Posts by Matthew Poole
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Paul Brislen,
Ferries are actually quite hard. Te Atatu Peninsula cries out for a ferry, for example, but a pier would have to be built out a very long way in order to offer sufficient water depth at all times. Or there'd have to be a very expensive dredging operation to create and maintain a channel. Those are quite serious hurdles.
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to James Butler,
It's not pessimistic, it's just a bit naive. For one thing, until that happens the buses are left stranded in traffic. For another, the buses will remain stranded in whatever traffic there happens to be, and if there's a crash they will be just as stranded as all the other cars. The NBW has, as far as I'm aware, a perfect crash record, which is far more than can be said for the motorway beside which it runs.
We're never going to have no traffic unless there's an apocalyptic event, at which point the timeliness of bus services will be the least of our worries. It's going to be a long time before reliance on private cars diminishes so far that buses will have consistent, rapid travel times along the NW motorway. Ignoring current reality in favour of some hopeful future is right up there with National saying they're building the Roads of Dubious Significance in preparation for the future where we're all driving electric cars in such numbers that they will cause congestion even in the complete absence of internal combustion-driven cars.
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Paul Brislen,
I was stunned to learn I couldn’t get a ferry to Takapuna and the only choice for me was to drive over the bridge.
Not quite. You can ferry to Devonport or Birkenhead and get an onward bus to Takapuna.
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Russell Brown,
provision for a bus lane.
If they were doing it properly they'd provide for a full separated busway, like the Northern Motorway's got. The Western Line deviates a long way from the motorway by the time one gets up through Te Atatu and on into the north-western hinterland, and bus priority is the only way to get people from those suburbs anywhere by bus in a realistic frame of time.
In the future, and probably not too far into the future, there's going to have to be an NWBW that's the same quality as the NBW, particularly with all the development going on around Hobsonville. NZTA isn't even being particularly smart with their plan because it'll cost a lot more to retro-fit a busway to the causeway than it would to at least provide for one now. Welcome to a country where the ruling party's outright loathing of public transport actually costs money.
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Actually, if you Aucklanders feel it’ll make life better turning the city into (more of) a mini-LA, go right ahead.
You're assuming, very arrogantly, that Aucklanders do want to continue the automobile-obsessed ways of the past on the basis that the current regime aren't interested in supporting public transport. When the motorway network was originally sketched out in the 1950s it was accompanied by huge expansion of the tram network. The National Government of the time didn't read past the bit where motorways went hither and yon. The Waterview Tunnel is, at least, following roughly along a line from the 1950s plan; as opposed to some of the other motorways built of late, like the Albany extension.
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Sacha,
It's not like Key is universally beloved amongst the scientific community. Eh, Bart ;)
I'm prepared to accept that there's a rigid policy that the PM must be accompanied when on official engagements (whether I think that's necessary is a different story), but as there's no possibility of the full three-car convoy with attendant officer requirements it should be sufficient to send down the barest minimum number of officers.
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Hard News: The Waterview Bore, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Can’t quite see why the wife and Diplomatic Protection Squad boys are going
Helen used to go and do things like climbing Mt Kilimanjaro without a DPS escort, and that's practically wandering around in Times Square compared to the inaccessibility of Scott Base. Maybe send a couple down in order to satisfy whatever requirements there are for officers to attend the PM while on official engagements, but more than that is just ludicrous.
As for Bronagh, it is an official visit. -
The Causeway upgrade is infuriating because NZTA of obstinately refused to include a bus way, or even sufficient shoulder space to construct one in the future. There’s no work being done to allow buses to bypass the Patiki/Rosebank Rd on/off-ramps, either. Public transport is being completely ignored during the entire project.
ETA: Sacha, snap.
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Hard News: On Freedom, in reply to Bart Janssen,
That's one hell of a tribute, especially if it leads to the end of paywall-for-profit scientific publishing.
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Hard News: On Freedom, in reply to Danielle,
I was just saying on Twitter how much I enjoy posting things like the Crooks and Liars link on Facebook
Don't do that. Some of them might want to move here!