NZ In Tranzit

click on images to enlarge If the city is going to build rail infra-structure into the hundreds of millions, blogster David Welch argues that money would be better spent on creating a Western Rail Corridor creating a circular route with several spurs. Building a rail link between Styx and Islington via the Airport  would create a commuter rail loop, by linking up the existing single track northern line [blue above] with an added grade separated (no level crossings) double track from Styx [red above] across to the Airport industrial zone continuing south and rejoining the main trunk line with a similar three way junction at Islington. This adds circa 10 km to those services, feight or passenger entering the city (from either direction, north or south) using the "Via Airport" route but would save much shunting time and complications, link many industrial areas, and put tens of thousands of people within relatively fast rail access of thousands of jobs, even far from home,...

Tranzwatching in Christchurch, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand Long suffering bus passengers around Christchurch have been waiting to see what Metro will do to restore mobility lost since the February 22nd earthquake which devastated many parts of the city, most notably the central city and eastern and coastal areas. Environment Canterbury web-site has published the following notice All three main bus contractors (GoBus, Leopard and Red Bus) have had input to the process to date. Consultation has also included Black Cat Ferries, Ritchies Bus Services and the NZ Transport Agency. “We have to make changes so we can restore confidence in the Metro service and to ensure it remains financially viable. It’s essential agencies and companies involved in public transport work together constructively to boost public transport as the city rebuilds.” says David Stenhouse, Environment Canterbury’s acting manager passenger services. Metro services are being changed to provide a better service...

NZ in Tranzit - Respecting the importance of empty space I see there is renewed pressure to degrade the bus only segregated busway on Auckland's Northshore by allowing HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) to use these lanes.  Most people seem chronically incapable of understanding empty space is as much a part of public transport as it is most businesses or public enterprises. Shop counters or aisles are empty much of the time with often only 10% of the floor space in occupation; school rooms sit empty night after night; people only drive their cars on average 70 minutes a day but to maintain that we have to spend billions on roading and "free" (somebody pays!) parking space.  Most the dump trucks and some of the general freight trucks we see on the road run are actual running empty at least half of the time, after dropping off their load. An even more ridiculous waste is having country roads - goodness sake they are being used by ten cars an hour!! Perhaps the most gross ...

 Tranzwatching in Sydney's northern suburbs   Sydney's lower North Shore, close to the city is served by commuter rail but this does not reach all corners of the area,  home to about 200,000 people or about half the population of greater Christchurch. Local authorities are now discussing bus rapid transit as an effective solution for commuters to access downtown Sydney. SHOROC, the regional body representing Mosman, Manly, Pittwater and Warringah councils, last year created a strategic plan for the northern region entitled Shaping Our Future. The state government endorsed this year a feasibility study into the bus rapid transit system. “The bus rapid transit system is ... a practical solution that can be built and fully operational at a realistic cost and in a short-term time frame,” SHOROC president and Pittwater Mayor Harvey Rose said. According to a report in the Mosman Daily the plan outlines an idea to create both a north-south and east-west bus rapid tran...

NZ in Tranzit - looking at wee small hours mobility The headline in the Edmonton Journal is "All Day Service Proposed"; it must be a subtle difference in language twixt kiwis and Canadians. I know technically a "day" is 24 hours, still I can't imagine that newspapers here would refer to proposals to run buses right through the night as an "all day" service. That minor and totally relevant observation aside, this article makes for interesting reading, comparing the round the clock services or close down time offered in other cities in Canada, all far larger than Christchurch. But the shift work argument is still true. According to the NZ census 23% of workers are part-time (less than 29 hours a week) and this means most will start or finish outside normal peak hours (eg 9am-1pm). What percentage work or start or finish outside normal work hours (eg evenings or weekends) I have not found recorded anywhere. But I imagine it is fairly high, especia...

Naked Bus driver phones the missus (we hope)- (just kiddin') - while long distance traveling passengers take a refreshment break inside at the Transport Centre in Hamilton - another city that has made an effort to integrate local, regional,  inter-city services and taxi services through the same quality hub point.   Click on photo to enlarge (shoddy quality photo by NZ in Tranzit. 2010) Tranzwatching in Northland, Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand Whangarei, New Zealand's northern most city, has built an attractive bus depot/information centre/art museum project, called "Te Manawa - The Hub". However Naked Bus and InterCity Coachlines subsidiary SKD (which runs the Northliner)  - the two largest regional and inter-city operators - may not even use the $1.4 million bus station according to this story in The Northern Advocate . The Hub is intended to be the drop-off and pick-up point for tourists passing through Whangarei, th...

NZ inTranzit - Opinion In a rather naieve way Mayor Bob Parker has come to realise university students form a significant section of public transport users and is using this rather limited scoping as a hook to hang the light rail hat upon, talking of the $406 million light rail line "hard-wiring" the university of Canterbury (4kms from CBD) to the city. I realise there will be a cost-benefit ratio type study of the whole project, but it is nonetheless sad to see public transport directions being formulated not on an in-depth and comprehensive research and strategic plans, criteria and goals for the whole city , but on a some sort of fashionable attraction. It is as silly as the Mayor advocating buying larger wharf cranes or using less cement on the Otira viaduct - public transport is a field of engineering with accumulated knowledge, standards and known parameters and principles, acquired qualifications. In Christchurch it is currently being degraded and treated as if a...

Tranzwatching in Norfolk, Virginia, USA  America's latest new light rail system, a single line corridor in Norfolk, Virgnia, USA opened this weekend with over 30,000 people taking advantage of a chance to have a free ride.  ** The light rail system "The Tide", will be the first light rail system in the State of Virginia. The initial line is slightly under 12 km in length, is ultimately expected to carry 7,000 -11,000 passengers per day (opening year bemnchmark is a more modest 2,900)  at an operating cost of only $6.2 million. There has been a lot of local consternation at costs over-runs, the project ran $86 million over estimates and saw the replacement of project head part way through. Despite this - at $27 million per kilometre this appears to be a very modest set up cost - significantly below costs per kilometre for most other new light rail systems recently constructed or planned in North America or Australasia or the $85-90 million per kilometre...

                                                                                                             Photo D. Welch When earthquakes ruptured streets in Christchurch several routes were abandoned entirely; neither Council nor ECan, or Government appears to have made any attempt to create a substitute or partial access service by contracting operators to use small weight vehicles similar to the large minibus above.  This has lef...

NZ in Tranzit  on regional public transport patterns  - from UK to Ashburton The Canterbury wide public transport network, with a regional commuter orientated service between Timaru, Ashburton and Christchurch, linking up intermediate settlements, and Geraldine and Methven could be described as  "outstanding in its field".  This is an old rural term. It means if your looking to catch a bus to work, study or appointments, in Ashburton or Christchurch or catch a morning flight from CIAL you may as well stand in a paddock whistling till the cows come home, because there is no coach quality coach service that leaves Timaru northbound before 10 am. Nor is there any comprehensive mid day pattern of services, allowing older residents in particular, to stay living in smaller settlements and keep their independence and access to resources even without using a car.  A regular coach service both directions would void the need of aging residents to drive on the unplea...

Tranzwatching in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada An important part of major transit infrastructure - such as bus rapid transit corridors or light rail lines - is getting the relationship with suburban re-development right. The massive car-parks needed to foster patronage can be counter-productive to fostering the intimate scale and amenities required of higher density living, a lesson learnt in Edmonton Canada in the last 40 years.   ' As the general manager of the city's transportation department has said ( quoted in a Transport Politic posting on proposed changes in the city's strategic goals )  “The LRT is not just about moving people. It’s about building a city.” Edmonton (1.1 million metropop) was the first city in North America to build light rail (a new system from scratch) opening a single 6.9 km line in 1978, and extending this slowly, bit by bit,  across the last 40 years to its current 20 km length. The line mostly runs on its own right of way and incl...

NZ in Tranzit - flicking between greater Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and greater Christchurch, Te Wai Pounamu, New Zealand on light rail and transit costs Back in 2009 Ontario's premier expressed concerned about the inflating costs of Ottawa's new transit system .    "In fairness, I think costs have escalated rather dramatically in terms of estimates. I think what we need to do now is to sit down in a very sober-minded way, talk this through and decide what it is that we can all afford," Premier Dalton McGuinty said. The cost for the first phase of the city's new light rail transit plan has soared to $2.1 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $1.4 billion. The plan includes light rail lines from Blair Road to Tunney's Pasture, with a downtown tunnel designed to get rid of traffic congestion in the city's core. At the same time as McGuinty spoke out the Ontario municipal affairs minister said he had serious doubts that the city can afford to build the en...

Tranzwatching in Wellington, Te Ika a Maui, New Zealand Every action causes a reaction and the absurd "let's build more motorways, hop in our cars and pretend violent climate change and peak oil price rises" will never effect New Zealand attitude of Stephen Joyce and John Key has invoked increasing resistance and increasing unity amongst those trying to live in a country governed by intelligent transport choices. Even as massive typhoons (ie hurricanes by their Pacific name) rip into various Asian countries - part of the many fold increase in violent storms in the last decade as sea levels heat - and millions of dollars of production are lost to (almost literally) "a polar blast" delivering enough snow to close down New Zealand, the boy racer government pushes ahead with its dream of building new roads to economic oblivion. One part of the oppposition forming in the Wellington area takes the form of a Smart Transport for New Zealand Conference , joint...

All gone - Colombo Street north of The Square, Christchurch in 1960s NZ in Tranzit believes the time when it was possible to run effective bus services without buses having a segregated lane structure in congested areas is also gone. Tranzwatching in Wellington, Te Ika a Maui   [Despite the above photo] Wellington City Council will vote this week on whether to create 24-hour bus lanes down the full length of Courtenay Place.  The council's strategy and policy committee will also decide whether to create peak hour bus lanes along Kent and Cambridge terraces and Adelaide Rd. The decision will be open to publ;ic consultation Comment Courtenay Place is a virtual bus exchange anyway - isn't it bizarre that transit systems carrying tens of thousands of passengers a week should only now be debating whether to beg a teeny-weeny percentile of total roading surface specifically for buses at all times, or even in peak hours. One day City Councils and ilk...

Tranzwatching in NewYork, New York, USA A recent edition of The New York Times carries an interesting article on the fascination for public transport being particularly common amongst those with autistic conditions. Says the article; "The link between trains and autism is well documented. Autism refers to a spectrum of disorders that typically includes impairment in social interaction and sometimes includes stereotyped interests, like trains. People with autism  have difficulty processing and making sense of the world, so they are drawn to predictable patterns, which, of course, trains run by". Care workers and  local transit museum employeees are using this interest to help autistic children develop abilities and greater comfort with social skills.

Tranzwatching light rail debate in Victoria, BC, Canada The Times-Colonist, premier newspaper of Victoria , British Colombia in Canada (a city very similar in population size and tourism figures to Christchurch) wants to see a lot more research, and research into all options, before backing a proposal for a light rail line. The Editorial says that under present funding system (federal, provincial and city Government split) residents of Victoria could expect to pay increased property taxes [ie rates] of $265 per household and business ten times that amount per year to help fund the $950 million light rail corridor.

Transzwatching in Victoria, BC, Canada Chinese bus maker BYD has wasted no time in expanding out across the USA and Canada following its establishment of a Headquarters in Los Angeles and a bus factory in Windsor, Canada, ironically immediately across the river and border from Detroit. Currently BYD is demonstrating an electric bus in Victoria, Canada (the Alexander Dennis double decker, with reclining seats,  sounds interesting too)

NZ in Tranzit - advocacy Probably the most important facet of rebuilding a strong and vibrant central city in Christchurch will not be found in the CBD but will be found in the suburbs - quality public transport access, busways with large sections of segregated bus only corridor.. Rather than wasting too much on a basically meaningless tram system around the centre city, most funding should go to direct express busways. In general these would  by pass congestion, mostly around malls (better served by existing bus routes) and run directly from outer areas straight into the heart of the city. Once established corridors involving a mix of segregated sections, on road bus lanes (often curbed/islanded off) bus priority signals and other technology  and other needed infrastucture (subways, over-passes, cut throughs between existing streets, would link all corners of the city into the centre in less than 20 minutes, often much less as in the case below, w...