Sam Hood

@RoguePirate2 @GregAFC @CraigNorenbergs During weekday peak hours, 70-80% of north shore commuters to the city use the busway or a ferry, rather than sit in traffic

@GregAFC @CraigNorenbergs To be fair I only drive into city during the odd weekend from the shore. Generally always very good. During the week though I'd say not so good during peak hours.

The downtown part of Auckland is awesome. When I was here in the late 90’s at uni, it was a dumpster. Have to applaud Auckland CC for all their work. It’s a cool city. Too bad the traffic sucks balls.

@GregAFC @chamfy Some trips are best made by car/truck. More people travelling space efficiently leaves more space for them on the roads- a win-win A great eg is Akld harbour bridge: traffic is better now than 2005, even though the bridge carries far more ppl now, entirely bc of the busway

@GregAFC @chamfy One of the other changes since 90s is going from terrible to excellent public transport: experiencing traffic it optional for more and more people- busways, trains, bus lanes and now cycleways zoom right past it I spend about 30 mins per year in congestion

the thing that gets people on transit isn’t free fares it’s not having to check a schedule. a bus that costs $2 and comes every 6 minutes will outperform a free bus that comes every 30 minutes every single time. frequency is the product. the fare is a rounding error

@tilde_posting @curdledSoy I’m not aware of any streets with tenancy as low as Broadway over the past few years. It’s struggled from the combo of Westfield, and also being a terrible public space to spend time in. Really needs an upgrade

@Samhood8 @curdledSoy more an indictment of nz than supportive of the cbd lol there r plenty of empty shops down qsteet, krd, etc

not talked about enough how much westfield newmarket has killed auckland cbd

@tilde_posting @curdledSoy On average across the city centre, 85-90% of shops are tenanted Some areas are doing much better than that- great eg being Britomart/lower Queen/ commercial bay- highly successful due to excellent public transport, and pedestrianisation /public realm projects.

@curdledSoy And I didn’t even go to the busy part of the city: Lower Queen, Te Komititanga, Commercial bay Despite Westfield, not Newmarket nor anywhere else have the selection of shops, services, cafes, restaurants the city has. People are also increasingly drawn in by great public spaces

@curdledSoy Would that be Auckland city centre, where economic growth has out paced most of NZ past few years? Far from been killed! Broadways had a rough time since Westfield opened, but cities busier than anywhere else in the country Here’s some pics, all from today. Do you even visit?

@Peitho_hint @Mykuhl Finally, people struggle to comprehend what ‘1 in 1 million’ means- it sounds ‘risky’ to some on the surface A good comparison: The average person lives fewer than 30 thousand days

@Peitho_hint @Mykuhl In auckland, over past 2 years, there’s been about 200 injuries according to data There’s been roughly 200mil trips That means probability of being injured (or killed) is about 1/1mil: much safer than any other mode, or common tasks like climbing stairs or using a wall plug

More people used public transport in Auckland yesterday than any day with the half price fares in 2023.

@Peitho_hint @Mykuhl having a shower is another interesting, much more dangerous activity So,if one considers PT too dangerous, they could stay home to remove that risk, but sitting very still, avoiding all the higher risk hazards in the home, opens you up to many other mental/physical health risks

@Peitho_hint @Mykuhl Thankfully ACC records injuries from PT and from driving , and then AT also records incidents on pt too

@Samhood8 @Mykuhl lol, sure.

@Peitho_hint @Mykuhl Yup

@Peitho_hint @Mykuhl Overall, making a trip by public transport in Auckland is 5-10 x safer than making a trip by car

@Mykuhl i guess we just ignore the recent spate of bus stabbings

@kapiti_coaster @henrycooke That is more expensive than it should be Henrys comparison is been full user cost of PT, vs a portion of the cost of driving IRD estimates a 60km trip in petrol car costs,1way $70 including reasonable portion of fixed costs for a car driven an average amount $22 excl all fixed

@henrycooke Very good. Can you please add Kapiti to your graph. One way adult fare from Wellington to Waikanae during peak hours is $12.40.

Playing around with bus prices v car commuting costs. If you: - Live close to town - Have free parking The bus will still cost more than driving, v peak snapper fares. It doesn't really get cheaper until zone 4 at $3.20/L

@henrycooke @totaraforest I agree with the sentiment that PT is a bit too expensive currently, but making a false comparison between the whole user cost of using PT vs a portion of the cost of driving just puts people off, making the funding situation worse - and costing the user more in transport

@henrycooke @totaraforest But km based depreciation is a very substantial cost, as are tyres + other wear/tear IRD base running cost estimates for a petrol car are $1.18/km, dropping to 37c only after 14k km/y Does this not mean your numbers are better described as ‘misleading’, rathe than ‘simplistic’?

Miriam has a locked account but I want to share her “I think Auckland is great” photos. Great work from Britomart. 👏🏻💜

@DavidEvans53646 @Mountain_Tui Because driving in NZ is massively subsidised, both directly and indirectly. Becuase each trip made by PT/walk/bike rather than car has numerous benefits for society

@Mountain_Tui Why should those who use public transport have it subsidised. If they value the service, they should be happy to pay for it. I’m an EV owner, I do not expect other taxpayers to subsidise my car choice. Why should they??

This NZ govt cancelled half price public transport & funds for walking, cycling, buses & trains. They crashed EV market & broke promise to fund EV charging that would have seen more 2nd hand EVs. In every way, they are in bed with fossil fuels, a decision all Kiwis will pay for.

Imagine if the government hadn’t undermined EV incentives, cleaner vehicle regs, walking & cycling funding & focus and not put all the eggs in 4 lane RONS everywhere. We’d at the very least be more resilient and more able to pivot. They even took away our electric ferry funding.