Incredibly, Auckland’s deputy mayor is even more relentlessly positive than you-know-who

Bill Cashmore, deputy mayor of Auckland, tells Simon Wilson why he loves working with the government and why he has such high hopes our problems will all be fixed. Bill Cashmore gets up at 4am so you don’t have to. It takes him an hour to drive to work and he’s there before six. Cashmore … Read more

Phil Goff is about to fight the battle that will make or break him as mayor

It’s 10-year planning time. The time when the mayor sets out his vision, his plans to realise that vision and the budget he will use to do it. But there’s a $6 billion hole in the money that needs to be spent on Auckland, and right now Phil Goff has no idea where the council’s … Read more

Leaked report suggests government could announce Auckland light rail before the election

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

Meanwhile, in the outer suburbs: National launch transport policy at a train station

Two hours after Labour launched its flagship transport policy in the central city, National launched its own 30 kilometres south. Duncan Greive was there to watch. National unveiled its rail transport policy under a slate grey sky at a train station in Papakura, doing their best impression of obliviousness to the nation’s incipient Jacinda-mania. Bill English … Read more

Argh! National has said so many dumb things about transport and housing in the last 48 hours

It’s just been a very bad start to the week from the government when it comes to statements on transport and housing, weeps Hayden Donnell. National has a long and proud tradition of being wrong about everything when it comes to Auckland. Its ministers have consistently had to be dragged screaming out of the 18th … Read more

‘I have not quantified the benefits’: the astonishing truth about NZ’s most expensive road ever

Remember that proposed new highway from Penrose to Onehunga, the East-West Link, set to cost close to $2 billion? Turns out no one has worked out, using current figures, if it’s worth the money – and it’s most likely no one ever will. And it’s not clear if the responsible ministers even know this. You … Read more

The third main: why is a $58m rail option being ignored while a $1.4 billion road rolls on?

The Official Information Act is being badly undermined and our transport planning system is broken. Researcher Harriet Gale reports on the nonsense at the heart of both problems. Sir Geoffrey Palmer has written just recently about the failure of the Official Information Act to provide true government transparency. He noted that as a country we … Read more

Free the roads, free the city! How to fix traffic congestion right now

The government and Auckland Council have announced a two-year study of congestion charging. OK, but why aren’t they trying to fix the city’s transport crisis right now? It’s not that hard, you know, writes Simon Wilson. The government and council have announced a two-year plan  to investigate congestion pricing for the inner city. It’s a … Read more

A beginner’s guide to the next prime minister of New Zealand

This time next week John Key will be jetting to Hawaii, while a replacement measures the drapes on the Beehive ninth floor. But who are the likely contenders to succeed him? A thumbnail introduction, by Toby Manhire Amy Adams: Selwyn, 45 Pros: Unblemished by scandal, First on the alphabetical roll. New generation, signalling renewal. Cons: … Read more

‘Resigned defeat and furious defiance’ – an Uber driver speaks

The NZ Uber wars are heating up with calls for a crackdown on non-compliant operators as drivers begin to challenge the company’s criteria and pay rates. We talk to one driver leading the charge. The NZ Transport Agency says the company’s revised rules, with drivers no longer requiring P-endorsed passenger licences or to undergo NZTA-stipulated … Read more

Sorry Simon Bridges, people really want rail included in the second Auckland harbour crossing

Last time Generation Zero called for a rail link across the Waitemata, Transport Minister Simon Bridges told them off for not trusting in still non-existent autonomous buses. Soon after, the group commissioned a poll to test whether their old-fashioned rail theory had legs. Ryan Mearns reports on the results. Besides combating an increasingly terrifying housing crisis, deciding the future of … Read more

Patronise us all you like, Mr Bridges, but that won’t magic up a serious plan for Auckland transport

The Minister of Transport chided Generation Zero yesterday for urging a place for rail on a new harbour crossing. Here, two Gen-Zeroers hit back, saying his remarks lay bare an absence of strategic thinking. The story of Auckland is too often one of missed opportunities. And there is little cause to hope that the current … Read more

Electric cars are terrific. Putting them in bus lanes is bonkers

Opinion: The government wants more electric vehicles on NZ roads. But the plan to let them drive in bus lanes can only throw improvements in bus services into reverse, writes Matt Lowrie. The government wants to boost the currently dismal uptake of electric vehicles, increasing the numbers on our roads from about 1,200 to 64,000 … Read more