NZ In Tranzit

"But hey, like Johnny Cash " I hear the train a comin'; it's rollin' 'round the bend...." I don't know much about rail at all but it would seem to me that if the Christchurch-Auckland Rail Corridor  is going to be a real goer surely a primary need will be to double-track much of the line heading out through the north of Christchurch" Did anyone else in Christchurch feel a minor ground tremor back in May when the Government announced the $4.6 billion attempt to return rail to some almost level of commercial viability including focussing on long haul freight on the "Auckland-Christchurch corridor". What a funny feeling that last expression gave me! For years I've been a mainlander and studying (in my own way) developing transport infrastructure, mostly passenger transit orientated, in New Zealand. In the last decade this mainly consists of reading about new motorways, ring roads, bridges, transmission gulleys, commuter tr...

Christchurch's new bus exchange will doubtless be a little more modest than Antwerp Centraal Station, the grand stack above, but making life easier for bus users by  including the full range of facilites needs to be acommitted goal from the start.  Recently I have made several references to having shops and in particular a small supermarket built into or adjoining the new Christchurch bus exchange. My motivation for this began a few years ago after reading comments by Hobart geographer and urban transport researcher Bob Cotgrove.   "The mistake people continually make is thinking people who drive cars can make the same journey by public transport," he said. "It's not true. Some people can, those who work in the city and stay all day, but fewer and fewer people do that. Working mothers are a big proportion of the workforce and they're very busy, they get children to school, drive to work. During the day they might visit a friend or a sick mother and pay ...

People often say "What a great bus system we have in Christchurch" (which doesn't mean that person uses it). I say compared to what ? Are we talking about buses as we knew them thirty years ago or buses in many other small cities in the USA or Canada or Australia etc - well yes we are doing reasonably ok in most respects (though very poorly in attracting peak hour patronage). However I find the whole concept of how public transport is operated in Christchurch incredibly outdated, tramway era thinking, we have the reliable buses, the low floor access and vastly reduced dwell time of Metrocard loadings, the computerised systems and radio connections, we have buses galore duplicating each other's services but we don't have a 21st century bus system. I have added my concept NICERide to the "Pages section" (or see one of side boxes ). I invite you to come join me on the NICERide; real public transport for the future.

....but don't let's fool ourselves, the technology here will quickly mutate into tomorrow's urban express buses, the shortest haul airliners, airliners of the road. A Neoplan Megaliner at Osaka 2007 Wikimedia Commons I am an old fart myself, but I do stay young in some areas of life. One of them is bus technology.  I may be mistaken but I have a very very strong sense buses rather than light rail will become the real carriers of modernistic transport in the years to come. It is more a whiff in the air than a provable scent!  But I have been reading public transport on internet for 15 years, I trust my intuition here. Too many threads in the wind to ignore. It is only the timelag - the way the older generation trapped in a past reality sees things (eg stinky slow buses) that blocks this realisation more fully. Most things light rail does can now be matched by buses, far more cheaply with superior frequency for the same dollar invested. Need it be said...

The Well Dressed Bus Stop!! In a previous posting I identified nine major multi-route junction points likely to become transfer stations, if the authorities can ever get their act together. These are locations where large number of peoples have to wait for buses, either because of adjoining activities (malls, airports etc) or because they are major  points where people transfer between bus routes. I suggested only these potential bus stations would currently have sufficient patronage to warrant enclosed waiting air conditioned rooms etc I also suggested  there are about 16 other locations around the city which could benefit from a sort of "transfer node" status - essentially just enhanced bus stop configurations and facilities. Every node point opens up multiplying opportunities for moving easily and more rapidly around the city and moving more directly without doubling back. Although this may be pooh poohed as excessive by planners  not having t...

I grew up in Wellington province 60 miles (100km) north of the city and I remember the excitement of early independence, emerging adolescence, around 12 or 13 years old when I and a couple of other boys were allowed to travel away from home, if we agreed to stick together and not talk to strangers. On school holidays this included Friday day trips to Wellington, 9am railcar down and the 9 pm railcar back [ this later trip ran on Fridays only]. My mates and I  scoffed endless rubbish food,  rode escalators up and the cable car up and down, and took the tram out to the zoo and back, gigling ourselves silly with our secret stock of endlessly repeated "in" jokes and special sayings ("We laughed to the tears ran down our legs").  On at least one occasion we even went to see some movies in  a middle of the day,  I vaguely remember a tarzan movie amongst these, showing at the continuous movies t...

Out bound buses loading at Northlands Mall, Christchurch July 2010. Immediately before the arrival of these buses several children on skate board,  an elderly lady, and a young family with a child in a pushchair and another three or four year old held by the hand all had to walk out onto the road itself , and along gutter area the the path of incoming buses, to get past the large group of children and other bus patrons blocking the footpath. NZ in Tranzit suggests part of car park needs be purchased to give adequate room and shelter for patrons and safe through passage for pedestrians at this prime suburban exchange spot   Photo; David Welch Hey you can't say the loud-mouthed self opinionated dwatted wabbit isn't one hotshot journalist, he's so close behind the latest hot news its still positively steaming!!  Catch this report he just chased to ground, the inside story -   "Furthermore in the city centre, and pos...