 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Who’s slowing Auckland down? - by David Clendon



    The skirmish that has broken out between Mike Lee and Steven Joyce could well herald the opening of an all out war. Len Brown came into office on a platform (among other things) of advocating strongly for public transport investment, with a key project being the CDB rail loop to open up the ‘dead end’ that is Britomart, which will reduce the congestion in the inner city area that imposes significant cost on businesses as well as compromising the ability... read more
    November 10, 2010 3:23 pm - 33 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

    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
  • David Clendon

    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
  • Gareth Hughes

    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
  • David Clendon

    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
  • frog

    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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