Cities, transport and economic and climate transitions. Social Entrepreneur in Residence and Adjunct Lecturer @masseyuni.
United Kingdom
Joined January 2009
- Tweets11.5K
- Following883
- Followers5.5K
- Likes63.5K
Pinned Tweet
Today council has given me the job of Transport Chair. My top priority is a reliable bus service and, to achieve that, I’ll have a laser like focus on building up the driver workforce. I also want to make sure our transport network is accessible and affordable to everyone. 1/4 – at Wellington City, New Zealand
Big moment today to help sign the contract with Alstom for 19 new trains to serve people in the lower North Island from 2029. This will allow us to quadruple rail services to Palmerston North, double services to Masterton and open up more development around railway stations. 1/
ALT Me signing the contract for new trains with Alstom representatives in Wellington.
Very grateful to the Greater Wellington staff who led this procurement and to Horizons Regional Council and the other partner organisations and external advisors. The support of various Ministers over the years, including Transport Minister Chris Bishop, has been critical. 4/
Bringing Wellington’s bus depots under public control is already helping attract interest from a wider range of bus companies. Public ownership of critical assets can help secure public services, drive competition and get a better deal for the public.
thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360802…
This new Harbour Quays bus route is big. Speeding up bus trips through the city makes daily life better for people, gets more bus frequency for the same cost and services more destinations. I hope the government will reconsider its decision not to help fund this infrastructure.
ALT Map showing the proposed Harbour Quays bus route with existing Golden Mile stops and proposed future Harbour Quays stops.
Thomas Nash retweeted
#BusNews: Plans for a long-awaited second Wellington city centre bus route running along the waterfront quays are beginning to take shape, and the Capital’s two councils will decide in August whether to progress them.
Wellington needs council candidates to focus on affordable, high value for money projects they can actually deliver. Bus lanes, especially on the Harbour Quays, are a good example. Saving 10 mins for each of the 70,000 bus trips people take each day through the city is big. 1/
ALT Map of the proposed faster buses route through the city noir to the eastern suburbs.
ALT Fact sheet on the faster buses proposal
The Harbour Quays bus route will give back 700,000 minutes overall, that’s 11,600 hours a day at a cost of $10m. This is why the benefit cost ratio will be so high. I wouldn’t be surprised if it works out 10 times better value than any of the proposed urban motorway tunnels. 2/
Thomas Nash retweeted
Your Wellington Greens are committing to delivering a faster and more efficient bus network with bus lanes, stop improvements, and priority lights all the way from Seatoun to the Railway station
Thomas Nash retweeted
#BusNews: A Happy Valley site has been purchased by Greater Wellington for the development of a bus depot as part of the regional council’s Public Transport Asset Control Strategy.
MORE: metlink.org.nz/news-and-upda…
Quite a striking increase in Wellington’s weekend bus use. Saturday is up 31% from 2019, Sunday up 45%. In this period we increased our off peak discount and boosted off peak frequency, reducing drivers’ inconvenient split shifts. Still loads of untapped potential off peak.
ALT Bar graph showing increase in weekend bus patronage in the Wellington region between 2019 and 2025.
Thomas Nash retweeted
Please encourage anybody considering voting for Ray Chung or the IT candidates to read this about their links to extremist groups, or if you can, look at the Better Wellington socials to see what and who is driving this. thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360688…
My take on the new maintenance and renewal funding for the government’s rail assets. This new funding needs to be part of a wider shift towards a new and fit for purpose rail model that properly recognises the value of rail for our cities and our economy.
thepost.co.nz/politics/36069…
This new $143m covers the next two years of maintenance and renewals of the Crown’s rail assets. It should help lift some of the speed restrictions KiwiRail has put on the network due to the state of its assets and allow time to agree a new funding model.
rnz.co.nz/news/national/5615…
Wellington has doubled bus lanes and bus priority over this council term. One result is afternoon peak travel times from Newtown to the city are a third faster. But the full benefits of these bus lane time savings rely on doing the Golden Mile and Harbour Quays projects ASAP. 1/
ALT Graphic showing bus travel times on the Newtown to Courtenay Place corridor from 2019 to 2025, showing a signs and reduction in afternoon peak travel times.