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Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

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We advocate to make our great city of Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland an even greater place to live, move around, and connect with each other.

About us: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/about-greater-auckland/

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Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

"Auckland Solutions for Wellington Problems" 🙃

@scootfoundation.bsky.social – the semi-serious and proudly Auckland-based candidate for mayor of Wellington – proposes a southern "city rail link", connecting the airport to the heart of the city.

A capital idea! How about it, cousins?

A tweet by ScootFoundation, aka Scott Caldwell, who is running semi-jocularly for Mayor of Wellington. It contains an image of a proposed Wellington City Rail Link, and the text: "Auckland and Wellington faced the same problem: the train system doesn’t take you into the heart of the city The difference? Auckland is doing something about it: the CRL.
As mayor, I promise to bring Auckland Solutions for Wellington Problems.
Vote scoot #1 today!"

October 9, 2025 at 10:58 PM

Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

Three major crashes today on roads where the current NZ govt *increased* the speed limit (previously lowered for safety reasons) in pursuit of "productivity"?

Serious injuries. Lengthy closures. Costly disruptions to lives, whānau, the transport network, our health system. This is not productive. 😞

"Pedestrian seriously injured after being hit by car, Botany Rd in East Auckland closed." Screenshot of a news story in the NZ Herald from Monday 29 September 2025. The first line of the story reads: "A worker close to the site where a pedestrian was struck by a car in East Auckland said he heard a loud “bang” noise before a rush of sirens."

This year, Botany Rd was one of over 1400 Auckland streets that had its speed limit raised by order of the current government, in this case, from 50km/h back up to 60km/h. In a move that runs counter to evidence and good practice, the government's new Speed Rule (authored by Simeon Brown and rolled out by Chris Bishop) *reversed* speed reductions implemented since 2020 on the spurious grounds that safer speeds impacted "productivity".

The speed reductions were aimed at making roads safer for everyone using them, whether in a car or not. A quick search of "Botany Rd serious crash" explains why Botany was one of them.

Today's crash seems to have happened along a stretch of Botany Rd that has shops and bus stops on both sides of the road, but the nearest signalised crossings are around half a kilometre away in either direction.

"Six hurt in SH1 crash near Taupō." Screenshot of a Radio NZ news story from Monday 29 September 2025. This stretch of State Highway 1 recently had its speed limit raised back up to 100kmh from 60kmh. The speed limit had been lowered due to a history of serious and fatal crashes along this key route.

Many locals were appalled by the reversal, as the highway runs through popular and busy holiday towns. For context, see this story from June 2025, in which the Taupō District Council's deputy mayor describes it as "grossly inappropriate”. https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/360717092/holiday-communities-livid-about-speed-limit-reversals and this NZ Herald story https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-speed-rules-100kmh-through-a-lake-taupo-campground/G2VZI4VSJZCTLKP3K444D6H2VU/ which describes some of the worst crashes in this area. "Until 2020, the speed limit remained 100km/h. Between 2000 and August 2023, there were 284 crashes reported on the 10km stretch of road from Motutere to Hallets Bay. Nine were fatal and 22 others were serious."

"'Significant delays' afer stock truck rolls on SH5 Napier Taupō Road." Screenshot of a Radio NZ news story from Monday 29 September 2025. SH5 had its speed limit raised this year back up to 100km/h from 80km/h, as a priority of the current government.

Speeds had been reduced to 80km/h due to the ongoing history of serious and fatal crashes on this highway, which is the only link between Napier and Taupō. The return to 100km/h sparked concern from road safety experts.

For further context, see this story from February 2025: "An independent study released after the drop to 80km/h concluded the lower speed limit on Napier-Taupō Rd prevented 34 crashes in the first 12 months following its implementation. Crash data also showed there had been fewer crashes on Napier-Taupō Rd since the drop to 80km/h." https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/napier-taupo-rd-speed-limit-rise-to-100kmh-sparks-safety-debate/5QTIH2LPTFGAFAAOWTME3AD7IE/

September 29, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

"Wtf is going on?" You can count on @haydendonnell.bsky.social to ask the major questions – and today's live-blog of Auckland Council's housing debate was no exception. (Includes faithful transcription of some highly questionable metaphors.)

thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-...

Text from the linked Spinoff article by Hayden Donnell. This snippet reads:

Wtf is going on

Waitematā councillor Mike Lee is speaking against today’s proposed plan change. Or at least I think he is. He’s talking about the Byzantine emperor Theophiles, who reigned from 829 to 842AD. “The emperor was processing from one end of Constantinople to another as he did every week and he was stopped by an elderly widow who complained to the emperor that a relation, I think it was his brother-in-law, was expanding the palace so much so to block all her light,” he says. “And the emperor responded by having his brother-in-law tear down the palace. And I think we should take an example from that.”

Something to think about, for sure.

Another snippet from Hayden's coverage of today's meeting, this time Maurice Williamson's choice of metaphors for the two options. It reads:

Incisive stuff. But then, a controversial moment. “We’ve been almost given the choice between the firing squad and a lethal injection,” says Williamson. There’s a hubbub around the council table. It’s not the first time councillors have used questionable metaphors when opposing dense housing, with Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa councillor Christine Fletcher comparing the townhouse law to “gang rape” in a meeting four years ago. “I’m asking for the violent language to stop when we talk about housing,” says committee chair Richard Hills. “It’s a metaphor,” grouses Williamson, though he agrees to amend to “two ghastly options”.

September 24, 2025 at 7:13 AM

Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

"How have we allowed the humble bicycle to be weaponised? How have we created a property right in curb-side parking?
[...] Transport policy is not just about least-cost now. Policy choices shape where we live and how we live our lives."

A good read from Rod Carr: www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...

The image shows a bike flag made by a child: handmade paper banners attached to a bamboo wand, saying: "We want bike lanes", "BIKES ARE CHOICE", and "ANYWHERE" (with a cool picture of a ringed planet).

The picture was taken at an all-ages rally held in February 2018, when hundreds of kids & adults biked the route of the planned local cycle network through Auckland's Grey Lynn, as a public show of support and a demonstration of the scale of local suppressed demand. Video of the ride is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67JPfe5tH0

At the end of the ride, Auckland Transport's then-CEO expressed "unwavering commitment" to delivering the network. Almost eight years later, the then-primary school child who made these banners is at university, and the bike lanes are yet to be constructed. Meanwhile, Auckland is seeing climate change impacts at street level... including a swathe of local houses lost to flooding in recent extreme weather events. (Ironically, the space where they stood will become a short blue-greenway walk/bike link.)

In a small piece of good news, a section of the original plan (Surrey Crescent, past Grey Lynn School as far as the Bullock Track) is set to be installed before Christmas 2025, as part of a scheduled road renewal that's taking a "build back better" approach. This has strong support from community members, the residents' association, business association and schools. That will leave Old Mill Rd and a section of Garnet Rd, and once complete, this local section will connect the Great North Road bike lanes at the city end to the recently constructed Meola Road/ Westmere Village/ Pt Chev local bike lanes at the other.

The bit about to get underway is a win, and better late than never. And yet it's still just one part of a much larger and necessary picture – as per the linked op-ed, which calls for "more affordable, more sustainable, and more resilient transport technologies in New Zealand". (Image credit and alt text: Jolisa Gracewood)

September 8, 2025 at 11:27 PM

Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

Got a great idea. at.govt.nz/about-us/new...

May 1, 2025 at 11:39 PM

Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

Always

April 19, 2025 at 7:22 AM

Greater Auckland

@greaterauckland.bsky.social

Wild that "extent to which this project is bigger than it needs to be" was a key criteria driving light-rail decision making. A sorry tale of a good project sadly becoming rotten to its core over time.