The Spinoff launched a plan to bury a time capsule containing the epitome of this hell year before working out where we were going to plant the thing. Josie Adams was tasked with finding somewhere suitable. So, you want to bury a time capsule. First, stop. Does the future need this? Historians in a century … Read more
Today’s official unveiling of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), named after one of New Zealand’s most iconic civil rights leaders, wasn’t just for ceremonial purposes, but a sign of the genuine relationship City Rail Link (CRL) wants to forge with Māori. It would be easy to become bogged down by the plethora of “boring” puns … Read more
Our job as walkers of city streets is to continue frequenting gems like the soon-to-close Food Alley, writes Miriam Moore. Last week, my favourite Auckland food institution posted a plea for customers. In a video on its Instagram, Food Alley on Albert Street called for people to still visit, and included an explainer of how … Read more
A downtown Auckland institution, the 28-year-old foodcourt Food Alley is soon to be demolished. Alice Neville and other Spinoff staff visited at lunchtime the day after the news broke to see how diners and stallholders were feeling. My earliest memories of Auckland life revolve around Food Alley. ‘Twas the summer of 03/04 and I’d come … Read more
About as far as you can get from Aotearoa’s rural heartland, a new breed of farmers are rethinking the way we grow. At the heart of that shitshow of an Auckland city confluence where Symonds St, New North Rd, Khyber Pass and Newton Rd come together, observant passers-by will notice an unlikely thing. Amid the … Read more
Mt Albert is on the verge of a transformation. Josie Adams gives a roadmap for how to change Auckland’s second-oldest suburb without ruining it in the process. Until now, Mt Albert’s drawcards have tended towards its outskirts. Hotspots like St Lukes and the Auckland Zoo all lie on the fringe of the township, teasing at … Read more
Public transport in Auckland looks set to hit an all-time of 100 million passengers this year. Patrick Reynolds looks back at how we got here and what next to expect for the future of transport. There’s a quiet revolution underway in Auckland, slowly but relentlessly transforming the city. It began early in the century – … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Heavy fallout from axing of capital gains tax, cost blowout for City Rail Link, and wrongly evicted Housing NZ tenants to get debt wiped. PM Jacinda Ardern has ruled out a capital gains tax. Not only now, mind you, she’s ruled out Labour ever campaigning on it … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Secondary school teachers vote overwhelmingly for strikes, PM steps in to stop NZDF court costs bid, and Sky TV has a new sport focused CEO. Secondary school teachers have voted overwhelmingly to strike next year, reports Radio NZ. Teachers in the sector are saying basically the same thing … Read more
Here’s the latest on Auckland’s City Rail Link developments, courtesy of RNZ. The Australian parent company of a key firm involved in the City Rail Link has announced it is in administration. Here’s what we know so far about what that means for New Zealand’s largest ever transport infrastructure project. Perth-based RCR Tomlinson had gained $A100 … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Radical restructure of Māori TV’s news announced, key City Rail Link firm goes bust, and Kiwibank responds to branch closure criticism. A sweeping restructure of Māori TV’s news service has been announced, with the loss of four major news programmes. Te reo news show Te Kāea will finish … Read more
Big businesses such as New Zealand’s largest ever transport infrastructure project are tackling “real” sustainability issues instead of the greenwashing of the past, organisers of the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards say. “We’re all desperately looking for ‘how do you do this stuff’ now. I don’t think businesses would be deliberately doing things that would … 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
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: CRL gets bigger before being built, Greens reluctantly tuck into a big dead rat, and police change goat-tasering policies. The government has signed off on plans to build Auckland’s City Rail Link even bigger, before it opens up. The NZ Herald outlines the changes – basically they involve … 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 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
Auckland Transport wants a rail line from the CBD to the airport. Council does too. So why does a start date seem further away than ever? Simon Wilson examines what’s gone wrong and how to make it right in the dispute over rail to the airport. Light rail is trams and heavy rail is trains … Read more
Here’s a quick and easy and inexpensive way we can all get more excited about Auckland. Change the names of things! No really – Simon Wilson is serious about this. There’s free burgers or something if you can answer all five of these quick questions: What’s the CRL? What’s the LTP? What about the UP? … Read more
Overflowing buses, long delays to the airport and chaos downtown: Transport planning is a complete bloody mess and most of the big things needed to fix the problems are delayed or are being ignored altogether. And meanwhile, a battle is growing between different parts of council over what to do. Why are we putting up with … Read more