This post was originally published on Sam's blog. ECan recently released their draft long-term public transport plan for Christchurch and Timaru. On the other side of the globe, Jarrett Walker and co are proposing a new bus network for Dublin. The proposed Dublin network centres around the concept of a 'spine' - a collection of … Continue reading On the network topology of spines →

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about some of the similarities and differences between New Zealand's largest cities. At one point I reported that the population of Wellington was larger than that of Christchurch based on Wikipedias 2017 estimates, but then further down I had a population graph based on 2013 Census data which … Continue reading Different Cities, Different Shapes 1.5/2 →

Last night we held the first CHAT club meet - advertised here. Former mayor Garry Moore spoke on the history behind the under-construction Christchurch Northern Corridor, ably supported by Axel Wilke and MC'd by Glen Koorey. For anyone who missed it, Axel has done a write-up here and made his slides available here. If you … Continue reading Garry Moore on the Christchurch Northern Corridor →

As I wrote about last week, Ecan have released their draft Regional Transport Plan for consultation. Their proposal included, among other things, almost doubling the number of high-frequency routes from 5 to 9, and creating 2 rapid transit corridors; one to the north via Papanui and Main North Roads, and one to the west via … Continue reading How Far in Half an Hour – Draft 30-year Plan →

You look at Berlin these days and no doubt, it’s a cycling city. In fact, cycling has a 13% mode share, and has one of the highest ride-to-work proportions of any city with over one million residents. You probably think that it would have always been like that, right?  No, wrong. Cycling in Berlin is … Continue reading Cycling in Berlin – sehr gut! →

The Metrocard has been with us since October 2003 and it was introduced during a time when everything around public transport in Christchurch was looking positive and upwards. The Orbiter had been introduced in 1999; an immediate hit with the public. The Bus Exchange had opened in November 2000, replacing the windswept Square with an … Continue reading Why do we charge for Metrocards? →

I hear a lot of comparisons between different cities in New Zealand. "Wellington has trains, why don't we?", or "Christchurch is getting heaps of cycleways, why isn't Wellington?" "Auckland's public transport is booming, why isn't Christchurch's?" etc etc. But each city is so different to each other, it's hard to know if the comparisons are … Continue reading Different Cities, Different Shapes 1/2 →