Voting is under way in the New Zealand general election. Explore the main parties’ pledges at Policy.nz, but here’s a whistle-stop tour of what’s on offer in the world of transport. Read more two-minute policy wraps here Public transport While there are a range of policy ideas for different areas of transport, only two parties … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: SFO files charges against two people in connection with NZ First Foundation, tourism industry holding out Christmas bubble hope, and Advance NZ go to court over debate exclusion. Just days before voting starts, we got an update yesterday on the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the … Read more
National’s new leader made her first big appearance in front of a crowd today, announcing her party’s $31 billion infrastructure policy. What got the biggest applause? It was standing room only (due to a lack of seats) at Judith Collins’ big policy address in central Auckland this morning. After a week of turbulence within the … Read more
This week’s big infrastructure announcement included a grand total of zero dollars for rail for New Zealand’s second largest city, writes James Dann. The government opened the campaign season in earnest this week when they opened up a big sack of money and threw it at a series of infrastructure projects around the country. While … Read more
High speed rail links between cities could play a massive role in revitalising regional New Zealand, says a visiting transport infrastructure expert. Professor Andrew McNaughton spoke to Alex Braae. Imagine commuting from Hamilton to Auckland, and it only taking an hour to get there. It’s a vision of how the right transport infrastructure, based around … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: More questions around lobbyist’s role in Ardern administration, Hong Kong protesters look to NZ, and more progress made between govt and teachers. Further questions are being raised about the role of influential lobbyist GJ Thompson in the Ardern government. It concerns the time he spent as PM … Read more
Instead of more roads, what about more rail? James Dann draws up a plan on how he’d improve Christchurch with a brand new transport system centred on heavy and light rail. Christchurch is a sprawling mess. Its only major geographical feature is the Port Hills, a buffer that has slowed growth in one direction. From … Read more
When musician Anthonie Tonnon started to research the history of Dunedin’s railway system for his new music video, it grew into a consuming, Aotearoa-wide investigation – and the inspiration for the tour that kicks off this week. If you live in a large city with a passenger rail network, a railway underpass will not be … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Electric trains to continue on main trunk line, alarm sounded over loss of Auckland tree canopy, and MP Jami-Lee Ross gives proxy vote back to National. The railway network of New Zealand has been given a shot in the arm, which could signal more investment in … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, Auckland Council wants you to help buy trains. What’s the deal, and can they be trusted with your money? What’s all this then? Auckland Council has announced they will be making an offer of five year ‘green bonds’ … Read more
Greater Auckland’s Matt Lowrie looks at the hidden benefits of rail outlined in a 2016 NZTA report released just this week, which transport minister Phil Tywford says was intentionally sat on by the previous government. For the last few decades, we’ve treated rail in New Zealand quite differently to the way we treat roads. Rail has been considered … 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
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
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 business case for greater freight efficiency in South Auckland has finally been released, and it turns out that a new “Third Main” rail line is the best of 10 options. Guess what’s worst? Putting greater reliance on road freight. So why, asks Ben Ross, does the government still insist on favouring trucks instead of funding … Read more