NZ In Tranzit

Tranzwatching in Tranaki (province), Te Ika-a-Maui, New Zealand A lack of reliable public transport could be responsible for Stratford's youth exodus, two district councillors believe. Councillor Alan Jamieson said to reverse the trend of young people leaving the area they needed to install a daily bus service to and from New Plymouth, according to a report in the Taranaki Daily News . District Councillor Jamieson, said those seeking tertiary education needed their own car if they wanted to stay in Stratford. He said students either choose not to further their education or move out of town. Comment; Yet another underlying reason for the Government via NZ  Transport Agency to establish and part-fund minimum benchmark service levels and frequencies of bus and coach services between all provincial centres and major city centres; and between surrounding towns and larger settlements and provincial hubs [New Plymouth in the case reported above] - a national "...

NZ in Tranzit - Opinion - David Welch Auckland's Northern Busway, Albany station after morning rush hour 2010.  BRT an appropriate technology for Prestons, Highfield,  Grimseys and Styx (Photo-Welch)   The building of two new large housing areas north of the city seems likely to go ahead. These are at Highfield, immediately east of the Grimseys Road area (2400 house sites) and at Prestons, between Mairehau Road and Lower Styx Road, immediately west and north west of Burwood Hospital (2600 house sites). Other new subdivsions in this northern area, such as East Belfast, north of Radcliffe Road are also planned. If the land can be proven solid, as it appears following earthquakes and multiple ground ruptures in many other eastern areas,  or made solid many thousands of people displaced from the earthquaked "red zone" and elsewhere, looking for new places to live will offer developers an immediate large customer base . What a brilliant oppo...

Tranzwatching in Invercargill, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand According to The Southland Times a survey of passengers on Invercargill's urban bus services has revealed up to 55% of passengers off-peak and 49% of passengers peak-time rate feelings of safety and security "very poor", with the driver attitudes identified as a prime factor. Comment Apart from being a pain in the butt for passengers drivers with unpleasant attitudes and driving styles under-mine potential patronage growth, and consequently extra work, overtime and security of employment for themselves and other drivers. Passenger transport is a service industry - if a driver does not enjoy helping and supporting residents and visitors to get the best possible quality bus service he or she is in the wrong industry.

Tranzwatching in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Last year in October it was announced the State Government in Tasmania had negotiated an increase of regional services running tofro Hobart and Launceston, with several existing private bus companies. Nine months down the track, the State's Minister of  Sustainable Transport (wow!!) speaking at a Budget Estimates Committee, described the strategy saying that the Service Development Plans (SDPs) were set up to help develop passenger transport as a genuine first choice of transport for Tasmanians through identifying new, expanded or extended non-metropolitan bus services. In a recent press release the Minister has described the expanded service as proving a success “There is no better example of this than O’Driscoll Coaches’ Derwent Valley to Hobart run,” Mr McKim said.  “Last year, O’Driscoll Coaches agreed to trial an extended timetable including additional evening, Saturday and Sunday services for 12 months....

NZ in Tranzit viewpoint - comparing systems doing transit well in different ways Calgary's famous C-Train, in latest livery, at the opening of Crowfoot Station 2009  Photo:Wikimedia Commons.  Click on image to enlarge. Opponents or those cynical about light rail often claim it is a "poster boy" system, stealing a lot of energy and funding from the broader bus network, or diverting a natural flow of bus systems into becoming feeders bringing passengers tofro the light rail stations. Whether this allegation would hold water in Canadian city Calgary is not clear - few medium size cities in North America have done public transport so well, the transit system of Calgary, which has a population of just over a million, carrying 90 million passenger trips year, or 88 trips per capita per year (for local readers, twice the per capita trip rate of Christchurch PQ*) using both an extremely popular light rail system and/or an extensive bus network...

Part of the Uni bus station just after completion in 2009 Tranzwatching in Queensland, Australia The University of the Sunshine Coast has won the Sunshine Coast Council** Sustainable Transport Award for its innovative Travel2USC program at the council's seventh annual Living Smart Awards on Friday, June 17th 2011. The University - a world leader in applying environmental technologies - created a raft of ways to influence greater use of green transport technologies. According to a report in the Sunshine Coast Daily [ June 25 2011 - no current link ] the activities of the programme have almost doubled bus amongst students and staff, up from 4.8% of all trips  in March 2010 to 8.7% of all trips in March 2011 The programme included providing land for the construction of a $6 million bus transit centre on campus - opened two years ago this weekend - and building $55,000 bike hub featuring lockers, showers and change rooms, having specific parking a...

NZ in Tranzit -opinion, comment I like this quote below, it appears in a very thoughtful and well written article in by senior Member of Parliament and, last year, unsuccessful Mayoral candidate,  Jim Anderton. "Something is amiss here, and I cannot help but draw the conclusion that this recruitment and appointment process should not continue. The fact that the Council is almost evenly split on such an important appointment is in itself cause for concern. This appointment is not something that has to be rushed, and it is imperative that Christchurch has a chief executive who can unite the city and inspire confidence in tackling the very important tasks which lie ahead," Jim Anderton said. The article appears in Voxy online news titled Anderton: Christchurch CEO Appointment Process Contaminated Note I have no particular stance on this, nor about the current city manager, other than a general disquiet about areas I do follow with interest, public transport. I believe...

NZ in Tranzit opinion - Christchurch land use for transport Land acquisition vital to new city - so says entrepreneur, kitchenware manufacturer and major office park developer Ernest Henshaw in an opinion piece in Christchurch's The Press on June 7th 2011 But, according to Henshaw in the same article; .."this will not happen. If Mayor Bob Parker and his chief executive officer have their way, it is impossible for this to happen because they have ruled out, in advance, any alteration to the city's grid of streets, any interference with property titles, and any interference with surviving buildings." I have been unable to hunt down the sources references to Parker-Marryat statement of these aims.  [if anyone knows please drop me a line]. They seem absurd, unlikely, but I can't imagine Mr Henshaw would be lying. And if the Parker viewpoint is as stated by Ernest Henshaw, God help Christchurch!! Quite apart from the very attractive medium high housing ...

Tranzwatching new bus tech being showcased in China The new (basically 30 year old) Chinese city of Shenzhen will have 2,011 green vehicles on the road to transport participants, visitors and locals when they host the summer 2011 Universiade in August. The new-energy vehicles would include hybrid buses, hybrid double-deckers, electric buses and minibuses, electric taxies and fuel cell buses, China Daily reports.   The number of environment-friendly vehicles exceeds that during the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo. Universiade is the world university games, with 13,000 students athletes from 180 countries and regions competing at Shenzhen.

Tranzwatching in Christchurch, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand Battered and bombed by over 7,000 earthquakes since the original 7.1 richter scale earthquake at 4.35 am September 4th 2010 (including 181 lives lost during a particular ferocious aftershock February 22nd 2011) Christchurch residents have almost forgotten the relaxed city centre and beachside suburbs they once took for granted. A film made by a German student staying here in early 2010, is capturing the heart of earthquake weary Christchurch residents. Using 10,000 time lapse camera shots and  various stylistic devices, including a slightly rose tinted vision,  the You Tube captures, pre-earthquakes, the city's centre - Cathedral Square - and beach suburb Sumner, the old stone university buildings (now a much damaged Arts Centre) and other scenes. It is all done in a way that is so warmly tinted and so folksy it almost looks like toytown. But damn ...

Tranzwatching legal history being made in Auckland, Te Ika a Maui, NZ He tried the bus lane, the low road and the High Court, but Auckland lawyer Nigel Cooke didn't get too much mileage from Justice Brewer in his personal attempt to avoid paying a  fine for driving in a bus lane in Auckland according to a report in  Auckland Stuff Cooke's argument was that he didn't see signage and therefore there could be no crime as crime required intent. Along with other arguments,  Cooke took his case to the District Court,  defeated in round one he took his personal test case to the highest court in the land. Cooke's case was rubbished by High Court Justice Brewer who said that this offense was not considered a crime, but a "public welfare infringement offence". Commented Justice Brewer "To require the prosecution to prove knowledge or intention on such a minor matter would be against all common sense.'' Stuff your excuses evil bus...

NZ in Tranzit - suspicious of what is going in Christchurch! Destined to be a very rare image for busspotters. The 740 service at the Ohinetahi Terminus, on the short-lived Governors  Bay-Cashmere Road run, about to depart early February 2011 Last year the National Government instituted a fairly tough fare-box  recovery requirement for public transport authorities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. This requires 50% of operating costs to be met by fares paid by passengers. How this 50% is defined  - whether per route or across the network averaged out is not set out - indeed in the NZ Transport Agency statement of May 28th last year it implies that it is up to each regional council to determine this NZTA Regional Partnerships and Planning Group Manager Dave Brash says the policy agreed by the NZTA’s Board in April requires all regional councils to set their own farebox recovery policies and ratios by 1 January 2012 as part of their Regional Public ...

Tranzwatching trends in social transport, NZ and USA The possibility offered by various social media to link up those seeking a ride, or seeking to share driving between days with other car owners, is leading to a major growth in carpooling groups in New Zealand and elsewhere. It is an exciting use of technology towards sustainable goals for all parties and in some circumstances could have significant impacts upon congestion, roading costs, traffic management strategies and - for better or worse - public transport usage. Organised carpooling has potential to become a major form of socialised  transport, particularly from dispersed rural fringes of cities and towns, where organised carpool systems will usually be more effective than bus services. Carpooling may be competitive with bus services (if they exist) undermining a fragile patronage base. Carpooling may also foster public transport by getting potential passengers to hub points or offering a one way alternative, when ...

Canberra's Nightrider late-night bus service trial for three months last summer failed to quell alcohol fuelled violence in downtown Canberra and proved an expensive service per passenger carried according to a report from Territorial and Municipal Services. Noted; The Canberra Time s assumes all passengers to be "drunks"! Also the news report does not make it clear why a late night bus service in itself would have any effect on the level of violence, a rather large ask of any transport system!

NZ in Tranzit commentary on UK busway to be This could be a buspotter's Tui bill-board, that's for sure! Interested in new bus tech this tranzistable blogster has kept one tiny corner of his eye on the Cambridgeshire Busway in the UK, for I guess, um, um,  maybe 4 or 5 years. The strength of the guided busway planned, is unlike trains on the railway line that used to run down most of the busway corridor,  buses can leave the corridor and travel deep into the heart of towns along the way. Also much frequent services are possible. At 25km of concrete guide rails and running surface,  it will supersede the Adelaide OBahn  in Adelaide as the world's longest guided busway. One day... Never underestimate the ability of big ticket projects - any sort of engineering including busways as well as bridges, tunnels, dams, rail projects etc (a) to escalate costs beyond that budgeted at an seemingly absurd rate (b) to get incredibly bogg...

A recent You Tube about Capetown's new Bus Rapid Transit system captures something of the feeling of these higher speed, high capacity, bus systems....in many ways the impression is more akin to rail (with enclosed stations) than the way that most New Zealanders probably think of buses.

Tranzwatching in Wellington region, Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand For many years Wellington rail has suffered small and large rail breakdowns, with all their capacity to effect thousands of commuters. The problem of run down systems was usually identified. Disappointingly the new Korean built  "Matangi" trains are also having teething problems that leave commuters unsure and irate.  

Tranzwatching in Central Otago, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand Passenger Transport Ltd, the deep south NZ bus company established by brothers Kayne and Tony Baas, back in 1991 has steadily grown, now operating about 50 school runs in Southland and contracted urban bus services in Invercargill, and several contracted routes in Dunedin. A few weeks ago the Dunedin arm of PTL purchased CitiBus Dunedin, a Dunedin City Council operated Local Authority Trading Enterprise, picking up many more Dunedin Citibus bus routes in the process. DCC had recently recorded losses of over $8 million on operating CitiBus. The Citibus site, originally contained this link to Connexions, which conveys the unusual extent of services owned and operated by a company whose prime shareholder was Dunedin City Council An unusual aspect of CitiBus was that the city owned and based company also ran a range of regional services deep into the Otago hinterland, between Dunedin and four major t...

Tranzwatching in Christchurch, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand The receiver of failed large bus-maker DesignLine, Kieran Horne of of the accounting firm HFK,  is hoping to complete a sale of the New Zealand operation in just over a month. According to a news report in the Business Day section of Stuff.co there has been strong interest, including from a number of companies, national and international, with some already in the industry capable of taking the company forward.

NZ in Tranzit opinion -  on Christchurch Metro exposing itself in public I just checked out Metro's facebook page. Unbelievable!! I find Metro giving the advice below to a person who wanted to get from Northlands to Moorhouse Avenue, a journey, about 7-8 km, that pre-quake that took less than 30 minutes; Metro Info Hi Krystal, the 18 from Northlands currently only runs as far as Bealey Ave. At Bealey Ave you need to transfer to the Link service to get over to the other central city terminus at Parkside, and from there you can catch a number of buses to Moorhouse Ave. If you catch the bus from Northlands at 12:10pm or 12:40pm you should get to Moorhouse Ave by 2pm. Or put another way, you can expect your journey will take between 1 hr 20 minutes and 1 hour 50 minutes.   Obviously to every sane person this grossly unacceptable; that's not a "transport" system!   It is a joke, but a joke that I have found myself to have a rathe...

Tranzwatching in Tauranga, Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand The success of the Bay Hopper bus service in Tauranga has led to the Ministry of Education saying it will no longer subsidise school buses for children living with in the urban area beyond the end of 2014. The Bay Hopper was established in 2001 and is as part of an attractive regional bus network  established by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. The urban service has now achieved its goal to bring most city residents within 500 metres of a bus stop in this rapidly growing city of 120,000 residents.  According to the senior transport planner with BoPRC, Emlyn Hatch, “The development of the public transport network has enabled the ministry to review its position with respect to providing transport assistance to Tauranga students, particularly given Tauranga is the only remaining large urban area in New Zealand where the ministry is doing so". According to a new report on local news site SunLive.c...

Tranzwatching the spread of electric bus technology - or not - in Abu Dhabi The future of a joint venture between manufacturer DesignLine and Abu Dhabi’s Liberty Automobiles is in doubt after the bus maker's New Zealand operation was put into liquidation according ConstructionWeek Online magazine.  The $30 million joint venture was planning to make the Unite Arab Emirate's the home of the world’s first 100% electric bus, with production due to begin in January 2012.

Tranzwatching in Queenstown, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand Queenstown - Bus Priority measures sought for busy main northern entrance road which runs along  steep hillsides above Frankton Arm - to left in this edited Wikimedia Commons photo . Click image to increase size Ostensibly the urban population of Queenstown is only about 10,000 residents. But as major summer and winter tourist centre, Queenstown's actual heads-on-beds population and in surrounding areas in any given moment is significantly greater. This population is largely squeezed into an incredibly scenic but tightly constricted by hills corner of Lake Wakatipu, with access mostly reliant on the ever busy Frankton Road, skirting the steep side of one arm of the lake. The Queenstown Lakes District Council - covering Queenstown and Wanaka and areas between - is making a submission to the Otago Regional Transport strategy that includes the request for bus priority measures to be ...

Tranzwatching in Auckland, Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand Auckland's new smart card, the Hop Card, is having teething problems, with a small number of commuters effected reports the NZ Herald  this morning. With its more complex multi-zonal structure, Hop Cards don't charge the fare until passengers sign out - as they exit.

NZ in Tranzit  - opinion (hackels up, nostrils flared from too many crap bus transfer journeys!!) Four months of this farce? Not good enough Metro ! Not good enough Council! "Big chief rolls up sleeves to help with quake" was the headline posted in today's NZ Herald on-line. The description is of newly appointed Environment Canterbury [Regional Council] Chief Executive Bill Bayfield, who arrived on the day of the rather nasty 5.5 and 6.3 after-shocks, and today Sunday was out in the eastern suburbs helping shovel silt with 1200 other volunteers. Hopefully he will prove a roll model (terrible pun) for his Government appointed masters, "Commissioners" Dame Margaret Bazley, David Caygill, Rex Williams and co; and for the staff of the Environment Canterbury [Regional Council] public transport arm, Metro - neither group appears to have done too much "rolling up their sleeves" to help city bus users in the last month or three! What was a rough and...

T ranzwatching in Marlborough region, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand (added comment) A private operator, Tasty Tours Marlborough of Blenheim has started a daily (week day) commuter bus service between Blenheim and Picton, and Picton and Blenheim. The service is basing departure times on students who travel from one town to schools in the other town, whose needs are not met by current school runs. This said it can also be used by other persons and adult commuters to get to work in either location. Comment; The service was suggested by a district councillor but there is no suggestion or indication in the report that it has received support from the Regional Council for the area, by legislation the body responsible for co-ordinating public transport in each area of New Zealand. As noted in a previous NZ in Tranzit posting , which called for a national upgrade of small town internal bus services, there would be a strong case for where a larger town has a large settlement close, to ha...

Tranzwatching new bus tech in Dunedin, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand One of the major differences between light rail and buses is the degree of freedom which the driver/operator has to drive badly. The smoothness of trams and their capacity to be operated at excessive speed or in an erratic and uncomfortable manner exists, but in general factors such as lurching are prevented by the rails themself. Among the many gaps closing between buses and trams/light rail is journey quality. Some of the biggest firms such as Stagecoach in the UK are now using monitors that show a red indicator light (normally green) if a bus is accelerated or decelerated too fast, or lurches too wildly, on a corner. These monitors in the first instance help drivers learn to drive within the parameters comfortable to passengers - in the second instance, they record the drivers actions so if complaints arise management can correlate these or in general identify and remove those who insist on driving buses in a ...

Tranzwatching in Auckland, New Zealand Auckland Trains Blog (AKT) , has raised the issue of discomfort caused other passengers sharing a co-joined seat in a bus with a large or obese passenger. The problem of people in general getting larger, for both healthy reasons (better diet) and unhealthy reasons is one that is starting to be addressed in North America but this is possibly the first time it has been raised in New Zealand. The blog posting has produced a huge number of responses, some irate, but it is a genuine problem where buses are already built to maximum width where seat size can only be increasing at the cost reducing over all seating capacity. There can be obvious discomfort for passengers sitting beside another passenger whose bulk intrudes into their allocated space. Commenting on the high response level the blogger responsible, Jon Colt, commented  "It's obviously tapped into a secret frustration that is not politically correct to talk about."

Tranzwatching in Palmerston North, Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand Palmerston North City Council is planning a $10 million new bus terminal, ideally incorporating both city and inter-city buses.  The current proposals - a saw-tooth type terminal where buses back in and out of bays ( similar to Hamilton's Transport Centre ) in the location selected however is seen as likely to create mayhem and potential for passengers to be run over by reversing buses, according to a city promotions officer. Currently inter city coaches and shuttles and urban bus services depart from separate terminals, the urban bus station being located just off the main square.