Public transport, to complement cycling?
Jenny looks at extending public transport to include cyclists
Economy
cycleway
Cycling Politics is Winnable Politics
This Sunday Aucklanders have an opportunity to protest the catastrophic failure of NZTA to generate a cycleway from the North Shore to the CBD, and to promote a practical proposal to “liberate a lane” on the Harbour Bridge which would do the job in the meantime.
Cycling Politics Is Damn Serious Business
Don’t knock local politics until you’ve had to stand up and defend a cycleway in public.
So! You want a “plan”?
Expecting a bit much aren’t you? We haven’t had that since Muldoon. At least he had them. The kind of people now asking for a plan were those who complained about governments that “interfered with the sacred ‘free market’” and screamed about “central planning”, “picking winners”, “protectionism” etc. They prefer just getting cheap labour to give the illusion of economic growth. And build a cycleway!
Memo from Crosby Textor – fake news
The Standard has obtained an internal memo from CTF Partners (formerly Crosby Textor) where it responds to allegations that it is a kindergarden for the rich children of Conservative Party donors, has engaged in misogynist behavior and ran anti and pro cycle astroturf campaigns to get a cycleway moved from near a client’s business premises to near an opponent’s premises.
On my reliable commute and dipshits like Mike Hosking
Traffic and parking in Auckland isn’t helped by ignorant conservative dipshit parasitic immigrants like Mike Hosking. They really don’t get how this city can’t just keep adding roads as the roads backup after accidents. Or why it is so much safer for ratepayer cyclists to not have to contend motorists trying to accidentally kill them.
National’s brave new world of MOAR ROADS!
National has taken to criticising the Government for not building roads that had no coherent business case and no proposal to build.
Say goodbye to roads of national significance
National’s roads of national significance programme looks to be no more with an early casualty being the East West Link in Auckland, which per kilometre was destined to be the most expensive transport project the world has ever seen.
The Green Party’s Wellington Transport Plan
The Green Party will save families and students money, reduce pollution, and make it easier to get around Wellington.
Key to Homeless: You Can Stay at Mine
Prime Minister John Key has today announced a radical plan to solve the housing crisis. The homeless are now welcome to go flatting with him in his Parnell bach. The plan includes draining the swimming pool and subdividing it into flats, putting hammocks in the palm trees and making soup in the pool cabana’s kitchen. Max Key may have to move out to make way for the homeless, but the PM described that as a painful sacrifice he was now willing to make in the light of his son’s most recent social media posting.
The great big list of John Key’s big fat lies (UPDATED)
How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.
John Key’s patchwork ‘job machine’: user pays
John Key’s great idea for job creation – his cycleway project – has produced some benefits, but is a patchwork production. Some sections will be user pays to fund maintenance. Meanwhile the job creation benefits have been limited.
Axe the Copper Tax wins
Every other political party has said an emphatic no to National’s proposal to override the Commerce Commission’s reduction in broadband charges. I suspect that Cabinet and Chorus’s board are not having a very good day …
“The Big Issue”: councils & transport
Campbell Live last Wednesday focused on transport: funding & Auckland versus the regions; public transport & roads; the revolutionary Congestion Free Network plan. City Vision (supported by Labour & the Green Party – with a major focus on transport) & 2 Future West candidates launch their Auckland council campaigns.
Take “a long short walk”
It’s UN Global Road Safety Week, with a focus on pedestrian safety. NZ statistics for pedestrian injuries and deaths are sobering. Children are especially vulnerable to careless driving practices. In the interests of our people and environment, walking and cycling need to be less dangerous, and more fun.
Missing the point: Minister of Tourism fail
Michael Field on Stuff, responds to a question he attributes to “Labour Party blog, The Standard” about our Minister of Tourism spending most of his holidays in Hawaii and fails to answer the question he cites. Field diverts to past PMs, ignores all Clark’s NZ holidays, and champions “Kiwi” Muldoon.
Target practice
Just before the parliamentary recess National released its latest set of Laura Naude targets. They will join all the others – catching up with Australia, jobs from the cycleway, government surplus by 2014, yadda yadda yadda. I can’t think of a single target National has actually met. These targets aren’t real; they are just there to provide fodder for uncritical media.
Chart o’ the day: drop meet ocean
Economic cycle
Prime Minister John Key has reacted to growing fears that the world is slipping into a second round of financial crisis and recession before it has recovered from the first one by boldly opening a 180km cycleway through the King Country. Part of a $50m cycleway project, it is expected to boost the economy by $5-$20 quadrillion, according to the PM.
National cause of dire economy
National still seem to be getting a lot of cover for their economic mismanagement from the Global Financial Crisis way back in 2007-2008. But New Zealand’s failure to be “roaring out of recession”, as John Key promised, is no longer tied to the GFC. It’s Bill English and National’s economic policies that mean that the government deficit is pushing the limits with no reward for average kiwis.
Spinning while the economy burns
The latest GDP figures are awful. the Reserve Bank had predicted 0.9% growth in the June Quarter. It came in at 0.2% – far worse than anyone expected and slower than population growth. The Key Government’s reaction? Deny there’s a problem and spin, spin, spin.
PM punts for growth
Prime Minister John Key today conceded that growth remains too weak, unemployment is too high, and that it is unacceptable that workers’ wages are going backwards when he promised they would match Australia’s in just 15 years. Speaking to a rapturous crowd of schoolchildren and journalists, Key announced a bold new economic agenda.
On yer bike, John
After 15 months, just 10km of the 2000km John key Memorial Cycleway has been built at 3 times the budgeted cost. I’d like to see Goff take Key up on his offer of a ride on his recession-busting national cycleway. They’d be done in half an hour. Key’s flagship policy was always a joke and, now, everyone’s laughing. Come next year, voters are going to look at this record and say ‘on yer bike, John’.
No progress on Key memorial cycleway
I love that John Key is so desperate to show some progress on his memorial cycleway that he’s even going along to the opening of cycleways that aren’t funded with its money. On Sunday he showed up at the opening of a cycleway in Oamaru. The cycleway was funded by the council and NZTA. The recession has been over for a year – not a single job has been created, no cycleway built.
Re:Cycle (re-run)
We received this guest post about half an hour after John Key announced his cycleway. At the time, the very sensible criticisms it raises were ignored by an enamoured media.
How prescient it looks now, on the anniversary of the Prime Minister’s Jobs Summit.
The 59,000 failures of John Phillip Key
Nearly a year ago, John Key, shaken by the first whispers of disquiet over his government’s month-long holiday at the height of an […]
Key’s flagship policy now his joke
Anyone with a brain has always known Key’s cycleway is a joke. The sick thing is he’s now using it as a punchline […]
Laugh track
As Irish has already noted, Fran O’Sullivan has savaged John Key’s record on employment and said that Paula Bennett is “too busy puffing her own achievements […]
Greens greenwashing for anti-environment govt
The Greens have announced the collapse of the cornerstone of their Memorandum of Understanding with National. With Gerry Brownlee as Minister for Energy, National […]
Spin cycle finally into 1st gear
I’m all for cycle-ways but excuse me if I don’t get all silly over John Key knocking a post in the ground in […]
Cycleway to nowhere
This just in: A picture of stage one of PM John Key’s personal solution to NZ’s recession – the cycleway to nowhere! OK, […]
So what was phase one?
Funny thing, I woke up this morning and thought to myself “what happened to the cycleway?” I was even going to put a […]
Caption competition
Just when we thought he couldn’t top the comic value of the cycleway…
More cycleway spin
[At the outset of this, let me restate, once again, I’m all for cycleways. Indeed, I wish the Key government hadn’t cut millions […]
Big dreams, no delivery
Tv1 has revealed that our daydreamer PM had much much bigger plans for the cycleway. Like excited schoolkids, he and good mate Mark […]
CycleWatch – 100 days
As CycleWatch hits 100 days, John Key’s been caught with his pants down. As No Right Turn explains a few days ago: [There […]