Month: September 2013

De-Ja-Vu with Auckland(‘s) Transport – Again

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Where did I put that old Record Player – Seriously

 

I caught this article in the NZ Herald yesterday on my so-called favourite second topic: Auckland Transport. Actually two articles caught my attention and I seriously wonder if I am having a case of De-ja-vu here in regards to Auckland‘s Transport.

The two articles of notice were these ones, both from Mathew Dearnaley:

 

Starting with “Public transport decline threat to future funding,” this is what had to be said:

From the NZ Herald

Public transport decline threat to future funding

Auckland’s public transport patronage continues to languish.

Trip numbers over the past 12 months ended 3.3 per cent lower than for the previous year.

Patronage to August 31 amounted to 69.2 million passenger trips, down from the previous annual figure of 71.5 million, according to a report to Auckland Transport’s board yesterday.

Trains accounted for the largest proportional loss, down 7.5 per cent to 10.1 million trips, despite the added contribution of the new Manukau line.

 

Even so, rail is starting to show a slight recovery, after its annual patronage drop from almost 11 million trips.

It notched up just over a million trips last month, 1.7 per cent higher than in August last year, despite one fewer business day.

But much more is needed, making a promised new fares strategy all the more pressing.

 

The Government requires Auckland Transport to have almost doubled its annual patronage to 20 million trips by 2020 before it will accelerate its 50 per cent funding for the city’s $2.86 billion underground rail project.

One encouraging statistic is an improvement in punctuality. Close to 89 per cent of trains arrived at their final destinations in August within five minutes of scheduled times, up from a 12-month average of 86.2 per cent.

…

Just a quick note; going back over the Prime Minister’s speech in regards to that 20 million figure it was also stated that if AT could show around 8% growth in rail patronage year in year out then the Government would look at starting the CRL around 2018.

 

To the main matter though what is seriously going on and why does this issue keep popping up.

Regular and historic readers of Talking Auckland would have read here at the blog of the ups and downs we have had with Auckland Transport. At the same time there has been copious amounts of (and not solely from the blog either): public flaying, constructive criticism, submissions, feedback, presentations to committees, lobbying and even meetings to try to offer what assistance once can give to help get our public transport systems (especially rail) back on track.

The results? Two fold:

  1. Success with Auckland Transport’s Strategy and Planning arm in regards to South Auckland‘s public transport system. Whether that be our proposed bus routes, the slow but steady progress with Glenora Road Station, or preparations for the Manukau South Link progress is being made there. This particular arm I quite enjoy talking to or working with that particular department when the time arises.
  2. The Operations arm of AT? Failure and get regularly ignored unless I do something like force a fare back down like I did last September. And it is the operations side causing the most anguish in Auckland for both public transport users and the wider ratepayers

 

Still from the NZ Herald piece:

Trains accounted for the largest proportional loss, down 7.5 per cent to 10.1 million trips, despite the added contribution of the new Manukau line.

Even so, rail is starting to show a slight recovery, after its annual patronage drop from almost 11 million trips.

…

Even there the recovery is at risk of stalling again. 

So what to do folks because I am now seriously lost after nearly two years of trying. Anything that would get patronage realistically back up gets shunned while anything that would be a detriment to patronage happens (otherwise patronage would not have slipped as far as it has).

 

The City Rail Link

 

$3.3b by the time the project gets started and there is a risk of a further blow out – owing to history some of our civic projects. This was noted in the Herald article “Rail delays threaten big blowout.”

I am sure I have said the Rail Fallacy would occur with the City Rail Link using comparisons from other projects overseas – and I could still end up being correct despite earlier ridicule on the matter. The Rail Fallacy Commentary previously mentioned on Talking Auckland can be found here: https://voakl.net/tag/rail-fallacy/

 

Do I want the Rail Fallacy to occur with the City Rail Link though? HECK NO! But pragmatism and harsh reality I must also bear in mind – kind of like risk management. The Rail Fallacy acknowledgement in part was me running a crude risk management exercise across multiple levels on the CRL. At least this way I knew/know the risks and can adapt for it accordingly where required.

Put it this way, at least if (political) reality bites and The Rail Fallacy does happen I was certainly most prepared – unlike others. I would also say this was good business sense in play too. 

 

In the end though unless Auckland Transport pulls finger I am going to struggle to see how the CRL will not start until 2020. Oh and for those like ATB who might put their faith in the EMU’s. Having flash new trains will provide some kick but not the silver bullet needed to bring the CRL forward to 2018. No amount of new rolling stock will counter: getting stuck behind the increasing amount of freight trains with out the third line fully complete, fare products not lined up properly and missing simple links such as the Manukau Rail South Link to attract more actual patronage. So again AT needs to pull finger and get the right things done – no excuses.

 

Final remark

Trains accounted for the largest proportional loss, down 7.5 per cent to 10.1 million trips, despite the added contribution of the new Manukau line.

Hmmm – waiting for that South Link that will feed real numbers in the Manukau Line and station… Lets try and not keep the wards of Manurewa/Papakura and Franklin waiting much longer please AT. There is a pent up demand waiting for a direct service from Pukekohe/Papakura to Manukau via the South Link and some modelling I ran estimates that 20 minute, 7 day a week services using that link would mean patronage levels rivalling our Ellersile and Glen Innes Stations. So lets try and get this built in the upcoming Christmas Block of Lines – okay – please.

 

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The Isthmus and Berm Mowing

· 1 Comment ·

Compromise or Harden Up?

 

Must be election time in Auckland. Why? Apart from the fact in front of my keyboard I have my voting papers (for: Mayor, Ward Councillors, Local Board and District Health Board – and which make some depressing reading (the pamphlet of candidate choice is not that inspiring)), the Isthmus is still going on about their berms in front of their properties being mowed.

This stems from a decision on the 2012-2022 Long Term Plan deliberations (the LTP is now operative/in effect) that to save $3.2m from the Council budget, the former Auckland City Council area residents will no longer have their berms mowed by a Council contractor. The Isthmus like: Franklin, Papakura, Manukau, Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney will now have to mow the berm that is in front of their properties.

The rest of the City is wondering what is the Isthmus moaning about when for years if not decades everyone else just mowed their berms when they mowed their lawns. The most common reason I hear from the Isthmus is that the $3.2m of a service cut was not passed on in rates savings. Rather than parts of the Isthmus have been stung with a string of some of the highest rate rises in all of Auckland over the last three years.

 

At the end of the day we can keep going around in circles and most likely tell the Isthmus to harden up and join the rest of us in wider Auckland.

Or we could seek a solution. Councillor Casey and candidate Mark Donnelly both mooted an idea, one that I also submitted on to my submission to the 2012-2022 Long Term Plan. The Solution?

  1. Proper funding of the Local Boards for local services
  2. Allow individual Local Boards to pick whether they want contractors mowing the berms in their area

Basically if a Local Board wanted to pay a contractor of their choice to mow their areas’ berms rather than have the residents do so then they are free to choose. However, the cost would come out of the Local Board’s budget. This means the Local Board would have to decide how to raise the money for this service. The most obvious one would be a targeted rate to pay for the service.

But that way the Local Boards could choose whether they wanted the berms in front of houses mowed by a contractor.

 

While this does not address wider issues such as the 10-10-10 rate rise and loss of earlier berm mowing on the Isthmus it is a remedy to allow Local Boards decide local decisions.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts below

 

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Plans Plans Plans

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The Next Round of Consultation with Two Plans

 

All these plans and all the consultation that goes with it (although some would do Death by Consultation in the name sake “The People…”) would make most people go nuts. In saying that from September 30 we enter the three-year process of formal notification and hearing with The Unitary Plan.

If you want to get changes put into the Unitary Plan then be prepared to write and send in your formal submission between September 30 and February 24th, 2014. After that we have independent commissioners appointed by the Government who will conduct Hearings through to and inclusive of 2016. Again this is how you get your changes that you would like to see in the Unitary Plan, NOT by giving it back to Councillors to go waste time and money re-litigating until the cows come home before they finally send it back out to notification.

 

In the meantime this from Auckland Council:

Unitary Plan approved for notification

Thank you to those who provided feedback on the draft Unitary Plan. Auckland Council’s Governing Body has approved the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan for notification and a formal submissions phase, which starts on the date of notification, 30 September. The proposed plan will then be available online at www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/unitaryplan as well as in hard copy format in libraries for those who don’t have access to the internet.

The plan includes amendments to the maps, policies and rules based on the feedback of over 21,000 Aucklanders and the decisions made by Auckland Councillors on what changes would be included.

The formal submissions phase, which includes further submissions and a hearings process will take place over approximately three years.

For more information on the unitary plan email unitaryplan@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz with any questions.

 

Sea Change – Hauraki Gulf Marine Spatial Plan

The Hauraki Gulf, known by many as Tikapa Moana and by others as Te Moananui ā Toi, is a national taonga (treasure). Over the next two years we’ll be creating a marine spatial plan, called Sea Change, to safeguard this treasure.

Ultimately, it’s about securing a healthy, productive and sustainable resource shared by all. The project is led by a partnership between mana whenua (local Māori who have customary authority over the area), and central and local government. Interest groups and users of the gulf, including recreational fishing and boating, environmental and community, aquaculture, fishing, shipping and tourism will have an opportunity to participate.

Sea Change will follow world best practice. This includes using an online decision support tool called SeaSketch. It will give everyone with an interest in this national taonga the opportunity to contribute towards creating a desired vision for it, including recommending:

  • which activities should take place and where
  • what areas and values are important and how to safeguard them
  • options to meet future needs.

A Stakeholder Working Group will take a lead role in developing the marine spatial plan and commence its selection process in October 2013. The group will consider all points of view by compiling and providing information, reviewing evidence, and analysing reports. The public will be able to have their say during 2014.

The non-statutory plan developed through this process will be used to modify district, regional and coastal plans and any relevant policies, rules and regulations.

Find out more at www.seachange.org.nz

How to stay informed and involved

Please pass this on to other people you think will be interested in council issues. Find out more on how you can have your say at www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/haveyoursay
In the meantime, if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing us at consultation@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

 

That last bit being rather relevant especially after somewhat of a mixed bag for me over the last three years in advocating for a #BetterAuckland.

 

October 4 I will have the blog reformatted and set up for the formal notification phase of the Unitary Plan as Talking Auckland will once again run its leading independent commentary on Auckland issues.

TALKING AUCKLAND

Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited

TotaRim Consultancy
Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan

Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL

 

Why Te Papa North Should be In Manukau – NOT Wynyard Quarter

· 1 Comment ·

The Abridged Version of Why Te Papa North Should be In Manukau

 

Note: This is the abridged version of my earlier commentary on this matter.

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It seems Te Papa North (Manukau) has stirred up some criticism towards fellow Aucklanders by fellow Aucklanders. One of the most recent and harshest criticisms came from The Listener’s piece: “Editorial: the right location for Te Papa North“ (12/9/2013)

The reasons the person gave in that editorial piece were “interesting” to say the least. In reply I will outline why Manukau is the right location for such a museum.

Starting with the direct and indirect benefits of the facility being in Manukau; these economic and social benefits have to outpace the monetary costs of the facility. This in my opinion can be easily done.

The Economic Benefits

DIRECT BENEFITS

  • Employment in the facility whether it be the curator, the cafe owner or the  cleaner
  • Visitors spending their money inside the facility which has flow on effects

INDIRECT BENEFITS

  • Contractors contracted by the facility to carry out whatever task it maybe – this has the flow on effect of contractors hiring more people
  • Visitors spending money in other areas of Manukau
  • Research committed by the facility
  • Urban Renewal projects carried out in the surrounding area owing to the facility being in THAT area
  • Investment attracted by both the Art elite (the patrons of Te Papa Manukau) and by others either in support of the facility or through other investments like urban renewal

The Social Benefits

  • Education/Research; conducting and equipping those with knowledge advances society and reduces inequality amongst the population. Think of the knowledge this facility could part on to our population here in the South which (and I pull no punches here) is socially deprived compared to the Isthmus. Te Papa Manukau will also complement the MIT and AUT campus sites both in Manukau too
  • Morale: Jobs and education mean less inequality which means a better functioning society through higher morale. A population that has a higher morale is a population less likely to feel the ill-effects of deprivation and everything that goes with it (crime, disease, health, low life expectancy). While Te Papa Manukau is not the silver bullet to our ills, I am pointing out a cog that will have more benefits in lifting South Auckland up

Of course those benefits do trickle across the wider city as well.

 

As for Te Papa North being inaccessible in Manukau rather than Wynyard Quarter, that is a load of rubbish. By 2018/9 when the Museum would be due to open you would have the following options:

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

With the City Rail Link near completion (by the time Te Papa North opens), the new EMU trains moving at usually 10 minute frequencies, and with some luck the Congestion Free Network under construction it would take you approximately:

  • 25-30mins from Britomart to Manukau by train
  • 1 hour (should be reduced when the City Rail Link opens) from Henderson to Manukau by train
  • 20-30mins by bus from the airport
  • 13 minutes from Papakura to Manukau by train once the Manukau Rail South Link is open (this would operate under 20 minute frequencies for the direct services)
  • 30-35mins from Botany to Manukau by bus
  • 75mins from the North Shore to Manukau (needing a mix of train, bus and/or ferry there until the North Shore Line is open (should allow the journey to be cut down to 45mins by then))

PRIVATE TRANSPORT

For those inclined to take the car Te Papa Manukau is very easily accessible by both State Highways One and Twenty (including using the Western Ring Route). Travel Times are approximate owing to differing levels of congestion – but apart from Papakura to Manukau, just use the public transport times and minus it by a third if going by car.

Thus accessibility is not a problem except for maybe those who live on the North Shore (who are relatively disconnected to the bulk of Auckland anyhow). So the transport card won’t fly with me.

The Proposed Te Papa Site in Manukau

Te Papa outpost site
Te Papa outpost site

As for Wynyard Quarter being close to such places as “Shops and eateries, farmers’ markets and recreation such as cycling and skating naturally flourish, that has already occurred in Auckland’s once-controversial Viaduct Basin.”

Well Manukau has shops (the mall you can’t usually find a park in the weekend), the Otara Market on  Saturdays (the biggest in Auckland if not New Zealand), places to cycle and participate in recreational activities, Rainbows End, even the Botanical Gardens where you can enjoy long walks and a bite to eat at the cafe . Manukau might not be the Ritz here but it is still enjoyable

With urban renewal also coming to the Manukau (Super) Metropolitan Centre the place is only get better.

 

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The Geography of Tourism – Free Independent Travellers – Coming Up

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Coming Up on Talking Auckland

 

It has been three years since I left and graduated from the University of Auckland as a Geography and Political Studies graduate. Who knew three years later I would be going through the Uni library database again to find academic material.

Well trawling through the database gathering materials on The Geography of Tourism is what I have been doing.

Coming up on Talking Auckland: ‘The Geography of Tourism – Free Independent Travellers‘

Why (using academic research) Te Papa North in Manukau WILL work compared to placing it in Wynyard Quarter. How do Free Independent Travellers “work” when visiting a foreign city. And how the joint initiative between; Te Papa, Auckland Museum and the Art Gallery not only benefits Southern Auckland but wider Auckland and the northern Waikato.

 

This will take about two weeks to write up as I will be writing it pretty close to academic level – something I have not done in while. However, I will keep you posted of findings and progress as it happens.

 

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Let’s Try This with Manukau

· 4 Comments ·

Start Small – Then Work to Large

 

As we know, Manukau is in the pipeline for receiving Te Papa’s Auckland facility after a joint announcement by the Minister of Arts and the Mayor of Auckland. Interestingly enough the harshest of critics towards the facility in Manukau would be the ones who would naturally support – although apparently they prefer Wynyard Quarter.

However, their claims can be easily refuted by either (or all of) one of three counter-claims:

  1. Perceived inaccessibility at Manukau compared to Wynyard Quarter– when they have no qualms in travelling to malls and beaches from far-flung places in the sprawling city. And travelling cross city should be efficient and seamless once the Congestion Free Network is up and running (also see Point Three in regards to independent tourists who love to explore entire cities – not just the CBD Tourist Trap)
  2. People seeing South Auckland in a negative light – e.g Auckland’s poor “ghetto.” Umm no. South Auckland is a culturally rich and diverse place with great people. Yes some are less well off than others monetary wise but the South as noted is one cultural melting pot. I also live in South Auckland and have no qualms being here.
  3. Concentrate everything in the CBD at the detriment of the suburbs. For heavens sake there is more to Auckland that the CBD and as both experience and Geography have taught me, Free Independent Travellers (locals and tourists) travel. So when they travel – they will naturally trundle down to Manukau to explore because that is what FIT’s do – EXPLORE! 

I have further commentaries on the positives of Te Papa coming to Manukau in my respective three posts:

  1. Te Papa Coming to Manukau – Auckland

  2. Te Papa in Manukau

  3. Why Te Papa North Should be In Manukau – NOT Wynyard Quarter

     

Just a reminder to readers that the Te Papa North Facility is not just housing Te Papa. It is in fact a joint facility with: Te Papa, Auckland War Memorial Museum, and The Auckland Art Gallery all operating out of the Manukau facility. I also believe there will be storage and research operations carried out at the facility as well.

So with Te Papa North on the way to Manukau this might be a good time to really start looking at restoring the love to the Manukau City Centre area.

 

Urban Renewal in the Manukau (Super) Metropolitan Centre – One Step at a Time

Those following the Manukau Super Metropolitan Centre concept commentary know that there are active efforts (from my end at least) to bring the Manukau City Centre out from its 1960’s auto-centric past, into a 21st Century people-centric city.

Te Papa North is another cog in the great machine to “restoring the love” (as Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse said) to the heart of Southern Auckland and my home (probably why some of the more astute readers can see an emotional attachment from me here).

But no amount of urban renewal in Manukau will work until we get the place flipped over from ‘Car-First’ to ‘People-First.’ By that I mean making the streets people (and cyclist) friendly.

To flip streets over into people friendly shared spaces can be done in small steps on bit at a time. Auckland Transport are already starting with Davis Avenue in making that pro-people (rather than pro-car).

 

The Auckland Transport Davis Avenue Project

Once Davis Avenue is done my next recommendation would be Ronwood Avenue that runs east-west through the heart of the Manukau City Centre Area.

This gallery shows what I am referring to:

You can see narrow lanes going each way with on-street parking and very wide grass centre medians on Ronwood Avenue. Traffic volumes vary depending what is going on at the two roundabouts at the west end and in the centre of Ronwood Avenue.

Basically what you do is transplant what Auckland Transport has done to Davis Avenue over to the entire length (except for the small piece at the Great South Road end which can stay as is) and drop the speed limit to 30km/h. If you go one step further you could turn the pieces of this upgraded Ronwood Avenue in to Shared Zones like Fort Street in the CBD. One thing though is that depending on the new bus routings from Auckland Transport, Ronwood Avenue might need one or two bus stops to allow buses to exchanges passengers who might not want to go to the upcoming Manukau interchange.

Once Ronwood Avenue is complete with its upgrade my next choice would be Sharkey Street that connects to Ronwood Avenue (and Cavendish Drive). After that then we can look at some of the rat-runner roads like Cavendish Drive and Lambie Drive and get them more transit and people friendly then they are now. After that I think we start hitting some of the existing building sites in the Manukau City Centre area and bring those sites into the 21st Century as pro people not pro car sites.

 

One small step at a time. While others might have abandoned Manukau for flights of (elitist) fancy such as Wynyard Quarter and dumping literally everything of worth and value in the CBD, small steps are being taken in restoring the jewel in the crown of Southern Auckland – the place its people call “home.”

Click for full resolution
Click for full resolution

Courage to Ask for Help – Things I look for in a leader

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Would you like me to help?

Or

Would you like to have a sook to the media (well try)?

 

I was going through the Auckland Council Shape Auckland website (that holds the Unitary Plan and e-maps) to get to the e-maps for another post when I saw these two tweets:

Bob Dey’s commentary at his own blog hits the nail on the head in regard to Palino crying foul over the Unitary Plan. You can see Bob’s commentary here. 

As for the Parking/Sleeping Tweet if I was to have a guess looking at it, it seem that particular person is either a Palino Sympathiser or an Anti Unitary Plan  person (usually a NIMBY). So best ignore whoever that person is.

As for Palino going: “When can I see the Unitary Plan?” this is where the difference between asking for help or having a sook to the media applies.

You see I was always taught “there is no such thing as a dumb question – as your dumb question is usually the same one everyone else is thinking but to chicken to ask.” And in life (and still do) I have asked some dumb questions. The thing is though is someone is lost I will always be compassionate and lend assistance (if they choose to accept it).

Even leaders like Mayors will ask the odd dumb question from time to time. And to that I am willing to lend assistance if they accept it. We are all equal in this and it shows me to that the leader actually has humility in them. Because and I also admit it does take a bit of squashing the pride down and plucking up the courage to ask that dumb question – at the risk of humiliating yourself in front of your peers (who should be themselves ashamed for not having the courage to ask in the first place too).

 

So humility is what I look for in leaders (civic, political, sports, business and military). Having a sook in the media over that “dumb” question will put me off you straight away. And Palino (although already having done so earlier in the piece) has put me (even further) off him with that article (sook).

Look if Palino had asked me nicely I would have done one of the following options (and I’ll also do so in reasonable request to others as I have done already):
1) Emailed a copy of the Unitary Plan Amended Clean Version
2) Linked to my blog site of the voting records on changes to two of the most pressing issues of the Unitary Plan – Density and the Rural Urban Boundary
3) Linked or asked Auckland Council nicely to the rest of the voting records with the changes – Auckland Plan Committee Agendas and Minutes (thanks to Auckland Transport Blog for reminding me there on that one)
4) Given him my Twitter handle where I have around 450 Tweets of “live” Unitary Plan happenings from the 5 days of APC proceedings

 

If I had the time available I could have even gone through the current version of the Unitary Plan with you. And I bet there will be something in there that will get me stumped resulting in me asking the planners what it means. Simple stuff folks.

I don’t want to delve into Palino’s sook too much more but Bob Dey did say this in his blog piece which is 110% correct:

The alternative to notifying the draft now for public submissions would have been to send it to a review by the second-term council, possibly resulting in different recommendations. Whatever the recommendations, post-notification the public has the formal opportunity to review the contents, and there will be many people, especially those with vested interests, who will do just that.

Meaning whatever new changes a new Council might throw in there might get equally rejected thus not show up in the operative Unitary Plan any how. Thus a waste of time and ratepayers money if Council tried to pull that (review) option. Oh and also the screaming hypocrisy to boot against the Conservatives who would try that stunt – after harping on about being financially prudent…

Formal submission time is YOUR time to submit YOUR requests on changes to the Unitary Plan. Not a second term Council going willy nilly on the false premise of a review – or Cup of Tea as Councillor Brewer said.

Oh and one other thing that I have to keep reminding people of and so put in this Tweet:

J. P. L. @yakmoose about 4 hours ago: next time you see a council candidate going on about the rushed unitary plan. remember, if they don’t get it through, government will decide

If that were to happen – pretty much all is lost for Auckland.

 

All in all though no one has been denied to the Unitary Plan. The version that will be used in the formal notification stage is still being compiled and assembled. It will be available (all going good) on September 30 for our consumption and reference point for our formal submissions. Those more keen on a bit of mouse clicking can read amendments that either did or did not go through here.

While the clean amended version before the amendments can be found here (warning there are adverts): http://www.filefactory.com/f/c610f210fe21fea0

 

So no one is being or should be denied access to the Unitary Plan. It is all there and the notified version will be with us at the end of the month. And no those trying to pull back the Unitary Plan for a “Cup of tea” are wasting effort and our money as we can put our changes through regardless in the notification stage. 

Noticed and Not Really Surprised

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Why-o-Why?

 

I have been watching the developments of this since it broke into the Main Stream Media recently. This being the Serious Fraud Office poised to investigate Auckland Transport after irregularities its consequences spill from AT to now the main Council.

The most recent piece from the NZ Herald:

Senior council workers in probe

By Bevan Hurley

A corruption inquiry at Auckland Transport has widened as a manager under suspicion has gone on sick leave.

The senior staff member is one of at least three Auckland Transport employees to have their computers seized as part of an internal inquiry into roading contracts.

The Serious Fraud Office is poised to step in. The usual $2-million threshold for an SFO inquiry would not be required due to the high public interest, a spokeswoman said.

 

Auckland Transport manager Murray Noone was fired last week after an internal investigation found “serious conflict-of-interest and performance issues”.

Noone was running a private consultancy business, Preside Consulting, while working for Auckland Transport.

 

Auckland Council member Wayne Walker said serious questions around contracts to large contractors had been raised. “The tendering process is increasingly shutting out the small and medium-size players,” he said.

…

 

You can read the rest over at the Herald site.

 

My only comment to this mess over at Auckland Transport is this: “Why-o-why?” It does not make life easy for the small or medium fellows that is for sure. And the saying goes: Bigger is not always better.

 

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First New EMU Unveiled

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Our First Electric Train Unveiled

 

Yesterday Mayor Len Brown and Auckland Transport head Dr Lester Levy unveiled our brand new first Electric train at the new Wiri Depot.

I will let Matt from Auckland Transport Blog do all the “speaking” from his experience yesterday at the event: Our First Electric Train.

 

What I will make mention of is the planned roll out of the new EMU’s across the Auckland network over the next two-year period. From ATB who got it from Auckland Transport:

Essentially from what I have learnt (and this can change so Auckland Transport if I do have this next bit wrong can you let me know and I shall correct it ASAP) this will be the roll out plan Line by Line:

The roll out of the EMU’s is the following:
1) Onehunga Line 
2) Manukau Line 
3) Southern Line and Eastern Line 
4) Western Line 
5) Pukekohe (this is dependent on when Pukekohe gets electrified (if it is done by the end of next year then Pukekohe will join the Southern and Eastern Lines at number 3)

The Onehunga Line was chosen first as it is the shortest line to test the new EMUs on. Then the Manukau Line is next soon after that.

The reason those two lines were chosen first was two-fold:
1) Retire the ADK class DMUs from the fleet first up
2) Free up the ADL DMU’s for Pukekohe runs and extra Southern Line runs

The West is last as they have the DFT 6-car sets which hold the most passengers in the diesel fleet. As more EMU’s come on stream the DC-4 (and 5) car sets will be sent west to add more frequency until all the EMU’s are here to replace them.

——-

 

Of course with Pukekohe due to be electrified (and two new stations added in that area (Drury and Paerata), the City Rail Link on its way, the Mt Roskill Spur Line under active consideration, and the Manukau Rail South Link due to be reported on in November I think Auckland might want to be taking another option of 15 more EMU’s to give some residual capacity (especially if we start top-and-tailing the consists to get EMU-6 car sets). But I suppose we will have to wait and see what “options” Auckland Transport take on more EMU’s.

 

In any case, can not wait to ride on these new machines once they are in operation from Papakura.

 

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