Where better to grill the government’s transport ministers on their plans for improving Aucklanders’ commute than at MOTAT, the inner-suburb museum dedicated to the history and potential future of transport. I didn’t spend my primary school years in Auckland, so I missed out on the annual class trip to the Museum of Transport and Technology … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Madeleine Chapman winces while watching cycleway protester Lisa Prager swing a hammer. As Lisa Prager diligently swung her sledgehammer over and over again in an attempt to break a concrete block, my back started to hurt. She was side … Read more
On Thursday Auckland Transport released a draft budget that caused an immediate uproar – and then transport minister Phil Twyford said it was all a mistake. Auckland councillor Richard Hills explains why the draft budget was so bad, and what he intends to do about it. I was sitting in the office yesterday minding my … Read more
Yesterday Auckland Transport released a draft budget with massive cuts to previously stated public transport priorities including cycling and light rail. Then last night transport minister Phil Twyford said it was all a cock-up. So what happened? Matt Lowrie of Greater Auckland reviews. You’re a public agency tasked with coming up with a 10-year transport … Read more
There are protest signs all over Grey Lynn, but who do they really represent? Jolisa Gracewood and Max Robitzsch present the case for better bike riding and good planning in Auckland’s inner west. Decades from now, we’ll look back on 2017 and say: that’s when it changed. That’s when Auckland reclaimed its urban mojo, stared … Read more
Auckland Transport is busily wrecking the suburbs of the city’s inner west. Simon Wilson takes a good hard look at the plans – and at the protests about those plans. Just look at what Auckland Transport has done to the West Lynn shops. A new bus stop sits right in front of a pedestrian crossing, … Read more
After the disappointments of West Lynn, Simon Wilson proposes some principles to help the council with its suburban town planning. The possibilities for Auckland are no better expressed than on Great North Road: that wide slow slope down the ridge from Karangahape Road to St Joseph’s, the views across to the upper Waitemata and to … Read more
The council has been remaking the West Lynn shopping village on Richmond Rd in Grey Lynn, putting in bike lanes, calming the traffic and, they say, enhancing the shopper experience. What, asks Simon Wilson, could possibly go wrong? You can’t laugh. It seems pointless to cry. But Auckland Transport (AT) has just spent a couple … Read more
Give me a transport crisis and I’ll give you a thousand ways to solve it, said no mayor ever. But the ideas are out there. Carpool campaigner Paul Minett explains why he thinks we should pay people to ride. This is about an innovative idea for reducing the traffic. The idea, simply put, is to … Read more
The Herald says communications spending at Auckland Council is out of control, but is that true? Simon Wilson looks at what council comms should be doing and why. The water went off in parts of Auckland yesterday. But Watercare didn’t post anything about it on its website and it put out no information on social … Read more
If you’re anything like the Herald’s readers, you’ve spent most of the last week weeping about Labour’s fuel tax. Hayden Donnell provides some good reasons to rein in your grief. Labour has announced it will raise taxes on fuel in Auckland by roughly 10c a litre, and everyone is freaking out. People are screaming that … Read more
Is Auckland in crisis over transport, housing, schools, you name it, or are we heading in the right direction? The answer, says Simon Wilson, is yes. The city voted both ways. Here’s what it really needs from the new government. We are two cities living as one, and each of those cities sees the place … Read more
Transport minister Simon Bridges says no instruction was given to transport officials to hide the business case for the proposed new highway from Auckland to Whangarei. Simon Wilson reviews the paper trail that tells a peculiar story. First, this happened. On August 8 a staffer at the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) wrote an email to … Read more
Sometimes, the Auckland Council does some very good things. The new plan for the city centre and waterfront, says Simon Wilson, could just be one of them. Although it does have a few problems… Auckland councillors did something a bit unusual the other day: they gave council officials a standing ovation. (Well, that’s what a … Read more
Winston Peters wants to move the cars from the Auckland waterfront to the port near Whangarei in just two years, and the whole container port within ten. Is he nuts? Simon Wilson reports. How do you decide on the future of the ports of the upper North Island? We now have three clear ways to … Read more
Auckland’s rail services are now carrying 20 million people a year. That’s double the number just four years ago and we’ve reached the milestone three years faster than the planners expected. Matt Lowrie of Greater Auckland looks back at how the city’s commuter train travel was saved from extinction. This story was first published in … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: Aucklander Gerald Cobb walks us through his early morning commute. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos. The Spinoff Auckland is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated to the … Read more
All the political parties say regional development is A Good Thing. But which of them has much of an idea how to make it happen? Simon Wilson suggests they take a good look at a brand new proposal for Regional Rapid Rail. Morrinsville has never known so much attention. Between a semi-automatic weapon callout and … Read more
Lost in last week’s debate about light rail to the airport was another proposal: a Northwest Light Rail line. Harriet Gale from Greater Auckland explains. Just over a week ago Jacinda Ardern announced Labour’s new Auckland transport policy. All the talk was about light rail to the airport, but there were many other components, and … Read more
Government officials have quietly prepared a plan to fast-track light rail – or a rapid bus service – for Queen Street and Dominion Road to Mt Roskill. Just a few months ago finance minister Steven Joyce dismissed this project as “pork barrel politics”. But it’s stage one of light rail to the airport and it … Read more
Labour has committed to the Congestion Free Network 2.0 and fast-track rapid transit to the airport – light rail from the north and a busway from the southeast. Papakura resident and transport campaigner Ben Ross explains what this will mean. When Labour announced on Sunday that it was adopting much the same transport policy for Auckland as … Read more
The Jacindatrain arrived in Auckland yesterday, bringing with it the news that Labour has a radically different transport policy from National. Simon Wilson was there to sample the excitement. “Come and have a beer with me,” said Jacinda Ardern at the end of her election rally at Karanga Plaza in the Wynyard Quarter. She never … Read more
National has released its $2.6 billion dollar plan to fix Auckland’s traffic Armageddon. Hayden Donnell clutches his head and screams into the void over it leaving the single most obviously popular and important transport project for the city off its funding list. National had to rush out its plan to fix Auckland’s transport on Thursday … Read more
Remember the Parnell railway station fiasco? There’s another side to the story, writes Simon Wilson. They said it would be the third busiest station on the Auckland network. They said it would bring visitors and locals to shop in Parnell and tour the Auckland Museum. They said workers in lower Parnell – that industrial and … Read more
A near-flat six-minute walk from the east end of Victoria St all the way to Stanley St? Walking, or biking, through tunnels under Albert Park, with lifts up to the universities. It could happen, writes Greater Auckland’s Matt Lowrie. Auckland’s hills help to define our city. Sometimes they’re a blessing, sometimes they can be a bit … Read more
The construction industry can hardly bear the suspense: who will win the contract to dig the tunnels for New Zealand’s first* underground railway? As for the rest of us, the question is: how good will it be? Simon Wilson went to see the project director to try to find out. On the second-to-last day of … Read more
It should be one of inner-city Auckland’s most-used stations, but the newly opened Parnell Station is already looking like a lame duck. So what went wrong? One word: Disneyland. Harriet Gale explains. This post was first published on Greater Auckland. A friend inspired this post with her attempt to use Parnell Station recently. She phoned … Read more
Where’s Phil? Eight months into his first term as mayor, Phil Goff hasn’t had any spectacular embarrassments and he hasn’t blown the budget. Is that good enough? Simon Wilson doesn’t think so, and each day this week he’s got a challenge for the mayor. Here’s the first. Why isn’t Phil Goff a champion for the … Read more
It’s not just the sailing, or the tourism, or the technology. Major sports events give cities the best chance they ever get to transform themselves – so, asks Simon Wilson, will Auckland seize the day? And will the oil companies and other corporates currently sitting on the Tank Farm turn out to be good corporate … Read more