I went into town last Sunday to have some lunch and see what was going on. Unfortunately I didn't do my research and promptly found that half the streets in Christchurch were closed to traffic due to the Christchurch marathon. There were some quite lengthy detours if you were driving in from the north (which … Continue reading Has Christchurch got its Central City Right? →

Does spending $1.3 billion on the 4-lane highway above seem like the actions of a government who's just declared a climate emergency? Climate Group "All Aboard Aotearoa" doesn't think so, and are taking Waka Kotahi Transport Agency to court over their Mill Road project. Grab the popcorn - I'm looking forward to seeing how this … Continue reading What Does the Emissions Trading Scheme Mean for Transport Projects? →

It was the best of travel times, it was the worst of travel times... I was following a bus down Riccarton Road yesterday and was impressed with how efficient the new bus lanes are. In the evening peak hour this lane shifts around 800 people in 25 buses, compared to the traffic lane next to … Continue reading A Tale of Two Bus Lanes →

Cashel Street, Bealey Avenue, Lincoln Road. We give streets different labels based on their attributes. Streets tend to be narrower with more activity on them, Avenues tend to be wide and tree-lined, Roads are usually more focused on the through-movement function. Crescents are crescent shaped, Places are dead-ends.If anyone had ever asked me to guess, … Continue reading Different Names for Streets →

Canterbury have put out their draft Regional Land Transport Plan for public feedback, closing tomorrow (5th March). They have an online survey you can fill out which makes giving feedback very easy. This post is a very brief summary of a few things that stood out to me. The regional land transport plan sets out … Continue reading Draft Regional Land Transport Plan →

Christchurch City Council has set a target of net zero greenhouse emissions (excluding methane) for the city by 2045. (here) This follows on from our international responsibilities (e.g. Paris agreement) and national policies (e.g. zero carbon act), while also being based on what locals want. In 2019 Council surveyed 2,724 locals about climate change. 77% … Continue reading How will Christchurch Ōtautahi meet its carbon goals? →

This post first appeared at TraNZport blog and is republished with permission. Recently there was some commentary about a 4 percent public transport fare rise in Auckland and how that contradicts the city’s climate change goals, and it caught my attention. It made a fair point, and I don’t disagree that there is some weird … Continue reading Why are we so bad at public transport? →

This is a guest post from reader Tim Frank. Arthurs Pass National Park is unique in New Zealand to be potentially easily accessible by rail services. The Midland Line runs through and alongside the park in many places. Currently, the only passenger service on that line is the TranzAlpine train, which is mainly aimed at … Continue reading Rail to Recreation in Canterbury →

Welcome back everyone - I hope you've all had a good Christmas and new year. It's been a long time since I last looked at cycle counts around Christchurch (here and here), so thought I'd delve back into it again. Remember that Christchurch now has a network of electronic sensors that count the number of … Continue reading Cycle Counts →

I had an experience of Christchurch Car Culture this year. Earlier in the season my daughter  started playing netball (in between various lock-downs). Netball starts shortly after school finishes on a Friday afternoon. She plays for her school team located at the red dot below, and the team plays at the netball centre located at … Continue reading Christchurch Car Culture →