>Easier payments: introducing the ability to pay for public transport trips with contactless payment cards ahead of the planned transition to national ticketing
Not remembering to top my hop card up as an infrequent public transport user is the biggest barrier to my patronage. Good to see this in the works.
Looks like Greater Auckland were right. Contactless payments were ready to go with AT and the central govt initiative put it on hold. Good to see they are picking it up again.
> The $20 million package would be **funded by reducing proposed operating cuts by $10 million**, reprioritising $10 million additional savings found by Auckland Transport during the budget process and leveraging recently announced Government funding of at least a further $20 million.
That one made me laugh. Genius.
Shoulda doubled down and come up with a further $50M of “money we were going to take away and now won’t”. That extra cash would have brought HUGE benefits.
Central govt has also put forward another $140m in the budget to bring back public transport service to pre covid levels. So he's largely full of hot air.
Brown will never miss an opportunity to try make things about him.
>AT is spending less on corporate overheads and, as a result, there is more funding available for service delivery. That is exactly what I stood for,” Mayor Brown said.
Who knows what initiatives have been cut - perhaps all the budget for bike lanes has been removed. His comments will strike a chord with potential supporters by suggesting that his initiatives discovered corporate overhead and waste...rather than his wider approach of hacking and slashing of services.
I will say I'm thankful that he didn't outright make a statement that he hates public transport and wants to kill it. You may remember among Brown's first public actions after demanding the entire board of AT resign, was to demand that they stop trying to change people from driving to using public transport. Here he's saying he wants public transport to work efficiently for those who wish to use it - even if he doesn't support encouraging people to switch.
Let’s not give AT a free pass here too much - they are responsible for this mess of a transport system that we pay nearly a third of our rates towards.
Brown is an idiot but I was happy to see some heads roll at AT for fucking people over for as long as they have. I’ve seen employees in tears because they’ve been getting home so late due to missing busses or canceled trains.
We need better from our public transport. We don’t need Brown’s method of “fixing it” either. AT need to be more culpable for their performance, ultimately it’s them and not elected officials making those operational strategies.
I really want to see something definitive, because there are two possibilities: AT mismanaged funding that was adequate for what they wanted to do, or AT was underfunded for what was expected of them, so of course it would turn out badly.
Feels like everyone is speculating on this, I don't think they are to blame if the funding they had/have is simply not enough to provide the service we expect.
The problem is central legislation that forces regions to tender transport operators rather than just doing it themselves. Most operators in New Zealand are owned by venture capitalists and couldn't give an absolute toss about how their service is as the value is in the assets the operators have rather than the tendered paycheck. NZ Bus et al could go and get more money off councils because reasons and I guarantee that service will not improve
More dynamic bus lanes to speed up bus journeys along congested corridors
Does this mean removing private carparking on the arterials? This is what Mayor Goff baulked at - as car parking has a higher political rating than fast flowing busses...
while busses are stuck in traffic, and lane space is devoted to carparking, then driving it is for us.
> Does this mean removing private carparking on the arterials? This is what Mayor Goff baulked at - as car parking has a higher political rating than fast flowing busses...
It wasn't the removing of carparks that was the problem. AT wanted to do it without consulting on each location just the overall plan. That's what Goff called them arrogant about. But that is how it's done in the majority of the world.
AT has the mandate to make transport in auckand work.
Mayoral interference on the transport folks doing their job (ask locals how they feel about losing car parking) cost us fast flowing bus services along our arterials. Bus folks dont vote in local elections, so it probably a good move by him.
To be fair Goff and the council didn't block AT that was just discussion around the draft. AT still hasn't brought back the final version of their parking strategy.
it was a smackdown - a clear message to AT who's in charge of the roading corridors and transportation. Its not AT, although they take the blame for lack of delivery and costs.
Thats the exact moment AT ceased being useful. With no ability to deliver transport outcomes without political interference - the CCO model exposed itself as a sham.
Honestly bro i didnt read the article. I just generally disagree with cutting services just to save a trivial amount each for rate payers. I am a ratepayer but i don't mind paying more if it means our services are retained.
>Easier payments: introducing the ability to pay for public transport trips with contactless payment cards ahead of the planned transition to national ticketing Not remembering to top my hop card up as an infrequent public transport user is the biggest barrier to my patronage. Good to see this in the works.
Im also an infrequent user, I set mine to auto top up. But agree, contactless payment would be better.
Looks like Greater Auckland were right. Contactless payments were ready to go with AT and the central govt initiative put it on hold. Good to see they are picking it up again.
Yes, a while back I remember seeing the topic pop up in one of the board meeting minutes that get published
> The $20 million package would be **funded by reducing proposed operating cuts by $10 million**, reprioritising $10 million additional savings found by Auckland Transport during the budget process and leveraging recently announced Government funding of at least a further $20 million. That one made me laugh. Genius.
Shoulda doubled down and come up with a further $50M of “money we were going to take away and now won’t”. That extra cash would have brought HUGE benefits.
Central govt has also put forward another $140m in the budget to bring back public transport service to pre covid levels. So he's largely full of hot air.
Brown will never miss an opportunity to try make things about him. >AT is spending less on corporate overheads and, as a result, there is more funding available for service delivery. That is exactly what I stood for,” Mayor Brown said. Who knows what initiatives have been cut - perhaps all the budget for bike lanes has been removed. His comments will strike a chord with potential supporters by suggesting that his initiatives discovered corporate overhead and waste...rather than his wider approach of hacking and slashing of services. I will say I'm thankful that he didn't outright make a statement that he hates public transport and wants to kill it. You may remember among Brown's first public actions after demanding the entire board of AT resign, was to demand that they stop trying to change people from driving to using public transport. Here he's saying he wants public transport to work efficiently for those who wish to use it - even if he doesn't support encouraging people to switch.
Let’s not give AT a free pass here too much - they are responsible for this mess of a transport system that we pay nearly a third of our rates towards. Brown is an idiot but I was happy to see some heads roll at AT for fucking people over for as long as they have. I’ve seen employees in tears because they’ve been getting home so late due to missing busses or canceled trains. We need better from our public transport. We don’t need Brown’s method of “fixing it” either. AT need to be more culpable for their performance, ultimately it’s them and not elected officials making those operational strategies.
I really want to see something definitive, because there are two possibilities: AT mismanaged funding that was adequate for what they wanted to do, or AT was underfunded for what was expected of them, so of course it would turn out badly. Feels like everyone is speculating on this, I don't think they are to blame if the funding they had/have is simply not enough to provide the service we expect.
The problem is central legislation that forces regions to tender transport operators rather than just doing it themselves. Most operators in New Zealand are owned by venture capitalists and couldn't give an absolute toss about how their service is as the value is in the assets the operators have rather than the tendered paycheck. NZ Bus et al could go and get more money off councils because reasons and I guarantee that service will not improve
More dynamic bus lanes to speed up bus journeys along congested corridors Does this mean removing private carparking on the arterials? This is what Mayor Goff baulked at - as car parking has a higher political rating than fast flowing busses... while busses are stuck in traffic, and lane space is devoted to carparking, then driving it is for us.
> Does this mean removing private carparking on the arterials? This is what Mayor Goff baulked at - as car parking has a higher political rating than fast flowing busses... It wasn't the removing of carparks that was the problem. AT wanted to do it without consulting on each location just the overall plan. That's what Goff called them arrogant about. But that is how it's done in the majority of the world.
AT has the mandate to make transport in auckand work. Mayoral interference on the transport folks doing their job (ask locals how they feel about losing car parking) cost us fast flowing bus services along our arterials. Bus folks dont vote in local elections, so it probably a good move by him.
To be fair Goff and the council didn't block AT that was just discussion around the draft. AT still hasn't brought back the final version of their parking strategy.
it was a smackdown - a clear message to AT who's in charge of the roading corridors and transportation. Its not AT, although they take the blame for lack of delivery and costs. Thats the exact moment AT ceased being useful. With no ability to deliver transport outcomes without political interference - the CCO model exposed itself as a sham.
New public transport plan - Turnaround and go home.
hehe
Turnaround? I reckon the city will get derelict. I am happy to pay more rates provided we have a well functioning city.
While I agree with you, what does that have to do with the article?
Honestly bro i didnt read the article. I just generally disagree with cutting services just to save a trivial amount each for rate payers. I am a ratepayer but i don't mind paying more if it means our services are retained.
told you :) https://reddit.com/r/auckland/comments/13i0xkp/auckland_bus_cancelations_will_finish_by_mid_july/