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 ...