NZ | Public Transport Projects + Development

[otumoetaiNZ]

Really big change isnt it?

[NZ1]

Originally Posted by Richard7666

That's quite an increase. Any idea of causes?

The long circuitous routes have all be split up, and the frequency increased. We've also seen increasing congestion through the Eastern city which helped push people onto public transport also.

That's a really great result by any measure, especially considering it came on the back of a 30% increase in the cost of fares!

New buses are currently being prepped (first time since 1987!) and some additional routes/frequencies will also be implemented.

[Richard7666]

See, that's the opposite of what Invercargill is planning. We intend to take our 10 suburban routes and make them into 25min long 'circuit' routes.

Clearly the New Plymouth system/current Invers system is better.

[NZ1]

Originally Posted by Richard7666

See, that's the opposite of what Invercargill is planning. We intend to take our 10 suburban routes and make them into 25min long 'circuit' routes.

I had a really quick look into this over the weekend, and can see that Invercargill had a peak of around 510,000 passengers per annum in 2005, which then trailed off to 370,000 passengers for the 2010/2011 year.

The reason for the passenger increase appears to be related to the free off-peak services introduced earlier, with the decrease related to the subsequent overall reduction of services.

Originally Posted by Richard7666

Clearly the New Plymouth system/current Invers system is better

The system proposed for Invercargill is similar to what has been implemented in Palmerston North, with their "looped" route system that sees buses traveling in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions around the loops, giving passengers a reasonably short trip (although admittedly not always as quick as a direct route) into the central terminus.

This has proved relatively successful for Palmerston North with patronage currently at around 550,000 PA on the urban services (note this does not include the 'free' MUUA services), and continues to grow at a rate of around 8% PA.

New Plymouth previously had a looped service, but buses travelled only in one direction, not both. A direct system was chosen to replace this system because of the cost of adding additional bus shelters, the amount of changes to parking, and the ability to provide quicker services for off-peak travel so that two routes could be serviced by one bus.

So this could work for Invercargill, but it might not suit the travel patterns of potential customers, and the introduction of $1 off-peak fares (previously free) will no doubt frighten a few people off to start with, even though that is a very low fare.

[deepred]

Maybe we're not as stodgy and boring as we think we are... And still on transport issues, I've just been blogging about it.

Underwear protest on Wellington trains



There were more than a few raised eyebrows on the train from Ngauranga to Wellington today as 40 young people did the morning commute in their underwear.

They were part of a youth environmental group called Generation Zero, which fights for climate change action and intergenerational justice.

Group organiser James Young-Drew, 22, said the stunt was designed to launch their 50:50 campaign, which is protesting the government's plans to spend $14 billion on highway projects over next decade but not nearly as much on ''smart transport options'' such as light rail, buses and cycleways.

[DML2]

LOL the face of the guy(?) on the left

[Dazzle]

More likely a woman...and she is scandalized??!!

[deepred]

Originally Posted by Dazzle

More likely a woman...and she is scandalized??!!

Scnadalised, indeed...

Originally Posted by DomPost

Road emperors have no clothes

When you're standing in your underwear in public, it's nice to have some good support.

That's why we were pleased to be endorsed by Auckland Council's transport committee chairman Mike Lee for our actions last week, when 40 of us stripped off on a Wellington train to "expose" the Government's unbalanced transport budget.

"Generation Zero may have stripped down to their undies but compared to Steven Joyce, Gerry Brownlee, Bill English and John Key they were overdressed," he said. "The National Party transport emperors have got no clothes at all."

Mr Lee's words will resonate with the many New Zealanders starkly concerned by the Government's plans to throw roughly $14 billion into building new highways during the coming decade, almost all on the so-called Roads of National Significance.

Significant these roads will indeed be, since their hefty cost is putting a squeeze on all other transport areas - even maintenance of local roads.

There's no shortage of reasons why people think this is a bad idea.

For us, the main one is that a highway building binge just doesn't make much sense at a time when we know we should be reducing carbon pollution, and organisations like the International Energy Agency are saying things like "we need to leave oil before oil leaves us".

It's a little-known fact that transport is New Zealand's largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for over 40 per cent.

It's also the main cause of our growth in emissions since 1990.

Something better known is that we spend a lot of money on imported oil: currently about $8b every year.

If oil prices double by 2020 - as projected in a recent International Monetary Fund briefing - our national oil bill will grow to be bigger than our current health budget.

In the face of these challenges, our Government's transport plans not only lack anything resembling a strategy; they seem to fail to even acknowledge that the problems exist.

This is where our transport minister would probably remind us that electric vehicles, biofuels and fuel efficiency will save the day. These will all be important parts of a long-term, low-carbon strategy, for sure - but it's unbelievably reckless to just assume that they will do it alone.

It's also worth mentioning that this Government scrapped fuel efficiency standards and is about to ditch the biofuels sales obligation too.

So how about we look to the many other countries - including Britain - whose transport systems today use half as much oil and release half as much CO2 per capita as ours does. What are they doing right?

Part of the answer lies in the smart integration of rail, buses and bikes, giving people real transport choice rather than keeping them slaves to their car. Kiwis understand this - in Wellington and in Auckland we've elected mayors who campaigned heavily on smart-transport visions.

This brings me to perhaps the worst aspect of the Roads of National Significance: the opportunity cost. With $14b for new highways, there's virtually nothing left to invest in these transport solutions. Altogether, there's a measly $500 million on the table for new infrastructure for public transport, cyclists and pedestrians this decade.

It's this chronic and unfair imbalance that we put our bodies on the line to expose.

We were hoping our little underwear gig would be a success, but I was shocked to open the Dominion Post on Saturday and find a story reporting a huge funding boost for public transport. Surely it wasn't that easy?

Sadly not. The story followed NZTA's announcement of $830m for public transport services (fare subsidies and operational expenses) through 2012 till 2015. It's true that this is an increase of 33 per cent from 2009 till 2012, but that isn't the full story.

The complete public transport budget includes not just services but infrastructure - things like new stations, priority bus lanes, and perhaps a light-rail system for Wellington. Though the Government has increased funding for services (needed to keep up with growing demand) it has slashed the infrastructure budget.

Total funding for public transport in the next three years will be roughly $950m - compared with $899m in the past three. Factoring in inflation, that's probably a slight decline in real terms. And taking account of a few more subtle factors, the picture gets even worse.

All up, it looks like public transport is actually getting a zero budget too. The only things getting a boost are the Government's pet highway projects.

The transport system we have today is a result of choices and investments made yesterday. We can't afford to keep making the same mistakes. Generation Zero believes with smart choices and balanced investment we can benefit our economy, improve our cities, free ourselves from oil, and reduce carbon emissions.

Paul Young is policy and solutions coordinator for Generation Zero. generationzero.org.nz/5050

[KiwiGuy]

Those greenies got their facts wrong. Agriculture counts for 48.2% of total GHG emissions in New Zealand whereas 43.2% is attributed to "energy" which includes transport. These are 2007 figures so they may be a little out of date.

Not that we don't need to rethink our transport policies but people really need to do some fact checking.

[KiwiGuy]

NBus Passenger Numbers Drop

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/n...cil-to-persist

Passenger numbers have dropped one month into the new NBus service, and supporting revenue from central city car parks is also down, but the Nelson City Council is urging people to give it a chance.

Mayor Aldo Miccio has also assured ratepayers it is unlikely they will be left to make up the funding shortfall, but the council will continue to review the bus service.

Another quarterly report will be presented in July.

A report to the council last week showed that from March 5 when the new Nelson to Richmond route was rolled out, 8759 passengers used the service via the Bishopdale route, and 11,288 used the Nelson-Richmond route via Tahunanui. In April, the figure dropped to 6876 and 9215 users respectively.

New local routes were added to the network in April, which saw 748 people use the Atawhai route, 181 the Brook, 723 the Victory/hospital route, 61 Washington Valley, and 643 the Late Late Bus.

A council report said the drop from March to April was due in part to the number of school children who initially caught the NBus services and who then reverted to school bus services. School holidays also contributed to the dip in patronage.

Councillor Ian Barker, who did not support the introduction of the new service, said that by his calculations there was an average of fewer than seven passengers a trip across the network.

The council has supported a public bus service for several years, but earlier this year it increased its input into public transport as a result of extensive research and consultation.

In 2008, most of those who forwarded views to Nelson's draft regional land-transport strategy said development of affordable public transport should be given priority in solving Nelson and Tasman's traffic challenges.

The revised strategy, which followed 2007 work on the North Nelson to Brightwater corridor study, emphasised the option of better public transport as opposed to new roads construction.

NBus services are funded by increased parking fees in central Nelson that were to provide an estimated $550,000 a year.

However, the council recently reported that parking revenue was down $319,000 despite the increase from 50 cents to $1 an hour in the city's parking squares and a three-hour time limit placed on Wakatu Square, which was previously all-day parking.

The council said in its draft Long Term Plan (LTP) document that the changes had not provided the necessary revenue to fund the upgraded service, and a rethink was now needed. The council is now proposing through the LTP to lift the three-hour time limit on parking in Wakatu Square.

Mr Barker said a shortfall in any situation, where there was only one source of funding, usually meant ratepayers had to make up the difference. In this case there was no chance the bus service would attract a Government subsidy.

"The NBus network is not sustainable, and it will have an effect on ratepayers if targets are not met.

"There's been a huge amount of money poured into public transport and cycleways, and it's disappointing to see it hasn't meant any fewer cars on the road," Mr Barker said.

Mr Miccio said patronage of the NBus had improved since the last figures were collated and it was important to give the service a chance. "We need to give it a go and see how it's working. We think it's going quite well."

Mr Miccio said the funding shortfall would have to come from somewhere, and that would be discussed through the LTP. It would not necessarily mean a rates increase. There was room to juggle expenditure in other areas.

[Richard7666]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-tim...d-buses-coming

Wi-fi, bike racks and onboard audio announcement systems will be some of the new features on the Invercargill urban bus service from December.

The service is destined for an upgrade as part of the new five-year contract awarded to current contractor Invercargill Passenger Transport (IPT).

Invercargill City Council senior traffic management officer Eddie Cook said the Otago-Southland company’s tender best met the needs of the council ahead of two national bus operators.

The new contract, which starts from December 3, would bring Invercargill’s bus service into line with other urban services in New Zealand, Mr Cook said.

New routes were not part of the tender but an increase in frequency of existing services would be part of the upgrade, Mr Cook said.

‘‘Buses would be running every 45 minutes when the new contract starts,’’ he said.

The council had demanded the upgrades to the urban service to improve customer satisfaction and increase the fair box revenue from the buses, he said.

‘‘If the quality of service is improved, we will hopefully have an increase in customer patronage,’’ Mr Cook said.

However, the free buses on Saturdays and from 9am-2.30pm on weekdays would be abolished and would now cost $1 for each journey, he said.

‘‘This would still mean Invercargill has the cheapest off-peak rate in New Zealand,’’ Mr Cook said.

Invercargill Passenger Transport managing director Tony Baas said the company was proud to continue servicing the needs of the city’s commuters.

IPT had been providing the bus service for Invercargill for the past two decades and we are happy to offer an efficient and modern product, he said.

IPT branch manager Daniel Hartigan said new buses would be transferred to Invercargill from Dunedin to modernise the fleet before the new contract started.

Most other cities already have wi-fi on buses? That's cool. Also I've always found it ironic how Invercargill Passenger Transport's (formerly the council's bus company) Dunedin fleet was more modern than it's Invercargill fleet.

[KiwiGuy]

I don't know if we have wi-fi on the new buses here (the old ones, certainly not), but they do have bike racks.

Which makes it seem a little funny that having a bike rack on a bus would be considered an improvement. They're usually full of prams anyway.