Month: March 2013

SkyPath Update

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Update on SkyPath

 

While away on holiday in Australia I had noticed that the SkyPath project had updated their website and posted a public notice meeting on the North Shore tomorrow night at 6pm (ouch as main rush hour is still happening at that time).

 

You can check the much more easier to read SkyPath website over at skypath.org.nz – with the public notice invitation below:

 

I am still pondering in making the trek to The Shore tomorrow as it means I have to leave Papakura at 4:30 to battle State Highway One traffic (fun – not)

However might be a good idea to trundle along to see where opinion is currently at

 

 

 

And I am Back

Back from Australia

 

Hello readers

 

Update: And both Bekka and I are back in Auckland after two weeks away in Australia. Was a great time away and the credit card was not damaged that much after “contributing” to the Aussie economy. Early night tonight and back into things slowly from tomorrow

Colonel Hogan and Hypotenuse are all well too and glad to see us back

 

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I am at Sydney Airport waiting to board my flight home. It has been a good time away in Aussie relaxing and contributing to the Aussie economy – although I am not going to like the credit card bill next month

BR:AKL will be partially back tomorrow as I complete the photo dumps into the blog and back at full capacity on Monday with commentary to resume on transport and the Unitary Plan.

So hang tight folks til Monday

Although from messages received while away it seems that Auckland needs its backside either kicked or saved again.

Then again in Aussie politics the ALP with Gillard at the helm are buggered…

 

Status · · 2 Comments ·

Sim City Fail?

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EA Balls Up – Rather Big Time

 

It has been 10 long years since the last Sim City game was released in the version called Sim City 4. I still play SC4 today and have two large regions going with different populations and urban development strategies.

March 5, Electronic Arts released their new version of Sim City – called Sim City and well IT GOT PANNED big time for server failures and limited city sizes (amongst other things). This piece from the Herald says enough about the new Sim City without delving into specific game review sites.

From the NZH

Pat Pilcher: SimCity debacle grows

It’s likely to go down in the annals of gaming history as one of the biggest blunders by a gaming company ever. Amidst a significant amount of hype and growing gamer expectations, EA launched the latest version of its SimCity genre. Since then, nearly everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and the gaming communities’ condemnation has been both swift and brutal.

Sadly this gaming equivalent of a multi-car pile-up was probably avoidable. The problems have stemmed largely from SimCity’s online only requirements – access to the Electronic Arts servers is mandatory before the game will function. This was always had potential for problems, and in a pre-launch closed beta, access to EA’s servers quickly became problematic. Bizarrely, even though this was clearly going to be a deal breaker, EA pushed on, continuing with the mandatory internet access requirement and launching the city building/management title.

Unsurprisingly once the title began to sell, things quickly turned to custard. The servers EA had installed simply didn’t have the capacity to handle the sheer demands being put on them, and this effectively rendered the Sim City unplayable, making gamers who’d forked out $100 for the title hopping mad.

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You can read then rest of the article over the Herald.

 

Being a Sim City fan, running two regions, and a veteran over at the fan site Simtropolis; I have been watching the new Sim City unfold through chat and even a live feed and I feel under-whelmed by the latest creation. Server issues aside, the issues which are making me hesitant in shelling out a hundred bucks for this new ultra urban development is the limit of the city size (see map below – or for those playing SC4 the new SC size is the same as the old small tile from SC4)  and transport options tied to zoning.

However knowing the history with SC4 before expansion packs and “modding” occurred, this new SC version has the potential to be great – but just not now. And so EA, I will be waiting around 6 months for you to get your crap sorted before purchasing the game.

Oh and when I do, I already have the urban development methodology in mind. I am in a good mood to give the two fingers up to the New Urban Congress and their “smart compact city” development and go right ahead in replicating my first SC4 city – Solaria. Solaria being home to four million sims across a mega sprawling city with commute times that most cities in the world would envy. Just to put the extra boot in (as the city is still growing some 10 years later) Solaria is basically Auckland on steroids with a high density central core, supported by multiple satellite cities/cores, and plenty of sprawl going out in all directions until you start hitting rural land on the flanks. Just for good measure Solaria has an actual world class transit system while the highway system is errr yeah well a work in progress :P.

But hey if the central tile – Imperial Command District which is that high density core of 1.2 million sims packed into an area of 16.8km2 and still has a mesa and lake in it, but is an actual walkable city then I think I have outdone most real cities in the world. And by walkable city I mean 75% of all commutes in IPC are done by walking as the primary mode (it means that also the sims can be walking to a transit stop as part of the journey OR walking solely to their destination). Also the commute time in IPC is an average of 30 minutes to cross the tile with is 4,096m by 4,096m with a lake and mesa in the middle of it (meaning you have to “loop around”). It takes using the graphs and normalising it to cross the region East to West as it is connected at both ends one hour by motorway and 35 minutes by high speed rail when on express mode.

 

Just of note I had been participating in a Twitter chat with Maxis on the SC13 issues. Sadly not getting a lot out of them so it will be definitely a six month wait until I get the game…

 

In the mean time some (older) photos:

 

 

March Madness

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City Still Reeling from Thursday’s Motorway Disaster

 

I am still seeing reports all over the main stream media and social media on the traffic chaos from Thursday’s crash on the Newmarket Viaduct right in the afternoon peak. Pretty much the city is still reeling from what can be described as an absolute disaster as buses, cars and trucks were basically going nowhere in Central Auckland. In the end walking and trains (for those who could use them) proved to be the fastest method of transit on Thursday afternoon.

 

The Herald ran a piece this morning on the Thursday disaster:

From the NZ Herald:

Forecast: More traffic chaos ahead

By Mathew Dearnaley

5:30 AM Saturday Mar 9, 2013

Auckland’s worst traffic gridlock for years was caused by an extra squeeze of pressure on a stretched transport network – and it is not over yet.

Although the city has struggled through its busiest traffic week of the year, culminating in Thursday’s chaos after a serious crash closed all four southbound lanes of the main motorway out of town, Auckland Transport warns of a difficult weekend.

It is urging Aucklanders and their visitors to consider using public transport or share car rides with friends or neighbours as hundreds of thousands of people throng to a raft of events over the weekend.

Commuters stewed in traffic queues over three successive afternoons, but the longest were caused by the cascading impact of a 2-hour closure of Newmarket Viaduct’s southbound carriageway at the height of Thursday’s peak travel period.

The viaduct is the country’s busiest section of motorway, normally carrying 7000 southbound vehicles an hour during afternoon peaks, and the closure from a serious crash could not have come at a worst time for what the Transport Agency acknowledges is a highly sensitive urban traffic network.

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Not only that, but Auckland Transport says this was already the busiest traffic week of the year, as students hasten to the first classes of term joined other commuters trying to make an earnest start back at work from the summer holidays.

The phenomenon known as “March madness” happens every year, and tends to ease off after the first frenzied week, but Automobile Association traffic spokesman Phil Allen says he has never seen a worst example of gridlock than on Thursday afternoon.

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You can read the rest over at the Herald

 

The point I am raising here is that unless we get on top of the transport situation, Thursday is only going to repeat itself more often and will absolutely cripple the city as we move towards two million people.

This week alone I had written several transport related posts that interlink to Thursday’s chaos:

SOUTHERN MOTORWAY GRIDLOCK – Bring Back the Eastern Highway?

A post on how if the Eastern Highway and the Botany Line were built in 2004, a fully operational and high-capacity back up route for trucks, buses, cars and trains (the trains tapping into the currently unreached East Auckland) in and out of the CBD bypassing State Highway one could have alleviated some if not a lot of the mess from a blocked State Highway One

 

PATRONAGE BELOW FORECAST – Rail Patronage Some Millions Below Forecast

This touched on an interview on Radio NZ with Auckland Transport Chair Dr Lester Levy and how rail patronage is going to be some two and a half million passenger trips below forecast ending June 30. Full trains mean an easier run on the motorway, empty trains as they currently are mean a blocked State Highway one – and I have seen both situations.

 

This weekend would have been a perfect opportunity to showcase our public transport system with an absolute diverse range of events including Pasifika Festival in Western Springs and Around the Bays tomorrow which bring out countless residents and visitors today. You would think rather than operate our infrequent weekend timetables today, Auckland Transport would go out of their way and actually run a full Friday timetable for buses and trains to help getting people out of cars and freeing up the roads. Further more you think our fares would be affordable to also get people into public transport. This means actually selling the old Rail Family Pass right across the rail network rather than Britomart, Newmarket and New Lynn; and allow that Pass to be used freely on bus shuttles from Britomart and Morningside to Western Springs for Pasifika. I even called on AT for reasons why this is not happening:

  1. and @AklTransport any reason why Rail Ticket Inspectors not selling the old Family Pass up and down the entire network today?

  2. Ben Ross ‏@BenRoss_AKL

    @AklTransport any reason why we are not operating Friday Train and Bus Timetables today with the amount of events on.#repeatingthursday?

 

Perfect opportunity today for public transport – wasted! Lord help any one on the roads today if they back up…

 

Moving on

 

GOING FORWARD – Progress

This post mentioned that despite Thursday I can feel confident and excited on a new leaf being turned for our transport system – for the better. That this new leaf and evolution will be led by private citizen initiatives rather than public civic institution led and that in time Auckland will actually have an integrated transport system that we all understand.

 

 

What will my next commentary be on March 25? I wonder with Auckland’s Transport

 

Little Slice of (Green) Paradise

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A Hidden Gem in Papakura

 

We (Rebekka and I) had discovered a hidden gem right here in Papakura while going about our daily walks. Tucked away behind a sports field near the SAS base is a little slice of (green (well brown because it is so damn dry)) paradise of open fields, trees and even a pond (well storm water facility). The park while tucked away is actually quite heavily utilised by local residents as they too go about their walks and/or give their dogs exercise. Here are some pictures of this hidden gem from when we went on our walk yesterday:

 

The park is a nice place and will be extra valuable as that new social housing development (as well as any other Green or Brownfield developments near by) takes hold and the families need somewhere to “relax” or “exercise” – seeming their tiny land sections won’t allow them.

I quite enjoy this hidden gem although it does need a spruce up from our Local Board.

 

Maybe a few benches, rubbish bins, a playground, and some trails wouldn’t go a miss to turn this gem into a shining gem for our local community?

 

So what hidden gems do you have in your community?