Weekly Roundup 14-February-2025

Already halfway through February, but welcome to another Friday! Some exciting news this week in Auckland.

This week in Greater Auckland

• On Monday Matt took an in-depth look into Auckland’s 2024 bus ridership numbers.
• On Wednesday Matt highlighted a few points on Thursday’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee at Auckland Council.
• On Thursday we had a guest post by George Weeks reviewing ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton.

This post, like all our work, is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join our circle of supporters here, or support us on Substack!

First (test) train successfully ran through City Rail Link

In exciting news, the CRL ran the first test train through the 3.45km tunnel between Waitematā (Britomart) Station and Maungawhau Station.

Hopefully the rest of the testing goes well, and we see CRL open next year. We can all thank former Mayor of Auckland Len Brown for getting this across the line through his tireless effort, and the CRL team hard at work building it. We’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now!

Check out the video from CRL here:

What we want from our cities

A great piece of local research on what people want from our cities.

Urban planning has a long history of promoting visionary ideas that advocate for particular futures. The most recent is the concept of the 15-minute city, which has gained traction globally.

But empirical evidence on public preference for what people want is surprisingly thin on the ground.

To help address this gap, we conducted a national survey (1,491 responses) in Aotearoa New Zealand to find out what amenities people want to have easy access to, how much time they prefer to spend getting there, and how this differs between different groups in the population.

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However, when we asked what amenities people prefer the most, two things came out far above others: local nature and local shops.

This finding is important as it allows cash-strapped local authorities to prioritise and sequence spending. It also supports the agenda of those who are advocating for an increase in urban green space or local living.

Planning for and encouraging amenities like local shops and services seem to be something almost completely forgotten about by our planners resulting where you need to drive just to get to get a bottle of milk.

Researchers also looked at travel times

We also asked people for their preferred maximum travel time to their most preferred amenity for a one-way trip, using different modes. Nationally, the data were consistent, identifying around 20 minutes as a good rule of thumb for maximum preferred travel time.

Importantly, this time was broadly similar regardless of the transport mode chosen. Whether walking, cycling or travelling by micro-mobility modes such as e-scooters, people wanted to spend no more than 20  minutes doing so – even though the distances vary.

This evidence has a wider resonance.

First, it strongly reinforces the 15-minute city or 20-minute neighbourhood as accurately reflecting public preferences for travel time to reach destinations, especially as this figure was consistent regardless of the travel mode.

Second, people are willing to walk further than we typically plan for.

For example, planners may typically apply a walkable catchment of an 800-metre radius around the central business district or transit nodes to allow for higher-density zoning. This distance is a walk of about ten minutes. Our data suggest this area could be expanded and more opportunities created to increase housing volume and diversity.

A slow reversal on the way?

Is this the first sign of a more sensible transport minister.

The new Minister of Transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic.

Announcing the changes to speed limits last week, Transport Minister Chris Bishop issued two lists – one containing 49 stretches of state highway where there would be public consultation on whether to up the limits and one of 38 areas that would automatically return to higher speed limits.

At the time, Bishop said, “To ensure this process happens efficiently, over the next few months NZTA will incorporate the automatic speed reversal work alongside planned maintenance and project works.”

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Among those on the latter list were two stretches of SH6 – a 1.8km section through Marybank which is set to rise from 60kmh to 80kmh, and a section of 800m of Whitby Road in Wakefield that will rise to 70kmh.

Parents, local councillors, sustainable transport advocates and opposition MP Rachel Boyack all expressed outrage and concern about the move.

But at a press conference in Nelson on Friday, Bishop appeared to walk back the government’s stance on the automatic reversals, telling reporters there would now be public consultation on the Marybank and Wakefield changes.

“NZTA’s always had the discretion to engage with local communities and they’ll be doing that in relation to those two areas and there’s a couple of other examples around the country where there is local support for the speed limits to stay lower.”

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Bishop wouldn’t be drawn on precisely which of the other automatic reversals will no longer be automatic, but did name check mid-Canterbury town Rakaia, where locals, community advocates, the council and even the new Minister for the South Island, Rangitata MP James Meager, had decried the change.

“There’s an area in Rakaia, and I’ve had correspondence about another couple of areas up North.”

Bishop said the issue was a “complicated” one, and he had asked NZTA to add those “particular areas” to the consultation process.

He doubled down on comments the increased speed limits will improve the nation’s productivity.

“It’s just simple maths, right? If the speed limit goes from 80 to 100, it’s quicker to get from A to B? It’s just a simple matter of logic.

It’s not simple maths, productivity will only improve if it means commercial vehicles, a small percentage of total road vehicles, can make more trips in a day but that’s unlikely to be the case on most of these roads where the impacts might only be a few minutes at best. It gets even more complicated if you factor in the delays caused after a crash occurs.

That the minister is showing himself to be more open to these changes highlights how communities up and down the country need to keep advocating for better safety outcomes.

The beauty in bike hubs

The Spinoff looks at the EcoMatters bike hubs.

EcoMatters Bike Hub has helped 30,000 Aucklanders start cycling. Shanti Mathias rides over to understand the impact of these community bike workshops.

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The New Lynn Bike Hub, where Na has become a regular visitor, is one of a network of community bike workshops across Tāmaki Makaurau. Many hubs receive funding from their area’s local board, along with Auckland Transport. This funding helps each hub to open four days a week, with paid mechanics and volunteers always on site. The hubs receive bike donations, sell refurbished second hand bikes and, most importantly, have tools and space available to help people fix their bikes.

Beavering away

Anything else they can build? Maybe we need a few here.

A colony of beavers has saved the Czech government around NZ$2.2 million after completing a stalled dam project themselves.

Despite a seven-year planning process and successfully securing the funding, the Czech Republic’s plans to build a new dam in the Brdy region came to a standstill as authorities struggled to acquire building permits.

However, it was the arrival of eight hard-working beavers that finally got the job done.

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“They built the dams without any project documentation and for free.”

Risking kids safety and education

The Northern Advocate reports:

Bus route changes affecting at least seven Northland schools could mean students may have to navigate long, dangerous walks to school.

The Ministry of Education announced revised routes after a regular nationwide audit of school bus services identified routes with low use.

In the review some schools had their services cancelled while others were shortened or extended.

One of the affected schools, Whangaroa College, had its service reduced, leaving 24 students having to find alternate ways to get to school.

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Anderson said some students were now relying on parents and other family to get to school, or they were having to walk.

“We are concerned, especially about those walking as they have to walk along the main highway, State Highway 10. Traffic can move quickly in those areas.”

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“It’s a dangerous route to walk. There is also the danger of the weather. It gets really hot in summer and in winter you can guarantee there will be flooding, and that is a long walk, especially for a 5-year-old.

“Most parents travel about 30km to work and have to be there early, they can’t take their kids to school.

A wedding vehicle big enough to fit the entire bridal party

The post reports:

Yellow and green may not be the colours of love, but it was the colours of Anya and Mika Hervel’s wedding chariot, as they opted for a Wellington bus as their wedding vehicle.

After the ceremony at St Mary’s Chapel in Karori, the Hervels and 10 members of their bridal party to the Botanic Garden for photos, then to All Saints Church for their reception, then home to Kelburn.

“We kind of planned out the wedding with public transport in mind,” Mika Hervel said, with the bus making it easy to get to each venue.

“We wanted to start our marriage how we mean to continue living our lives together, which is caring for the planet.”

Sudden active mode only connection

The Whanganui Chronicle reports:

The Wakefield Street Bridge in Whanganui East will be closed to vehicles for at least 18 months.

It will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists but a safety review has determined the bridge is no longer safe for vehicles of any weight.

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The council closed the bridge on January 15 to allow for a safety inspection due to damage observed in the timber bracing.

“We know this bridge is really important to our community and we will be preparing a business case for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency [NZTA] to advocate strongly for its replacement,” Whanganui District Council transportation manager Mark Allingham said.

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However, funding from the council’s application to the National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) was “unexpectedly turned down, along with funding for numerous other Whanganui infrastructure projects including completion of the Mountains to Sea pathway”, Allingham said.

Because the bridge is no longer fit for vehicles, the council can now apply to an NZTA fund specifically for structures that have reached the end of their life.

More housing in Christchurch?

The Press reports that some councillors are seeking to reopen the debate on housing thanks to the efforts of the advocates at Greater Ōtautahi.

A block of prime industrial land on the edge of central Christchurch might be opened up for residential development, after new information came to light.

City councillor and mayoral hopeful Sara Templeton will ask her colleagues to recast their votes on whether to rezone an area of Sydenham between Moorhouse Ave and Brougham St – also known as SoMo, or south of Moorhouse – next week.

The initial vote on December 2 resulted in a tie, meaning it failed. However, Cr Celeste Donovan – who says incomplete legal advice over a conflict of interest stopped her from participating – might have broken that tie.

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She could have decided to participate regardless. But there are rules against councillors voting on things which could benefit them financially – they could be personally taken to court and lose their elected position – and only the office of the Auditor General (OAG) can grant an exemption.

Unbeknownst to her, the OAG did grant her an exemption, agreeing her participation was in the public interest.

Donovan said she only learnt of that decision around the beginning of February because of an official information act request by urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi.

Great work Greater Ōtautahi team

A spark of colour

A cool story from Mangere about the upgrade of an alleyway to make it safer.

South Auckland residents, plagued with decades of antisocial behaviour at a “dark, dingy” alleyway, feel safer after it was recently upgraded.

The narrow alleyway, which runs between McKinstry Ave and Cottingham Cres in Māngere East, is a connecting space for many residents, the elderly and students from three nearby schools who use it as a short cut.

However, for many years, people have been scared to use it.

Residents complained of late-night noise, vandalism and violence, smashed beer bottles and used condoms, and in the past, it has been a hotspot for gang violence.

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AT’s senior project manger Ryan Clarke stumbled on the residents’ plight through Stuff’s 2013 article.

He was undergoing a leadership programme and together with his group, pitched the project to upgrade the alleyway.

When he returned to AT, he explored possible funding and secured $80,000 for the project, under their responsibility to keep footpaths safe.

The upgrade was completed in December, with a new fence, artwork from local street artist Eva Fuemana and engagement workshops with the local school.

Missing options in minimobility?

Interesting podcast from the US on a few other ways of getting around.

What’s a little bigger than a bike, a lot smaller than a car, and might be the tool you didn’t know you needed to get a big haul home from the grocery store two miles away in the pouring rain? The answer is actually an entire category of vehicles that aren’t common on U.S. roads — but with the right mix of policy, code, and infrastructure reform, we could see a lot more of them.

Bus Priority in Boston

We know that bus priority helps make buses better and more reliable, a report out of Boston highlights some of the benefits from a project to give buses more priority at intersections.

The City of Boston and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) have announced the expansion of a project that gives buses priority at intersections in a bid to improve reliability.

The move follows a trial on two MBTA bus routes along Brighton Avenue which saw a 21 percent drop in delays caused by red lights – resulting in eight percent faster travel times.

“The MBTA has great municipal partners who continue to collaborate with us on improving bus services, and we’re grateful to the City of Boston for building on the success of the 2019 Brighton Avenue bus lane project to add Transit Signal Priority to the bus lane corridor,” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng.

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The three-intersection transit signal priority (TSP) test along Brighton Avenue was deployed in July 2024, and since installation, buses travelling through the corridor spent 21 percent less time waiting at red lights on average and arrived at a green light five percent more often.

This resulted in eight percent faster travel times with each bus saving an average of 16 seconds for a combined total of 110 minutes saved each weekday.

Travel time savings were even greater during peak hours as each inbound Route 57 trip through the corridor was over 60 seconds faster.

Paris cycling network

Check out this video, pink paths make great cycleways!

Have a great weekend!

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