National has responded to Labour’s ATAP proposal by refusing to accept there is a problem, drumming up anti Auckland resentment in the rest of the country and claiming they would have done the same thing.
Minister Phil Twyford and Mayor Phil Goff announced the ATAP, the transport programme for Auckland for the next ten years. At $28 billion it is the largest civil infrastructure programme since World War II.
Politik reports that some mayors from Northalnd are upset that they aren’t going to get a four lane boondoggle to feed more heavy trucks into traffic chaos that is the Auckland isthmus. They can stick their trucks up their body cavity of choice and learn to love rail. We don’t need more traffic in Auckland until we fix the disaster that National have left us.
The Government has released a draft Government Policy Statement on Transport for consultation. A radical shake up of the Transport system is being proposed.
The signs are that Aucklanders are going to support a regional fuel tax designed to alleviate congestion.
Two posts from No Right Turn.
“Fundamentally, climate change means it is us or the oil industry. We know whose side the Greens are on. But people are doubting Labour, and they only have themselves to blame for it.”
Also a post on banning fossil-fueled cars.
is awarded this week to Lisa Prager who is convinced that construction of cycleways in Auckland is part of a global conspiracy to take away our rights and whose sledge hammering technique is not optimal.
In this very important first week Simon Bridges has committed two major blunders. He has claimed he was environmentally friendly when any view of his Ministerial history would confirm that this is not the case. And he forgot his Government oversaw the stripping of democratic rights from all prisoners, and adjusted his position when his error was pointed out.
Biofuels and fossil. The difference?
As I prepare to fly out of NZ yet again for work, I’m contemplating how much my personal transport has changed over the years. These days I most ride a e-bike. Faster than a car for my commute because of the frigging Auckland traffic. Effective exercise without too much pain. And a lot of fun.
Truckers don’t own the roadways. We do. If Ken Shirley wants a stricter adherence to user pays, then he should start with his trucking members. In the meantime the best thing we can do for improving the roading network is to get large trucks off of the road – they damage it way too much.
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.
In a sign of desperation Bill English rang Winston Peters on the weekend but the call was not answered. Clearly National realises that waiting for the special votes to be released will significantly weaken its bargaining position.
This isn’t what we meant by keep it in the ground.
Designing policy for a low carbon world and good lives, the Greens are standing strong in the need to act now on climate change.
The Green Party will save families and students money, reduce pollution, and make it easier to get around Wellington.
In just a couple of month’s time the Greater Wellington Regional will start an $11m project to dismantle the trolley bus system. Council Tramways Union Vice President Chris Morley talks about why light rail for Wellington is unlikely to ever happen, and why it doesn’t need to.
Trolley buses make sense for the environment and for people who drive them. But in just a couple of month’s time the Greater Wellington Regional will start an $11m project to dismantle the trolley bus system. Council Tramways Union Vice President Chris Morley writes about why this is a huge mistake.
National has let regional rail services rust away but the Greens in government will restore rail as the backbone of New Zealand’s transport system, for freight and for people
A list of Labour’s announced policies to date and an easy way to compare them to other parties’ policies.
Labour has announced its Auckland Transport policy.
In an attempt to take the thunder away from Labour’s Auckland Transport announcement National’s offer was leaked this week to the Herald. But it is uninspiring, and shows a continued commitment to roading as providing a solution.
Ben Ross at The Spinoff “The government’s continued support of the road freight industry in preference to expanding the role of rail, in the face of the data in this report, makes a complete mockery of its claim to prudent economic management. It makes, instead, a pretty good case for incompetence, or cronyism, or both.”
National appear to be completely uninterested in spending Aucklander’s transport taxes on Auckland. Instead they want to put in roads that have no economic measurable benefits for Auckland except to increase the road congesting trucks on our roads. Why do National hate Auckland?
I/S at No Right Turn writes: “Fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change. A significant chunk of those fossil fuels are burned in cars, so if we want to beat climate change, we need to stop doing that. And today, the French government signalled that it would do just that, announcing that it would ban the sale of petrol and diesel-fuelled cars by 2040″
A 21st century city simply has to have integrated, multi-modal public transport at its heart.
The pace of change in transportation may mean that some time soon private ownership of petroleum cars may disappear.
The same study that trumpeted Wellington as the most liveable city in the world, has Auckland as the 3rd most expensive for Public Transport, behind London and Dublin.
It’s too hard! We’ll do it later! Auckland airport rail is just the latest example.
A new coalition protests health under-funding, while the cost of the holiday highway blows out. Our government has its priorities all screwed up.
What can we do today that will make a difference?
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter will be standing in the Mount Albert by-election to be held on 25 February
Andrew Little has just announced that Labour in Government will accelerate the implementation of light rail in the Auckland Istmus.
Damon over at civicanalysis wrote an interesting post over the weekend “How New Zealand can help save the world” (and then pointed my attention to it 🙂 ). It looks at what we can do to structurally alleviate climate change. But also looked at some of the economic benefits
So often we lose sight of the fact that local government is about much, much more than rates. We’re launching a Jobs That Count ticket to change that.
