In my last blog, I asked: “how is Canterbury patronage doing?” The background to that question is that Auckland Transport regularly puts their patronage data onto their website, and Greater Wellington used to update their data monthly until mid-2018. With Environment Canterbury (ECan), you’ve got to dive into the reports that go to their Greater … Continue reading Transparency at last
Tag: public transport
What Makes Cities Tick?
A few months back I saw an interesting thread of tweets written by Kent Lundberg, an urban designer who has been a big part of the revival of the Auckland city centre in recent years. I think it's a neat wee summary of what makes city centres tick. I took 3 points out of this: … Continue reading What Makes Cities Tick?
A bouquet (of sorts) for the Christchurch airport bus
I make fairly regular visits from Christchurch to Auckland and Wellington, mostly for work. Much of the time, I find that the available public transport services there are sufficient to get me to and from the respective airports to where I need to go (usually downtown), so I have the "full set" of PT cards … Continue reading A bouquet (of sorts) for the Christchurch airport bus
Implementing public transport plans in NZ cities
When you promise much but deliver little. This post first appeared on the TraNZport blog and is republished with permission. There are two interesting developments in train (no pun intended… sort of) at the moment in two New Zealand cities. In Wellington, the new bus network, based on the hub and spoke model, is being … Continue reading Implementing public transport plans in NZ cities
Lies, damned lies, and patronage statistics
Let it be known that I'm not a great fan of how our regional council, ECan, presents their patronage statistics. In August 2018, they reported the following to the Greater Christchurch Public Transport Joint Committee: Patronage for the year ending 30 June 2018 rose by just under one percent to 13,572,240 boardings for the year. … Continue reading Lies, damned lies, and patronage statistics
Christchurch Transport Update
Here's a quick update of a few significant things I've seen happening in the transport world of late. There was a fantastic article on newsroom by Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw, that voiced a lot of the frustrations I've found working in transport in Aotearoa: "it is timely to explore why transport is an area in which … Continue reading Christchurch Transport Update
A new plan for Christchurch rail
This article by James Dann first appeared on The Spinoff and is published with permission. Christchurch is a sprawling mess. Its only major geographical feature is the Port Hills, a buffer that has slowed growth in one direction. From the vantage of these hills, you can look out across the Canterbury Plains, once the nation’s … Continue reading A new plan for Christchurch rail
Christchurch – more spending on public transport needed (aka, ‘a review of the draft Regional Public Transport Plan’)
This was first appeared on the TraNZport blog and is republished with permission. Submissions have since closed on this plan but still an interesting take on it. Christchurch sits at an interesting crossroads in terms of its development, and decisions made now are going to affect the form and function of the city for the … Continue reading Christchurch – more spending on public transport needed (aka, ‘a review of the draft Regional Public Transport Plan’)
What if Tradies Preferred Trams to Utes?
This post first appeared on Brendon Harre's blog and is published with permission. What would it mean for a city if builders of new housing were able to take trams (or trams big brother trains) to work? It would mean public transport was built first. It would mean planners and developers had master planned neighbourhoods … Continue reading What if Tradies Preferred Trams to Utes?
Flashback – When Christchurch had Commuter Trains
This post first appeared on the traNZport blog and is republished with permission. New Zealand has two metropolitan areas served by commuter rail systems; Auckland and Wellington. Wellington’s system has a long history of incremental development, including electrification over much of the network from the late 1930s onwards. It currently consists of three electrified lines … Continue reading Flashback – When Christchurch had Commuter Trains
TALKING TRANSPORT 