Comments for Auckland Transport Blog

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by Stu Donovan

Stu Donovan — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:47:00 +0000

Yes, although when you’re replacing all the routes you may as well just start again. Or use the RTI information to calculate speeds by segment (rather than route) and piece together travel-times for the new routes.

Now there’s an idea …

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by Steve N

Steve N — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:46:58 +0000

The Puketapapa Local Board has organised a meeting discussing transport this Friday – so presumably other local boards are running similar events.

https://www.facebook.com/events/185086714980378/

Unfortunately – and perhaps ironically – the meeting runs from 1600-1800, so CBD commuters are unlikely to be able to attend.

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by dpalenski

dpalenski — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:45:23 +0000

I’m pretty sure AT and the bus operators are in the process of doing this (aligning timetables with the actual travel time) don’t know how long it will take for it be finished, but it’s happening kind like what the Dr Levy was hinting at there not accepting this bad state of affairs and try to make things better. The thing is there is a lot of bad things to fix but yeah let’s fix it just might be a while before the wider public notices or sees it. From where I’m standing things have improved a fair bit, I can happy eat my words about Dr Levy I think he will deliver the goods.

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by Matthew Flower

Matthew Flower — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:59:20 +0000

Buses need to turn up on time, period. In Wellington, the new timetables and routes are heavily based on RTI trip time data. Auckland really needs to get reliable RTI and do regular timetable reviews based on that data, instead of “making them up”. A lot of the time, they’re quite arbitrary – if a bus is always late, change the timetable and give the bus more time!

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by Stu Donovan

Stu Donovan — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:58:39 +0000

cue robotic voice: THE NEW SYSTEM KNOWS EVERYTHING.

Serious answer: No, the “New Networl” (as discussed in the video) is concerned with improving the structure of the network – not the RTI system. But from reading AT’s monthly board reports it would seem that they are considering upgrades to the RTI, but that’s independent from the New Network.

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by Ed Linklater (@iRogue)

Ed Linklater (@iRogue) — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:58:36 +0000

I seem to remember seeing an article somewhere (possibly here) that AT were ditching the existing “Real Time” system completely rather than trying to fix it any further. Hopefully that happens.

Comment on AT Launches the new PT Network by dpalenski

dpalenski — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:38:35 +0000

Or a very good double ganger. Used to be a time when they made (properly still do) AT staffers star in those videos the next step up I guess :p

Comment on Undervaluing the cost of parking and transport by MFD

MFD — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:37:32 +0000

No, not a dental surgeon at all; just yanking your chain to illustrate that work takes many forms and some of it requires a connection to the physical world.

I am a self-confessed rail enthusiast. I have worked on trains; I have discussed designs with architect clients in the observation car of a train on the Gotthard route in Switzerland, I have worked with colleagues in the cafe car of the Capitol limited between Chicago and DC and on ICE trains in Germany. I have even performed my “duties” in the sleeping car compartment of the “Lunatic Express” between Mombassa and Nairobi while on honeymoon (!) BUT not one of those trips was a commute and work was never done in the confines of a standard seat with a communal or fold-down table. I have attempted to work on a Chiltern Lines DMU to Marylebone but there was scarcely enough room for my knees, let alone opening the laptop.

Commuting typically takes place before normal working hours start and after normal working hour finish so calling clients is not realistic and, from my observations, pisses other passengers off. I typically require a laptop workstation which is big and heavy (by laptop standards) and my desk is typically several square metres to accomodate various reference drawings etc (plus two monitors) ….but the real clincher is I can’t invoice for time spent with this low-productivity work and if I can’t invoice for it I don’t get paid for it. For the majority of wage and salary earners I am confident in stating that their income remains the same whether they work on a train or not. On that basis, what is the value of this work?

In my experience, sleeping is about the best use of commuting time. As I stated earlier, your mileage may vary; literally. In the meantime I will stick to my personal guide of the less commuting the better.

Comment on AT Chair Lester Levy on fixing PT in Auckland by Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:22:28 +0000

As part of the new system, are we going to get displays that tell us when the bus is going to the there, as opposed to a system that tells you when the bus was meant to arrive, and then tells you that it’s due, and then disappears off the display and the bus doesn’t turn up?

For example, last Friday at 5:40 I arrived at stop 1067 (near the Caltex on Fanshawe St) to catch the city link into the city. The display told me the bus would be arriving at 5:45. I waited for 10 minutes and the bus never turned up, so I walked. If the bus was going to take a long time to arrive, just tell me, don’t tell me the scheduled time, it doesn’t help me.

Comment on What if we don’t intensify? by SF Lauren

SF Lauren — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:16:49 +0000

Steve, for the 3rd time, people don’t give a rat’s behind what the technical zone is of a lot. It’s the character of devdevelopment and how it’s fits in the context of the area. All but on of my examples were flanked by houses on 3 of their 4 sides being part of a residential area. Just looking at a map shows you that these are small business clusters surrounded by houses.

Looking at the older parts of Auckland you get small business clusters like thisa iveover the city and these are the obvious target for developers.

Regarding the comment about the dairy I find it far from stupid. The height of the building is a technicality besides the point and in many locations more than 3 stories is perfectly acceptable. Based on the plan a ber if lots near me can go up to 6 levels.

Anyway, my whole point was to highlight the fact that intensification adds a rather large burden onto the existing system which can be heavily mitigated on green fields developments.

The specifics of what good samaritan developer could do in a perfect world is not really the primary point.