85th equal out of 275 New Zealand blogs (that have publicly available site-meters as BR:AKL does)
That kicks BR:AKL into the top 30% – a nice small quiet achievement that brought a 🙂 to my face this afternoon.
You can see the rankings at “Open Parachute’s January ’13 – NZ blogs sitemeter ranking”
| Visit Rank | Blog | Visits/month | Page Views/month |
|---|
| 85b | Ben Ross: Auckland | 1585 | 2432 |
I think it might be time for a quiet beer and reflection as I continue to take BR:AKL forward 😀
Last December I had filed a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request into the business case study of the now Auckland Transport Ronwood Avenue Parking Building: LGOIMA REQUEST OUT – MANUKAU CAR PARK
Well today I joined up with Councillors George Wood, Sharon Stewart and Dick Quax for lunch and a quick look at the Manukau Rail Station as well as the Ronwood Avenue Parking Building. These are the photos I took:
The Manukau station is still as dead as a Do-Do and I am hearing reports that the MIT Building and/or ticket office on-top of the Manukau Station could open up to three months late as of current (So instead March we are looking at June at the earliest)
As for the AT Parking Building, oh boy not good. 456/671 spaces available (32% full) and the on-street parking which has cheaper Park and Display All-Day parking was only 67% full. To make things more interesting the signs at the entrance of the building gave an incorrect count. The entrance displayed 35 spaces available while the counter on Deck Two displayed 456 spaces available – so it is a case of which one is it. The fire exit door on Deck I think Six was locked so you could not go in out of it from that level while the entire Ground Level set aside for long-term lease holders was empty. And for the real head turner – AT dropped the ALL-DAY charge in the parking building from $19/day to $6/day, with the on-street parking still at I believe $4.50/day…
Heck I hope for revenue sake that the MIT opening and operation will fill up the car parking building other wise it is a truly dead duck. However we are also trying to encourage the students and staff to use public transport (hence MIT being right on top of the Manukau Station) so a conflicting situation here folks. Does AT encourage public transport to a dead station or private transport to a dead parking building?
A real head scratcher there folks…
Stupidity Always Wins A pet peeve of mine is how useless our road engineers are in Auckland. Why? Because for the life of them they can not get … Continue reading Pedestrian Vs Car
No I am not kidding – the mayor Len Brown DID get left behind forcing the ferry to turn around to come and get him after he was caught gas bagging and forgot to catch the service.
From TVNZ
New Hobsonville Pt ferry service launched
For the first time in 50 years Auckland City has funded new ferry terminals in a bid to get commuters off the roads and onto the water.
A new ferry service was launched today and will connect the suburbs of Hobsonville and Beach Haven with downtown Auckland. Two morning and three afternoon services will run on weekdays.
The trips will take 30 minutes and cost $12 a ride for those paying cash, and less for those with an Auckland Transport Hop card.
Hundreds of people gathered to see the launch. The first passengers were Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Prime Minister John Key.
From downtown Auckland the ferry travels west on a scenic journey across the Waitemata Harbour.
“It’s gorgeous,” said Key.
“What you take for granted when you live in Auckland is just how beautiful the surroundings are, and you get a completely different perspective from the water. Can’t think of a nicer way to start the day,” the Helensville MP said.
The boat stops at the North Shore suburb of Beach Haven and then it’s just 400 metres across the water to Hobsonville, a trip the mayor nearly missed out on when the boat left without him
…
DOH!
A Radio NZ piece has also come up on the new ferry service this morning that is worth a listen. You can listen by click the link HERE.
Two things that did catch my attention were the following:
While I have confidence these ferry services will take off and be a success (got to get more sailings in) the concerns noted above won’t help gaining full confidence when there is so much work to get through in getting this right.
A good and basic system has started with this new ferry service, but the inner mechanics in AT when it comes to things like subsidies, competition and lack of facilities on existing services need to be ironed out before things can advance to a first class system.
I (well someone will) keep an eye on this and see where things ends up 12 months from now…
Thursday 7th February at 1400 hours – Manukau Civic Centre I give my presentation to the Regional Public Transport Plan submission I wrote last year. I have finally completed the presentation for the four panel members which includes Councillor Mike Lee and AT’s Head of Public Transport Operations – Mark Lambert, with the main focus being local. That is the focus is close to home and covers the Manurewa, Takanini, Manukau and Papakura areas (I live in Papakura).
The presentation in PDF format is embedded below:
The speaking slot is only 10 minutes however if the panel members have read my written submission already AND paid some attention to the blog where most of the presentation material has come from, then the bulk of the speaking session should be a dialogue between myself and the panel members as they flesh out the points I have made. Not spending time going over the entire submission as our AT panel members should have already read it (the presentation basically is a refresher with some graphics thrown in to illustrate points).
Now being the Social Liberal that I am and having declared earlier that I am sensitive to price and time consideration when choosing a mode of transit, we shall take a look at the options I have to get me from Papakura to Manukau.
To go by car to Manukau
Using the motorways it would take 15 minutes to travel the 11.1km trip – this is one way. As parking is free the main cost is petrol so I would say $3 for the return trip
According to the AT Journey Planner
Not even an option as the train into Manukau Station either at 1:04pm or 2:05 pm – so missing the market entirely as I would need to catch the 12:40pm service from Papakura and relay with the Britomart – Manukau train service at Puhinui at 12:56pm. Cost if I did decide to do this is $1 to the Park and Ride at Papakura and a $3 – 2-stage fare using my AT-HOP card (approx).
For the trip home providing I was not held up I would catch the 14:31 service from Manukau to Puhinui and relay with the 14:46 Eastern Line train heading to Papakura which gets in at Papakura at 15:03pm. Again cost is the same as the trip into Manukau
Not my first choice however I do have the following: Route 472 (so a Great South Road trundler) departing at 12:50pm and getting me to Manukau Mall at 13:15pm. Cost is $3.40 – two stage. Now the actual time consumer is the walk from the Manukau bus stop to the Civic Centre which takes another 10 minutes. So providing the bus was not late I would arrive at the Civic centre at 13:30 give or take.
Trip home would entail the following: Bus leaving (again the 472) 14:45 and getting to Papakura at 15:15 with the fare being $3.40.
So $3 and 25 minutes by car for the return trip, or over an hour and costing $8 approx for using a bus (trains do not even get a mention as the time is just too excessive to consider unless I really want to time waste).
I think CAR is the preferred choice for my trip to and from Manukau on Thursday; based on cost, efficiency and time. It shouldn’t be the case but it is – and now you can see why I am submitting to the RPTP so this situation should not happen!
Rather ironic isn’t it?
A good start and with full potential to become something great. As Louis said need to work on Zonal and Cheaper Fares to get this work better
(as of off peak – one step at a time)
Central Government last year passed the Sale and Supply Alcohol Act which gives Council and Local Board increased authority and delegation on how alcohol (a demerit good) is sold and supplied in local communities.
Councillor George Wood has been made chairman of a working party (as noted in his Facebook status below) of members Auckland Council and Local Board to begin the slow and long process in getting ready to set up a Local Alcohol Policy or LAP:
George Wood shared a link.
Auckland Council starts long process to prepare local alcohol policy. I’m chairman of the working party along w/ 7 Crs and 7 LB members.
George also Scribd‘ed a fact sheet on Part One in developing such a LAP:
So as alluded to Part One is developing a Draft Local Alcohol Policy before step two kicks off which is: consultation
BR:AKL will keep an eye on Councillor Wood’s working party as it begins drawing up a Draft LAP and see where this new direction in alcohol policy goes for Auckland and its Local Boards
Some feedback from a reader (who has asked to remain anonymous which BR:AKL will do as requested) on their experience with our rail system down at Britomart over the recent Auckland Anniversary Weekend:
Made a big mistake yesterday. I showed some international investors around the waterfront yesterday knowing it would be vibrant with Anniversary day regatta on. All was well until they wanted to go see our train station (which was Britomart). What a “disaster” that turned out to be.
They stood there for about 5-10min taking it all in, watching as the same people were at the ticket box with one person working (at that particular ticket box (The station platform level one on the other side of the gates where the “Onboard Fare is usually paid)) trying to sort something out for five minutes. As a result people were coming and going from the waiting queue annoyed.
The investors were not impressed at all and said that what they seen of Auckland doesn’t impress them as a viable city to invest in. They said love the wide open spaces, weather etc. but just doesn’t stack up as commercially viable.
While I am here: Every time I go into Station Square in Newmarket to show potential investors/tenants the vacant shops I pray there are humans (besides the unemployed and school kids hanging around during school hours I might pray but the poor tenants are mental wrecks waiting for the last four years for the trains to arrive every thee minutes and what was it like 17,000 people using that station.
Well after another anonymous reader fed to the blog some statistics from the Anniversary Weekend I am not surprised that our friend above was rather disheartened and the investors spooked off.
The statistics I am referring to is how many Rail Ticket Machines had some kind of fault in them. 37 faults on 31 machines out of an approximate total of 57 rail ticket machines across the Auckland rail network over the long weekend. The faults can range from:
So 31 out of 57 machines had either one or more of the above listed faults in the weekend. To make it worse, if you call it in to the AT-HOP help desk the technician won’t come until Tuesday to “fix” the issue (I kid you not).
Now to make life harder, those with AT-HOP cards who would tag on and off like I do when travelling by train would have faced numerous tagging posts “offline” meaning you need to go find another tag post. I knew of a couple of stations (I went travelling on the train in the weekend “exploring”) that had two out of three of their tag posts offline. Again call it into AT-HOP help desk and the technician comes out Tuesday.
What on earth happened over the Anniversary weekend when Auckland had all the tourists in. I thought we were meant to make our good train system that – good; not bloody difficult and spooking off people.
Groan – the amount of work to advance the good system into an Advanced First-Class system just keeps piling up and up and up with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Come on guys – I know you can do better 😦
And I bet we are all sick of the Housing Affordability Debate swinging from one extreme to the other and back again; both at central and local government levels, both by the centre-left (social authoritarian section) and centre-right (neo-conservatism). The conservatives from both sides of the political spectrum are basically bashing each over the heads trying to score “up-man” points on one another with housing, yet really don’t offer what WE really want in housing (it is what THEY want in housing and telling US how and where to live). Interestingly Social Liberals (from the left), Neo Liberals (centre right) and even the libertarians (down the bottom of the political compass) have gone extremely quiet on housing and urban land use policy.
This is rather a shame as the liberals could very well offer some viable alternatives that we (the residents and businesses) could be very well-looking for. You know “US” making our own choices and working in a collaborative manner and shape OUR CITY, OUR WAY (not the Government (Local and Central’s) way). Now before I post the “redux” on a social liberal‘s view for “housing” just a quick differentiation between how a social liberal and neo liberal would achieve similar goals.
What Social and Neo Libs share the same in housing:
What Social and Neo Libs do not share the same in housing:
As for the “Redux” here it is; my social liberal (and well read) Submission to the (then) Draft Auckland Plan where extensive mention of land use was made out:
Unfortunately though despite the hearings and constant lobbying, this extensive submission gathers (digital and actual) dust sitting in the draw. So while the conservatives bludgeon each other and boring us with no actual solutions, this liberal document waits for some brave political soul to bring it into the light and see it through in execution.
Over the last year advancements have been made on Auckland‘s heavy rail system (for both passengers and freight). BR:AKL has been following developments as Auckland’s rail continue to grow and evolve through the 21st Century. With the next step of the City Rail Link under way – that is the Notice of Requirements (protecting the land route for the CRL); BR:AKL takes a quick look back at some rail posts, in particular the operational model post CRL but pre North Shore Line, and The North Shore Line herself.
Operational Models – An Alternative Proposal Post CRL, but pre North Shore Line (thus far)
THE PROPOSAL After seeing one or two particular proposals for CRL Timetable and/or Operations (that is how passenger trains would run along the Auckland Rail Metro Network) I thought to myself if I could come up with my own proposal.
THE CRL TIMETABLE/OPERATION FREQUENCY PLAN
With the baseline operation plan laid out (so basically one train an hour on each of the three lines in each direction) it was time to ramp the frequencies up to acceptable standards
POTENTIAL PASSENGER CAPACITY ON POST CRL RAIL NETWORK So far in my City Rail Link Timetable and Operation Plan Proposal I have covered the foundation of my proposal on passenger train operations and frequencies once the $3.6b (Rail Fallacy applying of course) CRL was opened and under way. You can get a full recap at my CRL TIMETABLE AND OPERATION PLAN – PART TWO post. In this post I build upon the proposed frequencies from Part Two and apply what potential capacity the Auckland Passenger Rail network could have post CRL. Now remember as of current in my proposals I have three lines of operation – they are: …
Parts Four and Five have been in the pipeline since Part Three and should be up for “publishing” sometime in February (Part Five as soon as the RPTP is finalised). Part Four would look at a Manukau to New Lynn “shuttle” via Glen Innes and Britomart as well as preparing for the Manukau (Rail) South Link) with Part Five looking at a dummy timetable post CRL but factoring in any changes with the Regional Public Transport Plan. The CRL Timetable and Operational Plan series will be used in lobbying and advocacy once Auckland Transport starts drawing up proposed operation plans for the trains once the CRL is operational.
As for the North Shore Line two posts were dedicated to this crucial project as well as mentions in submissions to The Auckland Plan:
Could We See Rail on The North Shore?
…one thing has struck me – well two actually:
- No mention of The North Shore Line (which crosses the City Rail Link at Aotea Station)
- No apparent future proofing of Aotea Station for The North Shore Line when it gets built (that is when not if folks)
…
Including aspects of The North Shore Line are crucial as part of connecting “all” of (metro) Auckland to the rail system. Both North Shore Line posts spell out the importance of the CRL as well as The North Shore Line. As time goes on I will write-up a Timetable and Operation Plan – Post North Shore Line with all the lines built and what such a timetable could look like for Auckland.
So interesting and exciting times ahead as advancements in one aspect of Auckland’s Fully Integrated Transport System (or Suite) continue slowly but surely.
[All City Rail Link posts can be found by typing “City Rail Link Debate” into blog search box]
