Recently I saw the following exchange on Twitter, where Canterbury Regional Councillor Megan Hands suggests that making buses free is a better way of reducing emissions than building cycleways. Firstly, I love that our left and right leaning politicians are past debating whether climate change is a thing or not and are now debating the … Continue reading Cycleways Versus Free Public Transport →

I just heard of the Yogi Berra fallacy last week. I don't know anything about him other than his name is very similar to Yogi Bear from the old cartoons, he supposedly was a baseball player, and he apparently said the quote below. The Yogi Berra fallacy has now become the name for all sorts … Continue reading Yogi Berra Fallacies →

High petrol prices have hit the headlines lately. A lot has been written about the causes of it so I won't go there, I'm more interested in the impacts it might have. MBIE published the graph below showing the cost of regular petrol. It shows that pre-covid, fuel costs were relatively flat at just over … Continue reading Increasing petrol prices – what does it mean for transport? →

There has been a flurry of activity about rapid transit in the last week that was quite confusing. I thought I'd write this post to remind everyone where Christchurch is at with rapid transit at the moment, and hopefully clarify things a little. Here is a timeline of events over the last 5 years. 2017 … Continue reading Rapid Transit – What’s Happening? →

I finally found out why Christchurch is so car-centric. And no it's not that we have an inexplicable love of cars that is different to every other city in the world. It's not just that we have always been a "car-city". It's not our topography, weather, economy or location. Christchurch is car-centric because in 1965 … Continue reading Traffic in a New Zealand City →

Waka Kotahi have just released a new dashboard reporting all new motor vehicle registrations. Last year these were the numbers nationally. In Christchurch City: In Selwyn District: And Waimakariri District: Percentages are these: I was a little surprised at these numbers. I had thought that uptake of electric vehicles would be higher in urban areas … Continue reading New Motor Vehicle Registrations Dashboard →

Here are some pictures of unfinished parts of the Christchurch city centre eleven years on from the earthquakes. Although there has been some terrific progress in some parts of the city, it amazes me how many sites still haven't been rebuilt. In some cases they looks as though the earthquake happened last week, rather than … Continue reading Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day →

I was recently looking at the Wikipedia page for transport modal share, and found out we're listed as the number one mid-sized city in the world for driving. Yay for us. The average city has around 55% of its trips made in vehicles and 45% made by walking, cycling and public transport. Our split is … Continue reading We’re Number 1! (for auto-dependency) →

I've written twice previously (here and here) about the National Land Transport Programme. This post is just a quick one to highlight a point a lot of New Zealanders don't get. This webpage here tells us where the money comes from to pay for the country's roads, rail, footpaths, cycleways and public transport. I've taken … Continue reading National Land Transport Programme 3 →

There is a tonne of stuff out for consultation at the moment, so this is a quick update on a few that I think are particularly interesting. Get in and have your say if you're that way inclined. Firstly, Ecan are changing Routes 17 and 28. They are increasing frequencies, improving bus stops, and getting … Continue reading Various Consultations →