Hard News by Russell Brown

Done in the style of the London Underground.

Interesting, and I can't really recall having heard of this before (but Muldoon did visit my intermediate school as the local MP in the mid 80's). Hindsight is of course a wonderful thing, and the face palm comes quickly when thinking 'why didn't this happen then, it would have been so good today'. Tempering that is my memories of both AKL traffic thru the 90s (mostly deserted roads) and the likes of Newmarket station (a desolate backwater), not to mention the massive decline in the rail network nationally which seems to have occurred over the last 30 or so years. So its tough, and yes today the need for more effective PT is compelling.

On a side note, there are parallels of sorts to Melbourne - an extensive spoke network has been in place for ~100 years, but patronage was highest decades ago after which it declined and declined for years as people opted for the convenience of their cars. Cue rising petrol prices and population growth, and suddenly trains started getting patronage growth and suddenly the lack of ongoing investment is apparent like a pimple on yer nose (i.e the network is still run by a computer system from the 80s). Furthermore, the need for cross suburb connections are stronger now too but oops, the inner and outer circle rail lines were closed decades ago (with corridors mostly sold off, but the capital city bike trail traces the inner circle line), meaning the recent proposal for an outer ring line will cost $50 billion or so ....

Finally got there today. Was good to see Gifford's work, hearing his voice on the video took me back to the 1980s Product Design drawing sessions he taught at (then) Carrington Tech. I was in awe of the combination of precision and art in his (all hand drawn) illustrations and design