Not yet. For years, law has meant that private transport operators 'own' the data for the passengers we all pay them to transport. Integrated ticketing will be quite an improvement for transport planners, not just pasengers.

(although they aren't always well integrated, WRC send people out to do bus usage surveys when you'd have thought they could just download the data from Snapper).

You’re optimistic. We’ve been promised something like that for at least the last 20 years. It’ll be probably another decade before we start to even see such cars…

Actually I agree with Roughan for once – well kinda. My guess is that in 20 years time, cars will all be talking to eachother under the…

Sayeth Angus: Sans-CRL there could be trains going West-East for much less investment than buying a tunnel. There could be trains running West-South today if the funds were cleared to do so.

So, no, he very definitely…

A Transportblog reader has today produced a pair of diagrams of the…

No, but it is a democracy where I (and a lot of people like me) get a vote.

However to find the Supreme Beings of NZ is very simple – follow the money.

The part…

Actually, Angus, it’s a practical impossibility to run trains west-east without the CRL. The switching is already possible through the Parnell yards to have Western Line trains go out east (and vice-versa) instead of through…

Sans-CRL there could be trains going West-East for much less investment than buying a tunnel. There could be trains running West-South today if the funds were cleared to do so.

But the funds are not there, instead they are…

Actually the CRL will be of huge benefit to people who don't work in the CBD. The CRL turns our train network into a true 'network', rather than just 4 lines…

...convenient, quick, reliable, comfortable and affordable public transport options...

..for everyone. But this plan is to spend the vast majority of funds on getting people to and from the CBD.

If people, like me, do not work in the…

So in other words,…

Yes. Yes it does.

Firstly it says:

Some may benefit from better public transport, but many would gain little or no direct or indirect advantage.

and the a couple of paragraphs later:

Virtually overnight, there would be less road congestion. Equally, to cater for those induced…

Thank you. That's why I am so dismayed. The Ombudsman has already made it very clear that the spreadsheets must be provided with his involvement in the Auckland CBD Rail Link Business Case (2010). The exact same situation now applies to the City Centre Future Access Study (2012). Auckland…

Sometimes letting the agencies know that you know the rules is enough to induce a response. I wonder in…

In the case of the former, I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Gravina Island Bridge (championed by Alaska Republicans), and Japan's Roads to Nowhere (with close ties to the…

I think the wider point of whether the OpEx of private cars and trucks should be included is best addressed to Auckland Transport. I am just working from their assumptions and their spreadsheets.

However, they do cost the operating cost per train ($2.1m) for the first 24 trains.…

And I really appreciate your constructive engagement Rodney, especially given that I was a bit tart about your column.

Rodney, we don't budget in the OpEx for additional cars and trucks to make use of the new tarmac when we build or expand a motorway – and…

Than you for your logical and consistent support for Auckland Transport to release the spreadsheet and their model output reports to me.

The controversy in setting Auckland Transport up was over whether it should be a CCO or a department within the Council. I am not sure it…

The Banks thing was hilarious. He not only changed his mind once he'd…

Italicised words not in the article as it now shows. Your editing, or theirs?

And that goes to the root(ed) national transport policy of this country (along with the power shimozzle). The road and rail are two corridors, run by different groups…

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee, who hasn't read the report, said a regional fuel tax, congestion charges and a road tolls as they stand would never be agreed to.

Mr Brownlee said New Zealanders won't be paying…

Right there with ya'. At least…

Some of us have been asking for many moons for the civic bodies responsible for…

Complained an awful lot about horse shit in the streets, hooning cart drivers and the moral menace of women dispensing with the side saddle. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. :)

Dealing with another civic body of more similar scale requires maturity.

This is a mark of how the politicians and backroom operators see their capacity for that. Given some of their other behaviour, maybe it's realistic to be scared…

Never mind doesn’t work and won’t scale. Outcomes don’t matter to the faithful. The believing is all that matters.

A thousand buses / hour into…

Also what a moronic thing to say..

I wonder what Auckland did before cars were invented, people must have just sat down in grids of four and wondered what they were missing..

Auckland started as a waka city, then a horse…

The CBD bus terminal must already be at capacity because Birkenhead buses are forced to turn right at…

But the thing that resonated with me about this post was…

They are afraid of Auckland becoming a City State like those who ruled Europe for centuries.

Fair point – and it would be *cough* legally prudent not to suggest anything else, but I do think it's fair comment (and honest opinion) to suggest a disturbingly large number of cases that come to the Office of the Ombudsmen…

That's a fair call, because I'm still entirely capable of opening my mouth, disengaging my brain and showing my arse with unedifying regularity.…

Auckland Transport considers itself within the…

This isn't the place for this and I'm not going to sacrifice the discussion to the policing of a vernacular we all, you included, use.

No, Russell, it’s not “pretty basic democracy” it’s OBEYING THE LAW. If Auckland Transport officials don’t like the…

Classic case of sour grapes on Hide's part, especially since he's no longer in a position to potentially do a Greater…

Yup, it's like there's no such thing as…

I'm all for trains, and buses but reading that reminded me of the rail crossing at Henderson along Railside Ave. It's quite common for the…

I think it's important to have commentators who aren't afraid to to be wrong, in that they're willing to…

Car-dependent transportation models create self-fulfilling prophecies of gridlock by pushing land uses apart and densities down, leading to communities that are unwalkable and not viable for transit.

A car-centric model forces people into their cars…

Take a look at somewhere like Vancouver. It…

Doesn't it sound awfully…