Posts by Matthew Poole
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Considering that Joyce always justifies his motorway building projects by stating that they will contribute to increasing wealth and economic growth, it's kind of ironic that road-building lowers property values while public transport projects increase them.
Yes, but it's only poor people whose property values are affected by motorway construction. They never build them through wealthy areas, and it's only the rich who matter. The proles can just STFU and find some other slum in which to dwell.
The wealth and economic growth to which Joyce refers is the wealth of his RCF-and-associated-industries buddies, and the economic growth is that of their companies. -
I don't agree that we should plan as though cars/trucks will be going away. They won't. Be it electricity or biofuels, something will replace petroleum fuels - if only for trucks, and in that case it's in our interests to ensure that they've got the quickest available routes between manufacturing and export locations. That future needs to be considered, because if it's not we'll just be having the motorways argument in another 40 years' time. Better to get it out of the way now, but plan for greatly-increased utilisation of public transport at the same time. They aren't either/or propositions.
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It also says, further down, "140 Electric Multiple Units ($410 million)". From those two numbers, we can estimate between $2.93m and $3.51m per EMU.
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Oh, the report Joshua links to say $263m for 75 units, but that's also the absolute minimum number and more would be advised.
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this $100 million
Isn't it also approximately the amount that would allow the electric trains to be purchased right away
Hard to tell. The actual cost doesn't seem to be anywhere. What we do know is that Wellington's getting 96 new electric railcars, the cost will be $235m, and the taxpayer's footing 90% of the bill. They'll also be getting them in a couple of years.
Where the fuck is Auckland's share?!?!?!
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Result - billions of dollars later, Melbourne's traffic speeds are actually slower.
Sacha, it gets better. According to this article in Scientific American, "when planners in Seoul tore down a six-lane highway a few years ago and replaced it with a five-mile-long park, many transportation professionals were surprised to learn that the city’s traffic flow had actually improved, instead of worsening."
It continues to say that forcing drivers to take a route that is most efficient for the "herd", rather than the route that is most beneficial to themselves, improves overall flows. The article invokes some minor game theory, including the Nash equilibrium concept, to explain why forcing non-selfish behaviour works.
It's very interesting, actually makes sense, and is, sadly, totally counter to what's really going on in the realm of transport planning for Auckland. I have no particular problem with the Waterview connection being completed, not least of the reasons being that the partially-finished motorway ring demonstrates remarkable frailty at times. Giving traffic a fully-functioning alternative route between south and west can only really be seen as a good thing. Other than that, however, there seems to be very little consideration to transport plans that don't involve laying more concrete and asphalt.
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A motorway for weekend travellers to Omaha is absurd when there are so many other transport NEEDS in the region.
The money they're going to spend on the scoping project would pay about 2/3 of the cost of an integrated ticketing solution, including the running costs for at least a couple of years. And sadly, even if the scoping project comes back with a recommendation that the road not proceed, it will Still. Bloody. Happen!
Just how dire the situation is was apparent when Joel Cayford said that civil servants are talking about how Joyce simply won't listen. As Cayford said, they're normally loyal in silence, so for the disquiet to be voiced is very significant.
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Cullen at least had the defence of having spent no significant length of time in Auckland - raised in Christchurch, educated in Christchurch and Edinburgh, employed in Dunedin and Canberra. Joyce lives in Albany, Key lives in Parnell and is MP for Helensville, and Hide lives in Remuera and is MP for Epsom. None of them has the slightest excuse, as you say.
The only explanation that actually makes sense, except for outright wilful ignorance, is that National are so thoroughly in the thrall of roading-related special interests (not just the RCF, though they're a major suspect, but also the likes of Winstone, Stevenson, and Fulton Hogan) that they can't possibly "sell out" and do what's best for Joe and Josephine Aucklander.
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We need a motorway from Warkworth to Wellsford? Really? It'll maybe save 5 minutes - probably less.
Yes, but Andre, that's five fewer minutes that it'll take Shon Key to get to/from his mansion at Omaha. These things are a matter of great national importance! Oh, and Joyce is also rumoured to be wanting to replace Lockwood as MP for Rodney.
On a more depressing note, I have to agree with Rudman putting the blame at Labour's well-dragged feet. Had they not fucked about and fucked about over public transport for Auckland, National would've inherited things that were already happening rather than a bunch of plans that can be ignored, mutilated and otherwise kept from ever being implemented.
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did Apple never actually do a daylight savings update for 10.3.9?
Lyndon, quite possibly not. It took them long enough to produce an official update for 10.4 - to the point that everybody here had passed around and installed at least one of the various third-party fixes before Apple even acknowledged that the rules for NZDT/NZST had changed.