In February, Auckland bus, train and ferry fares went up. Again. We say we want a world-class transport system, writes Auckland Councillor Richard Hills – so why do we keep hitting users in the pocket? I want to freeze public transport fares. I am not alone in this. There are many voices around the council … Read more
To make our roads safer, Auckland Transport wants to introduce a new bylaw to set new speed limits, which would see the city centre become a 30km/h zone. Jolisa Gracewood explains why she’s in favour of the proposed changes. Nobody ever expects to be involved in a car crash. But accidents happen, and for most of … Read more
We must do everything we can to stop people dying on our roads, writes Shane Ellison CE at Auckland Transport. And that starts by reducing speed. A few people have asked me, since we opened our consultation on the draft Speed Limit Bylaw, if 64 people dying on our roads in 2017 is enough to … Read more
As Auckland examines how to make its roads safer and more functional, one city has already shown us how it’s done. Teuila Fuatai looks at how slowing down changes the way a city works. On the other side of the world, one Swedish city’s dedication to driving down road deaths and serious injuries (DSI) has … Read more
Twenty-one years after Steph Martin’s mother was killed in a road crash, she reflects on what’s been happening on New Zealand’s roads. Last year, 378 people died in road crashes – more than one life lost per day. Of those, 53 were under 20, and 16 hadn’t even reached the age of 15 – too … Read more
Teuila Fuatai is introduced to one of the most dangerous stretches of road in New Zealand. Between Albany and Silverdale is Auckland’s Dairy Flat Highway. The 15km stretch of road used to be how a few local farmers and their families would get around. It was a quiet piece of Auckland’s infrastructure. Today, it’s a … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Jacinda Ardern wows the world at Davos, range of reactions to Kiwibuild news, and tobacco funding for Taxpayers Union revealed. The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has continued her uncanny ability to wow the world, regardless of what’s going on at home. She’s been in Britain and Switzerland … Read more
Smaller, cheaper, cleaner: e-bikes and e-scooters are already disrupting even transport giants like Uber, writes Greater Auckland’s Patrick Reynolds. The electric revolution on our city streets, already underway, looks much more like a scooter than a Tesla. Why? Physics and geometry: size really matters for both energy consumption and spatial efficiency. And both drive affordability and therefore … Read more
The operator is pushing for major investment across the Hauraki Gulf to overhaul the ferry network. David Slack wants to know why his ferry home to Devonport is so often out of service. Can they find a common dream? I have a dream that we will one day live in a city where you can … Read more
Cycleways are under fire this week following an incredibly misleading Herald story. Hayden Donnell goes in search of some transport projects to actually get angry about. A peloton of bullshit rode forth from NZME headquarters this week. Its journey began with a story by the Herald’s supercity reporter Bernard Orsman on Monday, which claimed several … Read more
If the rhetoric on cycling and walking means anything, why are they the only modes now set to lose their specialist focus and public champion at Auckland Transport, asks Jolisa Gracewood from Bike Auckland “This project represents the future of Auckland’s streets and the future of travel in Auckland,” said Auckland Transport’s Walking, Cycling, and … Read more
The City Rail Link could have been an opportunity to rejuvenate one of Auckland’s most unlovely thoroughfares. Instead, Albert St seems likely to end up looking worse than before, writes Matt Lowrie of the urban design blog Greater Auckland. Last week in the Herald Simon Wilson lamented the mess that has been made of Albert … Read more
People are freaking out about the potential hazards of Lime e-scooters. Hayden Donnell asks whether we could apply these same standards to another type of vehicle causing even more harm. At first the reaction to the introduction of Lime e-scooters was positive. There were explainers. Stories about how far people had travelled in a single … Read more
Madeleine Chapman rode to Huntly on an OnzO bike. Sadly, she won’t be doing the same with a Lime scooter. Imagine a life with no ups and downs. No struggles, but no cruise mode. An infinite plateau. It would be boring, yes, and mundane, but you’d never have to sweat. I thought my life would … Read more
Auckland has erupted into furious debate over a proposal to adopt a 30km/h speed limit in the city centre. Hayden Donnell comes up with a solution sure to please everyone. A few days ago news broke that Auckland Transport may lower the speed limit in Auckland’s CBD to 30km/h, in an effort to make fewer … Read more
Mike Hosking’s latest ‘modern parenting’ whinge is about children not walking to school. Jacquelyn Collins explains exactly why he’s wrong, and why parents are right to be concerned for the safety of their children on the school run. Mike Hosking is a keen and frequent participant in the popular modern pastime of reminding parents that … Read more
Fifty-two people were trapped on an Auckland train last night with no access to toilets, no food and no information from Auckland transport, for over three hours. A city bound train on the Eastern Line struck something outside the Meadowbank station just before 8:30pm on Thursday and the train was still stuck there at 11:50pm, … Read more
After the release of an Auckland Transport survey claiming two thirds of Aucklanders support more cycleways, Mike Hosking stepped into the ring to fight Statistics. Madeleine Chapman reports. David v Goliath. Roe v Wade. And now, Mike Hosking v Statistics. These will be the battles oft referenced in classrooms, bars, living rooms, and courtrooms for … Read more
Commute week: Some encounter it routinely, for others its existence may come as a surprise. Is enough being done to combat sexual harassment on our public transport networks? Alex Casey talks to the people trying to change your commute for the better. It was, sadly, the first penis I ever saw in real life. I … Read more
If you’ve ever caught one of Auckland’s Link buses, you’ve probably spent a good chunk of the ride sitting at a bus stop, not moving. But why? On Monday morning I got on the Inner Link bus at Victoria Park on the way into Britomart at 9.21am. It had just stopped for a driver changeover. … Read more
Matt Lowrie thinks and writes about transport in Auckland a lot. Here the Greater Auckland director describes a daily commute that takes him from West Auckland to Takapuna, and looks to the direction of travel for public transport in NZ’s biggest city. As Auckland continues to grow and options for getting around the city without … Read more
Commute Week: When Julian Ostling moved to Warkworth six years ago, he was surprised to find there was no way to bus into the city. Fast-forward to today and Ostling’s private bus company – the Mahu City Express – runs from Warkworth to the CBD six times a day, five days a week. Theoretically, getting … Read more
Commute Week: The many failings of my daily bus commute experience show that money alone will not prise Aucklanders out of cars, writes Todd Niall in an article first published on RNZ. Like many Aucklanders, I want to believe that a “world-class” transport system is do-able with the proposed $28 billion budget, over the next … Read more
All this week on The Spinoff, we pick up the NZ commute, shake it and peer at it from every direction. As the tote-bag wisdom teaches, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. Or to be more specific, for our immediate purposes, it’s about the journey to work and the journey back home. … Read more
This morning the government and Auckland Council announced a record $30b investment in solving Auckland’s transport crisis. Don Rowe reports. Atop a broken escalator the two Phils stood shoulder to shoulder, sharing a vision of a better Auckland, a cleaner Auckland; a Greater Auckland, if you will. The Government and Auckland Council together will embark … Read more
Housing and Transport Minister Phil Twyford responds to Wayne Mapp’s Spinoff column accusing Twyford and Jacinda Ardern of ‘sounding like zealots’ over public transport and affordable housing. In one of the more baffling attacks on KiwiBuild, former National MP Wayne Mapp this week claimed the government is “telling people how they should live” by building … Read more
With heavy rain and wind pounding away at New Zealand, what does it mean for the buses, trains and roads? It’s a little more complicated than you might think. What sorts of weather lead us to change our daily travel behaviour? How do we respond to scorching heatwaves, sapping humidity, snow and frost, strong winds, … Read more
Hayden Donnell might be living far from New Zealand these days, but there’s no escape from the relentless idiocy of our transport policy debate. He runs down the latest media salvos in the battle between road warriors and public transport champions. I’ve been in London for a while now. It can be tough being so … Read more
The new government yesterday announced its blueprint for an overhaul of transport funding in New Zealand. Matt Lowrie of Greater Auckland delivers his verdict. I couldn’t help but think of Joe Biden’s phrase “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value” following the release yesterday of … Read more