Auckland Transport

2022 - 7 - 12

Cost concerns scupper fresh air plans for Auckland buses (RNZ)

Plans to introduce more fresh air into Auckland's bus fleet to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission were abandoned due to cost.

The longer you're on the bus, the more likely you are to breathe in a large number of infectious particles." One of the first documented super-spreading events occurred on a bus in China. However, one Auckland bus driver who spoke to RNZ on the condition of anonymity said about 10 percent of passengers don't wear masks. "It also reduces the momentum" he said. Pleas for drivers to be supplied N95 masks were knocked back by the company, he said. Most Auckland buses also do not have windows which passengers are able to open, and air is not drawn from outside but instead recirculated inside the bus.

Light speaks out against busway's path - Times (Times Online - Auckland)

A local candidate in this year's Auckland Council elections has come out swinging against the latest decision regarding the route of the Eastern Busway.

That move will require the purchase of dozens of homes in Burswood to make way for the busway. He says he opposes the decision by Auckland Transport (AT) to have the busway run through Burswood instead of along Ti Rakau Drive from Pakuranga to Botany Town Centre. Damian Light is standing for a council seat in the Howick ward at the local-body elections scheduled to be held in October.

Villa wars explained: Will intensification cause Auckland to lose its ... (New Zealand Herald)

The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act (otherwise known as the Housing Enabling Act) went through Parliament last ...

Those things are hard to develop because good design is a personal choice for a lot of people." "There is still a need for better design rules within our cities. I don't think many people would argue that terraced housing as developed in Sydney is a bad thing." And Auckland is at 25. Even Sydney is double that at 50," says Wilson. Wilson says it is important to note here that "special character" is not the same as a heritage home.

Cancelled Buses - Greater Auckland (Greater Auckland)

If you've tried catching a bus over the last few weeks and not had any issues, count yourself lucky, as a wave of cancellations have been striking bus ...

If AT doesn’t require air filters the operators are not going to add them to their buses and raise the tender cost. All of this combined with other issues like lower fare revenue and it feels like a perfect storm is brewing that could see drastic and long term cuts to the provision of public transport in our city. The longer you’re on the bus, the more likely you are to breathe in a large number of infectious particles.” You certainly have to wonder how much the air quality in buses is contributing towards the cancellations we’re currently seeing. Most Auckland buses also do not have windows which passengers are able to open, and air is not drawn from outside but instead recirculated inside the bus. Rumours and anecdotal evidence suggest a large number of bus drivers are also also leaving the industry.

Auckland mayoralty: Collins edges ahead in latest poll (Stuff.co.nz)

Efeso Collins has edged ahead of his Auckand mayoralty rivals according to the latest Curia poll.

“The early campaign has been about new candidates grabbing name recognition with pub bluster. In the June Curia poll of 534 people, among the 241 who picked a candidate, Collins and Molloy gained 21.7% support, Viv Beck 20.5, Wayne Brown 20.1 and Craig Lord 16%. One of the biggest changes between the two polls was a reduction in the “undecided” from 55% in June, to 35% in July. In a media statement Molloy called for Viv Beck to step aside: “Her candidacy risks Aucklanders splitting the vote, and handing this race to Labour.” Molloy claimed it was the result he had been waiting for and claimed it showed the contest as a two-horse race between Collins and himself. In the same poll series in June, Collins was tied in the lead with restaurateur Leo Molloy, with Wayne Brown and Viv Beck locked together, close behind.

Auckland mayoral poll: Efeso Collins opens up lead (New Zealand Herald)

The latest Ratepayers' Alliance-Curia mayoral poll places Collins in the box seat to be the next Mayor of Auckland so long as the trailing pack fails to ...

The initial results will be announced shortly afterwards. I'm filling the halls. At that stage, I will reassess." "I'm highly suspicious of the poll. Brown, who is promoting himself as the "fixer" for Auckland, said the result was not what he wanted to hear and did not bear witness to what he was finding. On the poll, Beck said it is still early days, there are still a lot of undecided voters and it looks to be a tight race.

Southern Hemisphere's first converted electric double-decker begins ... (Stuff.co.nz)

The locally-converted diesel could fill a gap in the bus market en route to zero emissions.

Auckland is committed to shifting its commuter bus fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2030, but there are few options off-the-shelf to buy electric versions of the big 85-seater, three-axle double-deckers used on the high-frequency routes. Tranzit’s first move in Auckland would be its own fleet of 20 diesel double-deckers on the NX2 run on the Northern Busway, but that would depend on a funding agreement with Auckland Transport (AT). Masterton-based Tranzit converted the bus, which has been running in its fleet in Wellington, but it believed the concept could appeal to Auckland as a faster way of making the bus fleet zero-emission.