Free Petrol Pt IV
Part IV of IV
Environment
transport
Free Petrol Pt III
Part III of IV – a focus on road transport.
Free Petrol Pt II
Part II of IV. How to achieve zero carbon from the shipping and aviation sectors by the 2030s.
Free Petrol Pt I
Part I of a IV part series of posts on what we can do to hold global warming below 2 degrees C.
How to wreck a busway
The Government’s proposal to allow hybrid vehicles to use bus lanes is not only crazy but they did not talk to local authorities before doing so.
When is a toll road not a toll road?
When it is a variable network pricing mechanism …
Strategic Arse Elbow
Today at about the same time the Government will turn the first sod of the city rail link and then announce more urban sprawl for Auckland. This is the most massive policy and programme contradiction in a lifetime.
The Mother Budget
There are budgets and there are budgets. And for all the presence or absence of bright ideas, there’s a budget that threatens to subsume all others…
We’re going to burn it all, until we burn it down.
What does it really mean to reduce NZ’s total fossil fuel use by 50% by 2030: a warm up discussion for an upcoming thought experiment.
Logging truck roll overs meeting: Otaika Valley Hall tomorrow night!
A fully laden logging truck tears up the road like thousands of cars. And when they keep rolling over around the corner, locals get very nervous and upset for themselves and their kids.
Going electric
Old Zeeland showing New Zealand the way.
Bridges to Nowhere
Lying, incompetent or duped. One of these descriptions applies to Transport Minister Simon Bridges. He’s been sprung allowing Kiwirail to mothball a rail line he has repeatedly said was not under threat. What did he know and when? If he didn’t know, why the hell didn’t he know?
Nats split on rail link?
Key and Joyce at loggerheads on funding the City Rail Link?
Government U turn on inner city rail link
John Key has announced that National will bring forward funding of Auckland’s inner city rail link. The decision is welcome but it should have been made years ago.
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.
Pressure mounts to force Auckland to open up land
Serious Fraud Office, Productivity Commission, Council failings, under-supply of houses, Developer Greed… a recipe for disaster
Guest post: Auckland’s transport towards next year
Ad discusses Auckland transport projects likely to be introduced over the next 12 months.
Andrew Little: A better future for Auckland
The text of a speech Andrew Little gave to the Committee for Auckland about Auckland’s future.
Diesel Bomb
Last Friday I wrote a post on Volkwagen gaming NOx emissions. This is a follow up.
NOx-ious shit all around.
Been trying to get my head around the implications of Volkswagen’s rigged diesel performance tests. Predictably, and unlike most stories covering this, I couldn’t give a rat’s arse for the financial woes the company might be facing.
How can Auckland Supercity reduce residential rates?
What can be done to reduce Auckland’s residential rates take to make Auckland City a fairer, more sustainable and more affordable city?
Marching backwards to diesel
Replacing electric trains with diesel is the kind of short-term stupid decision making that is unfortunately typical of the way NZ is currently run.
Auckland Council and the latest rates rise
Auckland Council’s budget which should have been passed on a pro forma vote succeeded this week by the narrowest of margins with a transport levy that Sky City pays the same amount as a Piha resident and where the share of rates that business pays continues to decrease. Time to rethink supercity?
An open letter to Andrew Little
A respectful open letter to Andrew Little with suggestions for how to win the next election!
Robbie would be turning in his grave
Simon Bridges wants to ease Auckland’s congestion by investing more into local roads and less in rail. And by the looks of things he wants to politicise transport funding in a way that has not occurred for decades.
Hosking wants Auckland Council deposed
From the I kid you not files Mike Hosking believes that Auckland Council is to blame for the housing crisis, not immigration, not favourable tax conditions for landlords, not the global financial crisis and not the lack of restrictions on home ownership. And he believes that Nick Smith should step in and Roll Auckland Council.
Ten Bridges Too Far
With Crosby Textor by his side, John Key has since learned to employ all manner of specialist PR techniques including ad homs, blame-shifting, distraction, use of Dirty Politics proxies to defuse the situation, and false equivalence, all woven together in an intricately performed semantic shuffle designed to provide wiggle room for when he does get caught.
Polity: Pork bridges
A sudden enthusiasm for local infrastructure projects on the eve of a tight by-election. What a remarkable coincidence! I wonder whether the cost/benefit ratios on these bridges are up to scratch? Last year National bribed people in the general election. OIA time
Where have all the houses gone?
Yesterday it was announced that Auckland is the ninth least affordable city in the world requiring 8.3 times their average wage to buy a home. Reducing regulation hasn’t worked, otherwise more than 20 homes would have been built under the 2013 fast track accord. The problem is a shortage of affordable housing.
Skypath
Generation Zero encourages you to make a submission on the Skypath. All those in favour – say so!
Save the Pohutukawa Six
Despite local opposition Auckland Transport intends to fell six prominent Pohutukawa to make way for an extra road lane with dubious transport benefits.
Oh dear – National’s “white elephant” is still growing?
Public transport traffic in Auckland keeps growing by large 7.7% per year. Car traffic despite all of the motorway and roading improvements grew by just 2.3% in the whole period of 2006 and 2013 amongst commuters. But our current idiotic National transport minister wants more roads? And won’t let Aucklanders decide what they should do despite them voting with their AT Hop cards.
The tweets are alive….
… with pre-election day fervour. It’s an election that’s going down to the wire. The energy is there for the left to keep talking to people, and to encourage as many as possible to get out and vote. It’s Suffrage Day – reporting via the telegraph in 1893 to the internet today. On-going updates
NRT: The Greens on transport
There’s a strong element of planning for the future here: peak oil and climate change mean the days of cheap cars (and therefore of massive motorways) are numbered. But it also reflects the changes we’re seeing now. Road usage is already dropping, while Aucklanders are crying out for a better rail system so they can escape gridlock.
Polity: Herald on regional roads fiasco
The National Government’s $212 million plan has Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee explicitly admitting that it is a massive pork-barreling for government MPs with public funds, and explicitly tells people to piss off if they don’t like it.
NRT: National’s roads are pure pork
The extent that the National minister have been pork-barreling the roading budget for their electorates is crazy. The OIA’s show that most of the $212 million announced by John Key at the National party conference is pure pork for ministers. They are assessed as costing more money to build than they will ever produce in benefits, even using NZTA’s infamously overoptimistic assessments. National MPs and Ministers want to be seen as delivering something for their electorates before the election. So much for assessing needs based on merits. They must be really worried about this election to misuse so much pork.