As a reluctant blogger, I’ve been bewildered by the success of AKT and its undeniable influence. First launched as aucklandtrains.co.nz, it began as an independent voice for improvement to Auckland rail pressing for a City rail loop and airport rail link long before it became fashionable and a key part of Auckland Council’s Plan.

I have created thousands of posts of original copy and there are more than 20,000 photos documenting the important last four years of Auckland’s development including the march towards rail electrification – photos and coverage not found anywhere else online. For that reason, the site remains live for the time being.

But this is my last post.

I want to especially thank those who have helped – you know who you are. Besides readers there have been the politicans both from central and local government, officials and staff from Auckland Transport, NZTA, KiwiRail, Auckland Council, Greater Wellington Council, Veolia, and others.

You’ve answered my queries, slipped me stuff and taken issue with me while recognising I’m entitled to my opinion. You are good people with your heart in the right place.

You, the reader, who have commented on articles have helped make what a good site should be – a lively vehicle for important debate. You have been awesome.

My favourite comment contributor remains a certain right wing Nat party politician with a good sense of humour who always got a bite but was remarkably and no doubt deliberately moderate here compared to what he does say in the more official public arena.

No-one ever guessed it was you, which was hilarious. Sir, your secret remains totally safe with me!

Thanks too to those in the mainstream media & Scoop who have paid me respect, quoted me, communicated with me, exchanged tips and even worked discretely together on stories. That has meant a lot.

In a few days from writing this, I will enjoying faster integrated public transport in Australia as I have in just the last few weeks decided to sadly join the brain drain.

Why? I love NZ , would love to stay and love running this site which is enjoying huge popularity and has a busy but fun project.

Auckland under Mayor Len Brown has offered a 30 year or so vision for how Auckland should be and it’s starting to show improvement that makes me believe it will become the exciting liveable city he wants it to be but he’ll need central Government to let him get there.

Nationally all our politicians are so focus-group obsessed they aren’t prepared to think beyond next week’s opinion polls let alone give us a vision of how NZ will ride out the world’s gloomy financial situation and take bold brave innovative moves to guarantee our future.

I want them to try things.

Why is there no gathering of ex-pats who have made their name overseas to find out what would entice them home or what they have learnt in the big wide world and trends they have been picked up that could be applied here.

No gathering of the creative bold thinkers amongst us to find out how to collectively work out solutions that ride above the usual gutter politics so that politicians from across parties work in the bigger interests of New Zealand to craft a long-term vision they buy into.

My reluctant decision to join the exodus is not financially driven as the media usually portrays in discussing why people move.  It’s because I’m increasingly frustrated if not depressed that NZ could be so much better, so much more interesting, and more able to hang on to people so they can do stuff here and still enjoy the lifestyle that makes NZ special.

I want to thrive in an environment that is positive, looks ahead not just obsessing about wrongs of the past and understands where the world is at in 2012 including in terms of transport, an issue obviously dear to my heart. And with a thousand people heading off a week, too many of my like minded friends have already made the move and I am sick of reading their Facebook posts about their life in their new world and how much more positive they feel about navigating the stormy global uncertainties ahead.

I’m not so naive as to assume Australia is nirvana without its own problems but it’s a big place and it will be a start, however hard it is to wrench myself away from family and friends, replace a nice laid back comfort zone at the bottom of the world  and, to be honest, to write these words that means this post signals the end of the fun of providing this site.

My blogging days are parked  so don’t expect an Australian AKT.  For as long as I can afford it, I’ll leave this running for a little longer as an historical  online record of  what’s happened over the last few years.

That’s it. Thank you. Good luck.

Jon C

Here were AKT’s craziest moments 

Below are photos of when most of the stern section of the Rena slipped off the reef. Photos were provided by  MNZ.

The bridge of the Rena (part of the stern section) almost totally submerged.

Debris start to emerge from the submerged section of Rena

The bridge of the Rena (part of the stern section) almost totally submerged.

Shot of Rena with the stern section fallen off the reef while the bow remains in place. The bridge is almost totally submerged.

Below are photos of the ship when separated into two pieces that were 20-30m apart. The forward section of the ship was still in its original position on the reef, with the stern section broken away and moving significantly, but still on the reef.

Both sections of the vessel still remained on the reef, with the forward section remaining firmly wedged, while the aft section has separated and moved clockwise (or to starboard) about 13 degrees.

Below are earlier photos:

Rena dec 4 |MNZ

Oil still leaving rena Dec 4 | MNZ

RENA: How is it staying afloat? | MNZ

RENA: Salvors are back on board | MNZ

RENA: Salvage divers resurface after inspecting the buckling on the starboard side |MNZ

Rena awaiting more bad weather | MNZ

Rena as seen by helicopter inspection | MNZ

Rena in this morning's fog | MNZ

Rena this morning after a rough night | MNZ

RENA: How it looks today

RENA: New oil hose being prepared for pumping on board Go Canopus | MNZ

Tanks on board the bollard pull tug Go Canopus, heading to Rena | MNZ

Rena: Access to the pumping is through small hole | Svitzer

Accessing Rena by rope ladder | Svitzer

Conditions on board Rena |Svizter

Rena on her 21 degree list | NZDF

Line taking oil from Rena to Awanuia is supported by buoys between the ships | NZDF

Rena ifractured across the hull to ort side, where hull is cracked & buckling |NZDF

A fracture and buckling extends down Rena's hull on the port side |NZDF

Rena listing at 21 degrees | MNZ

Containers look as if about to fall of Rena |MTNZ

Rena showing a 21 degree list | MNZ

Rena lists to starboard while Awanuia recieves oil before pumping stopped| MNZ

The next group of photos and video were shot by the Defence Force flying over:

Rena on reef |NZDF

Rena on reef |NZDF

Rena on reef |NZDF

Rena on reef |NZDF

Oil on the beach | Gemz Photography

Container washed onshore | Greenpeace

Hundreds of dead oiled birds lie on the shoreline | Gemz Photography

Cleanup on Papamoa Beach. |MNZ

Rena cleanup volunteer Rona Marie Otene | MNZ

Maritime emergency centre

Numbers refer to water depth under and around Rena | Maritime NZ

Rena this morning | NZDF

All four lanes on the flyover will carry southbound traffic and the NZTA is advising drivers to prepare well for the changes, which are being made as part of the staged completion of the Victoria Park Tunnel project.

All additional southbound motorway capacity will open at the same time as the new layout on the viaduct. This includes an fifth traffic lane through St Marys Bay and a city bound bus lane.

All additional northbound motorway capacity will open in March, including the third lane in the Victoria Park tunnel.

There will be no opportunity for drivers to change direction once they are on the flyover because the central barrier that previously separated northbound and southbound traffic will remain.

The southbound lanes to the left of the barrier will take drivers off SH1 to the CBD via Cook Street, east to the Port and west to the North Western Motorway (SH16). The two lanes to the right of the barrier will continue south on SH1 to Newmarket and beyond.

Tommy Parker, the NZTA”s local State Highways Manager calls it the biggest change on Auckland’s central motorway network since the viaduct was opened in 1962.

“We are strongly recommending that drivers chose their correct lane early, while they are still on the North Shore approaching the harbour bridge to reduce dangerous lane changes through St Marys Bay.

“It’s well proven internationally that drivers don’t gain anything by frequent lane changing. In fact, they slow the entire network down. By getting into the correct lane early, and staying in that lane, they will help make the drive through St Marys Bay a lot safer and smoother for everyone.”

VICTORIA PARK FLYOVER; Now comes the big test

Motorway signs from Onewa to the viaduct are being upgraded to reflect the new layout on the Victoria Park flyover.

Here’s a video explaining it.

• The two lanes on the Auckland Harbour Bridge northbound box girder extension, or clip-on, will be closed by the NZ Transport Agency from Boxing Day for routine resurfacing work.

The closure will start from 5am, Monday 26 December, until Sunday 8 January 2012. As well as the two bridge lanes, the Curran Street on-ramp and the Stafford Road off-ramp will also be closed.

During the closure, the six other traffic lanes on the harbour bridge will remain open – three in each direction.

Maersk Line announced today it’s permanently shifting its Southern Star container shipping service from Auckland to Tauranga -which will be good for rail.
The Auckland port company will lose nearly $20m in revenue annually as well as 52 ship calls and 82,500 containers.

Maersk containers on Auckland's port

Port of Tauranga Chief Executive, Mark Cairns, said they’ve been working for some time to attract a new import ship call to Tauranga to better balance our MetroPort rail shuttle service to and from Auckland.

The shock news caused Auckland’s port company to postpone today’s mediation with the Maritime Union of New Zealand over its dispute.

Auckland Ports CEO Tony Gibson said the Southern Star was one of Auckland’s largest shipping services.

“Maersk have explained to us that the possibility of further industrial unrest has been central to their decision to shift the service to Tauranga. We had already warned the union that their strike action, during one of the busiest times in the shipping schedule, could cost Ports of Auckland a major customer and threaten jobs.”

“However, despite these warnings, a very fair offer on the table and a further offer of a paid stop work meeting, the union proceeded with its strike over last weekend, has already given notice of another strike this Friday, and is continuing to signal the possibility of further strikes, saying publicly it will do ‘whatever it takes.’”

The service loss is effective from this week’s vessel, the Euro Max voyage 126N, which will now call Tauranga on Saturday.

Maersk Line is the world’s largest container shipping line, operating in conjunction with Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad . Its new port rotationwill be : Tanjung Pelapas (Malaysia), Singapore, Tauranga, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers, Tanjung Pelapas.

Port of Tauranga says it’s starting “a significant capital expenditure programme over the next few years to ensure that the Port continues to provide customers with world class levels of productivity.”

The Employers and Manufacturers Association says Auckland importers and exporters can ill afford the extra time and cost of freighting goods to and from Tauranga or via other alternatives.

Kim Campbell, EMA’s chief executive says shifting more containers to and from Tauranga “won’t help our carbon footprint with unnecessary rail freight and more trucks on the road. Longer lead times, and increased costs are not what we need. All businesses need to adopt more flexible work practices to retain their competitiveness, and the law must ensure managers are able to manage a business.

“Any suggestion that a union owns jobs in a workplace is completely outdated.”The longer term implications are that New Zealand’s reputation as a supplier of quality goods, and our credibility as an exporter are being put at risk. “It’s one thing to disrupt the supply of Christmas presents with all the pain that causes our retailers, and another entirely to cause permanent damage to a major part of New Zealand’s supply chain.

“We certainly hope this is not the beginning of an exodus of work from the ports of Auckland.”

The curious observation from 4 years of writing this is that it’s usually not the stories where you tread on sacred crows and sweat that it will cause a storm that really get you in trouble.

It’s some innocent story you think only a few will bother reading that ends going viral globally and while it roars around the net for weeks, takes on a life of its own.

Before you know, the inbox is full of angry people shouting at you.

AKT’s policy has been rare in the blog world: to do original reporting and photography and not wait to link to stories mainstream media. It has broken many big stories often a week ahead of mainstream media -and as part of its mission, also brought you the good news stories the bad news-obsessed mainstream media ignore.

It’s obvious breaking the news about the electric trains deal will bring massive traffic.

It’s those unexpected hits that turn into the wild surprises and often run the wrath of authorities or sections of the public!

We like to be liked. Running a site like this with the volume of traffic means you have to develop a thick skin.

To be honest, I never got used to the really vile violent emails you get sometimes – but know it comes with the territory.

Fair enough. I have a soapbox (although it’s one that costs me monthly) and others want their contrary opinion recorded too. That’s why the site encourages debate. It’s the debate off the site via email that is often extraordinary if not bizarre. On the positive front, it’s often been the offline debate between people and authorities never publicly recorded that has helped people solve issues and get action behind the scenes. AKT has had numerous of those wins.

But here are just a few of those most popular widely read craziest public moments over the last 4 years:

*  Kill Jon C

Nothing prepared me for the reaction to an innocent post I wrote one Sunday night on a quiet weekend when nothing was happening in the transport world.

It was suppose to be about ways overseas bus companies were changing the seating to accommodate the fact populations were getting fatter.

I thought only the most hardened of PT geeks would get off on a post about the technical challenges of changing bus layouts as I wrote.

In the country that invented obesity along with their fat-saturated fast food, the US Federal Transit Authority proposes raising the assumed average weight per bus passenger from 68 kilos to 80 kilos which will result in fewer people being allowed on each city transit bus.
They say the average American bus rider is now tipping the scale at more than 90 kilos but current federal guidelines on average bus passenger weight are based on surveys in 1960-62 of what Americans weighed then.

The transit authority, which regulates how much weight a bus can carry, also proposes adding an 12 centimetres of floor space per passenger “to acknowledge the expanding girth of the average passenger.”

Before I could finish my breakfast, I found the Herald splashed the story across page three and online declaring I was not only waging war on fatties but was running around taking photos of fat people on Auckland buses.

I wasn’t that stupid. Because I did not have such a photo amongst my own photo library, I had taken a publcly available shot of what I thought was an obvious looking US woman from a US site which had also reported problems with obese people taking up too much room on bus seats.

FAT LADY: This photo brought near death threats

I had loaded the photo – for those who checked under the bonnet- with the name “fat lady” and the storm of protests about political correctness flooded in.

I had no right to call her fat. I mean does she really look fat to you? And if she does you can’t call her by that three letter word.

And I thought I had covered my ass by starting the original post by apologising just in case a non PT geek was reading it:

There is no way of saying this without invoking some politically correct statute and being hauled before a tribunal for hate crimes.
Here goes. Fat people are starting to create an issue on Auckland buses.

The hundreds of angry emails honestly came as close as you can get to death threats. Websites all over the place linked the story and compared me to the Devil.

Trust me to show a photograph of a woman not a man.

Feminist and lesbian groups said I was a terrible male who was attacking minority interests and had to be stopped and supporters of those groups wrote strong emails denouncing me outdoing each other with the rhetoric. To be honest, I stopped reading them when they passed about 1600.

Several said they would contemplate starting proceeedings to make an official complaint to some hate crime tribunal and also contemplating calling the police to stop me taking photos of fat people on buses.

It was the fact I was apparently getting off on taking photos of fat women that brought the strongest language.

The more I tried to explain I wasn’t and the fat lady shown was American and I had no photos of fat people, the more the nutcase brigade blocked their ears and thought they were had discovered the next Nazi war criminal.

I was waiting for a knock on the door from the men in blue.

It took many weeks for the furore to die down. Fortunately I did manage to refuse the Herald running my photo or I would have lynched as I boarded a bus during those weeks especially as I overheard 2 women complaining how outrage it was when talking on the bus one day!

* MetService Water Fail

AKT branched out to cover Auckland beyond rail but a lunchtime stroll in the CBD produced what I thought was just a mild laugh for a photo caption.

The cheeky story in January 2010 was about a clever interactive MetService billboard in Victoria St that was in fact pouring water onto innocent people going past.

WT heck?

Water is pouring down Auckland’s busy Victoria St, wasting precious water and showering people going up and down the busy pavement.

It’s actually raining on pedestrians. It’s all because of this really dumb idea. An interactive ad agency billboard for MetService, that they no doubt thought was so smart it would conquer international awards.

Maybe. But the water pours down from the billboard literally showering people as if a hose has been turned on them. Business people in business attire, who get angry. It forces everyone to avoid the overhead shower and water tricking down the pavement that they cram onto the little dry space left at the edge of the kerb.

A rainshower the MetService never predicted in their forecasts

The Herald’s Sideswipe column reprinted it (everytime Sideswipe quoted AKT over the years, traffic from an early hour went nuts) .

MetService officials were not at amused by the bad AKT coverage.

The “storm” grew leading to a deluge of public outcry and mocking amusement.

But AKT’s coverage got too much for the MetService and presumably their clever dick ad agency.

The billboard was suddenly gone by lunchtime dismantled.

AKT gloated: At lunchtime today, the annoying billboard was empty

MetService got very snarky with AKT:

“The intention wasn’t for water to spray onto the footpath and my understanding is that the wind caused problems for what has proven to be a very popular billboard with lots of positive feedback until that point, and so we have removed it.”

* The $114 coffee takeaway

One Sunday, I came across disgruntled Sandringham Rd café customers  who discovered their cars had been towed away in one speedy military style swoop while they were eating brunch or ordering coffee. The reason was of a towaway zone imposed near Eden Park because of a Sunday afternoon game.

The motorists bitterly complained that when they parked there after 10am that morning there were absolutely no signs on lamp posts warning them not to park there – and  I couldn’t see any in the relevant area when I walked past (see photo).

CARS GONE but no signs. Only notice is the longtime red "Eden Park under development"

There followed a Monty Pythoseque bureaucratic drama with Auckland City Council officers who insisted signs were up. But I refused to give up.

So then they admitted the signs were up at 7.15am – and mysteriously vanished at lunchtime. At one stage it was suggested that maybe someone in broad daylight, in full view of the cafe patrons and busy Mobil service station opposite Eden Park, had come along and ripped down all the signs. Preposterous.

The Herald’s Sideswipe column quoted AKT (for the first time of several) and the battle got more heated as the story got wide appeal.  Parking wardens and towaways strike a deep chord with Aucklanders.

Excellent local politician and Local Board member Christopher Dempsey promnised to get to the bottom of it.

In the end the Council admitted the signs were not there. Sadly, too late for that  poor person in a hurry who roared in for a takeaway, spent hours getting his vehicle back at great expense  and still got no refund for  the tow. The bastards won in the end.

Lesson learnt: When AKT is not around, make sure you take lots of photos as evidence.

I had a series of photos all along the street proving no signs and a mobile video but held off publishing them all in case the Council gave a final ruling the signs were there and I needed to hit them with the full truthful evidence.

* Auckland’s booming new carpark

AKT has long been a loud advocate for the Shared Space concept and has given extensive photographic coverage to its development around the CBD.

When the first Space at Darby St was finished, I applauded it but then, my camera was back on duty – revealing the new Shared Space was being  hijacked and in fact the city’s booming newest carpark.

This was suppose to be a pedestrian friendly car free zone

And as the days rolled on, Auckland Transport parking wardens, usually only too eager to pounce, did nothing and Auckland Transport refusing to respond to the post.

So I kept taking photos twice a day -and actually had dozens up my sleeve to name and shame.

DARBY ST: Photos reveal it wasn't a shared space but a carpark

I even arranged for those living in close by apartments to keep an eye out and they kept sending me photos on almost an hourly basis as they thought it outrageous.

Two days before my post of a week of photos was about to go live action arrived and the Shared Space became a Shared Space.

* Security guard bans train station photos

A reader one afternoon contacted me in distress about an ugly incident at New Lynn where the train station and transport bus hub were still being constructed.

He was wandering around and thought he would take a few photos to update AKT which was very kind – and something several kind readers have done from time to time.

He was confronted by a security guard who tried to seize his camer and stop him taking photos from the street of the new transport hub saying the ARC has banned all photos of the construction until it had been unveiled. The construction was largely behind fences but his photos had been from the street. The security thug demanded his name and rang his office to report a major breach of security. The reader freaked.

The reader says the man wearing a security uniform said he was employed by the ARC and the only photos allowed of the new station were those authorised by the ARC and which they put up online.

Within an hour I posted about how outrageous it was that ARTA was banning photos.

Thanks to ARC Chair Mike Lee an immediate investigation was held and the security guards were told to back off.

AS a result of the AKT story, ARTA instructed the New Lynn transport hub security staff “to take a less bureaucratic and more understanding approach to such events in the future.”

To rub in the security guard’s ban on taking photos in the fenced off transport hub construction zone until it was opened, I provided a page of cleverly Photoshopped images of what it could be like if I had managed to sneak my way in.

A photoshopped van in front of an illustration of the sort of building design New Lynn might be

My Photoshopping was impressive as despite the refusal to let people in to see it, my mocked up photos looked very real when the fences were taken away.

Incidentally, the site has always made it clear that I have taken hundreds of photos in public spaces but if anyone objects to being included in the photos published they only have to ask for them to be removed. Several train managers, because of security concerns, did ask for their photos to be removed on platform shots and for the recored I did.

And I do have to thank the many kind officials and construction staff that have waved me through, turned a blind eye or even posed for the cameras over the years as I have crawled around recording four years of rail and building development in Auckland.

ONEHUNGA CONSTRUCTION; Workers loved posing to get on AKT

Thanks to reader Joust and his friend who sent me a specially made fluro jacket with the AKT logo. Cool present and wearing it helped me get waved into take hundreds of photos.

Only the security staff from one particular security firm found around train stations in particular have been total pricks in trying to block me.

* Big Brother in the carpark

AKT revealed a strange phenomenon concerning carpark payment options which turned up unannounced at the Wynyard Quarter’s carpark.

I wrote:

New style parking meters demand you put in your vehicle number plate -and it wasn’t made clear why the information was needed.

The AKT post went viral and drew many hundreds of angry emails many calling it Big Brother and saying they were going to bombard Auckland Transport with complaints that their rights were being seriously infringed.

I mean where will this monitoring end? Why spying agencies will get wind that I parked at the new Wynyard Quarter!

BIG BROTHER ARRIVES: You are asked for your registration

The Herald picked up the story from AKT and the more Auckland Transport tried to insist they were not spying on people, the more the furore raged and suspicion grew. I even got a serious email from someone saying he was contacting the United Nations! Good luck with that.

Then one night I raced down on a tip that the meters were being yanked out and sure enough the new carpark meters mysteriously had vanished as fast as they came.  It was one of many times I was glad I had photographic evidence what I had said existed, had. There was no longer any physical evidence down at Wynyard.

GONE BY LUNCHTIME: Suddenly the old style meters were back as if nothing had happened

* U2 night goes viral
On the night of the U2 concert at Mt Smart in November 2010, the AKT inbox went crazy with photos and comments about how bad the train experience was in getting there.

I published their photos and comments and updates and within hours wondered why the site had crashed.

U2: Panic in crowded carriages and the emergency chord gets pulled

The post had been picked up on U2 fan sites around the world and for days the site struggled under the weight of traffic.

The coverage was picked up by mainstream media in the days following the U2 concert – a story that included this prophetic line.
An email from an Australian on one of the trains going to U2 said: “Good luck with the RWC, This is a massive FAIL!”
On the U2 night I reported crowds panicking on overcrowded trains that had stopped mid journey and people were pulling the emergency button.
Sound familiar?

And how prophetic the story was as during the RWC it returned to popularity and was quoted by mainstream media once again including at news conferences of offocials defending the RWC opening night! I chuckled at seeing coverage of one such news conference where the mainstream reporter quoted the AKT report saying a news site had reported it without naming AKT.

* What goes up, suddenly stops

In the early days, I was often amused walking through Britomart and seeing the escalator out of action.

As a fit person who loves to walk and bike, it didn’t worry me but I wondered why it seemed to happen so regularly and why it took weeks to get it repaired.

So after one such observation, I threw up a mobile phone picture not thinking it would be a major story- and found it touched a big nerve among commuters.

Forget the complex government transport issues I spend hours pouring over to write posts about. Their big beef was those bloody escalators.

You know the ones. Out of action again. And all officials and staff ever did was peer over the side and shake their head.

BRITOMART: It's escalator out of action time again

Oddly every now and then it kept happening so I thought of it as an ongoing in joke especially as on one occasion the days it was not running turned into a couple of months!

I lost count of the number of times – calling posts like Escalator Crisis No 2365!

And it’s that lightbulb time again (as in how much time does it take to change alightbulb!)

Which turned into even more of literal joke when they took weeks to change the lightbulbs on the actual Britomart platform!

I finally worked out why any story about the broken escalators drew massive traffic was because it was simply symbolic of ongoing issues frustrations and delays catching trains in Auckland. This was a symbol of something commuters could actually point their finger at as an example of how things don’t operate as they should and never seem to get resolved.

But my ongoing reporting of it struck a raw nerve with certain people at Britomart.

I got a very angry reaction when I started publishing photos of people looking as if they had no idea how to solve the problems- and kept bringing up the fact one case took 37 days to fix!

How do we fix this? It took 37 days last time

Even recently I was tipped off that pissed off staff might be checking security CCTV footage to find out who was taking the photos.

Good luck with that – I gave up tasking the photos as my inbox was full of them everytime it happened as commuters were sending them to me in volumes. You would have to ban not just Jon C but a third of people who passed through Britomart!

How pathetic. Instead of putting staff on CCTV witch hunt duty, get them to fix the problem! But it was always good to know AKT, as the voice of the fare-paying public, touched a rare nerve when it was needed.

*  The backwards train

Those who didn’t use trains have sometimes accused me of making up stories.

In fact part of the motive for doing the original aucklandtrains.co.nz blog was because family and friends got sick of my stories about the challenges of catching a train – and suspected I just had a wild attention-seeking fiction-writing imagination.

That told me to stop annoying them with the stories as they were bored by them and to get out my supposed frustration by I keeping a daily diary on an internet thinky called a web-blog.

To be honest, I never expected anyone to read it but it was therapy to record the frustrations rather than bother those around me.

In 2009 one of those stories sounded so ridiculous I did get complaints I was writing fiction.

The post headed “The Day a Train went backwards” was also taken seriously, getting linked all over the net on blogs, on news sites and those”odd wacky story” sites.

It drew thousands of readers, serious news sites wanted an interview and it remained popular for months.

I had written it on the train as it happened with the timeline and posted it from Britomart.

Re-reading it shows how far we have come from such awful episodes. Then again some of the underlying communication issues and elements of the craziness that comes with Auckland having an under developed train system are sadly still with it. Some of those communication issues- a constant theme over the four years- were with us during the RWC.

The post began this way and got more and more unbelievable:

Tonight Auckland’s trains set a new high-speed record. The 5.33pm main rush hour Westbound-train leaving Britomart to go to Swanson took exactly an hour – to get to Britomart.

That included going backwards.

In case you aren’t cool, in fashionable Auckland backwards is the new forwards.

Here’s how this miracle played out.

5.30pm: Announcer at Britomart makes some apology which sends people scurrying from one platform to Platform 5. No-one on the Swanson train waiting at Platform 3 could hear the announcement (Action Point: Install some speakers on the actual platforms as you can never hear the announcements nor can the guards on board).

5.33: Doors close. Train starts. Everyone in the carriage stares at each other sighs and thinks, oh poor bastards on the other Platform. Something must be wrong with the Southern line. Thank goodness we live out West.

5. 35 Guard goes through carriages and sells and clips tickets. He’s the nice old guy who is genuinely the most efficient, fairest and nicest guard on the service. Big Ups to Him. I think he’s the guy who wears a sign around his neck explaining he is deaf. (NB Not being un-PC but it may be relevant as he may not have heard the announcement on the platform and thought the train was OK to go).

5.38: Just a few hops up the train, well before Newmarket, train slows to a crawl and stops.
5.40: Guard clicks on the intercom which is a very primitive device as it snaps and crackles before it starts and everytime before he speaks he makes a blowing noise as if he is blowing off the dust but it may be a testing-1-2-3 thing.
Excuse me ladies and gentlemen. We have a train unexpectantly stopped in front of us. It should be going in a few minutes.”

Story continues here

*   The problem with buses

Of dear. Another of those, it’s a quiet news day, what shall I write moments got me in deep trouble.

A post listing why people said they preferred trains to buses sparked an unexpected very angry response especially via email ffrom people who accused me of being bus-o-phobic.

Sorry people. I really did not mean to offend. The suggestions were actually not mind but what people were telling me.

Those suggestion buses were smelly, seats were too close to other people and you can’t always read in the poor light at night sparked a backlash I didn’t expect from bus passengers.

Typical of the emails was one saying my post was a direct insult on his way of life and his right to choose the mode of public transport.

Oh, OK. Please move on.

*   The night our worst fears really came true

These were just a small example of some of the stories AKT has brought up in the last four years.

In terms of traffic to the site, nothing beat the opening night of the rugby world cup with triggered a 4000% increase that night alone on an already massively popular topic and continued for some weeks.

While the media initially was more focused on the actual opening events, I was blogging live from the CBD with photos and coverage and put up my last update for the night just after 3am with the promise of an inquiry.

RWC OPENING NIGHT: They queued around Britomart in frustration to get in to get a train

Some of the AKT stories were quoted by the media in coming weeks and in questions posed by reporters at news conferences.

But of all the developments covered by AKT my favourite pictures remain those of the Onehunga train station opening.

Most infrastructure openings were closed affairs with speeches from the transport minister saying how much he loved public transport and the public only got to see the action through words, photos and videos docvumented by AKT.

Onehunga train station’s opening was as it always should be. The public celebrated.

A steam train arrived at the Onehunga opening with people dressed in appropriate gear

Hundreds turned out for the opening

Mike Lee's efforts have taken us beyond steam trains in Auckland

So many people waited for the first train, it was like a scene from last century!

And over the last 4 years there has been much to celebrate. I’m glad that apert from the crazy stuff, AKT has fully documented those magic moments.

Here is my final post

Rail line closures



Christmas Day – Full network closure, no buses replacing trains.

Monday December 26 to Tuesday January 3 – Full network closure, buses replace all trains.

Wednesday 4 to Sunday January 15 – Newmarket to Britomart and Papakura to Britomart via Glen Innes.

Monday 16 to Wednesday January 18– Newmarket to Britomart. More details

ELLERSLIE: Work on station revamp to allow fourth motorway lane

Bus replacements– details on Maxx

Major Auckland road disruptions

Auckland Harbour Bridge (December 26- January 6): Both northbound clip-on lanes, Curran Street and Stafford Road ramps closed for resurfacing. Six of the bridge’s eight lanes remain open.

Victoria Park Tunnel (December 27): Temporary change to lane layout on the flyover from Tuesday until January 9.  Full and partial motorway closures are scheduled for a number of nights before 9 January to allow final surfacing. road marking and the installation of new signs.  These will affect both northbound and southbound traffic. Work will also take place on local roads including Victoria Street West, lower Franklin Road, Union Street and Beaumont Street.

Northwestern Motorway (SH16) closure for Lincoln Road Interchange (13-15 January): A 36 hour closure of a section of the Northwestern Motorway west of the causeway for the demolition of the Selwood Road Bridge. Drivers are urged to avoid the Northwestern and use SH1 and SH18 as alternative routes.

Out of Auckland road changes

Waikato:
SH2:  The speed restriction is reduced from 100km/h to 90km/h along the majority of the 32km stretch of highway between the SH1/2 interchange near Pokeno and the SH2/25 intersection near Mangatarata. Exceptions will be the 6.2km Mangatawhiri Deviation, which will remain at 100km/h, and 1.8km through the Maramarua township where there will be no change to the 70km/h speed limit.

SH25, Kopu Bridge:  Although the new two-lane Kopu Bridge is now open, other pinch points in the popular  Coromandel area, including single lane bridges and windy coastal roads, remain which may cause delays with the arrival of huge numbers of holidaymakers.

Northland
SH10 Bulls Gorge: 80kph and 50kph speed restrictions through the construction site.

Northern Gateway Toll Road Pay online

2011 saw Auckland show a rare coming together for the RWC.

Fun times

The CBD felt unusually safe and happy as people, led by Auckland’s wonderful Pacifika community, showed we could all be one in the same space having fun.

And for a few brief hours, we discovered how wonderful it would be to walk Queen St without traffic interruptions.

Finally Auckland authorities did take to the car-dominated city and thanks to the Shared Space project,we could in a few streets like Elliott fool ourselves we were in sophisticated pedestrian-friendly parts of Europe.

AT says pedestrian activity on such streets in the CBD has increased by between 50 and 140 per cent following their introduction.

The Shared Space even emerged in the ‘burbs, in New Lynn which (first home buyers alert) is developing into a great place to live with its public transport and rejuvenated town area.

TOTARA AVE: The suburb's successful foray into Shared Space

A waterfront for people

The Waterfront at last got opened up to the public -for the Government’s bizarre notion of a booze barn Party Central concept for the RWC including the creation of the the Cloud which grew on us but still mystified us as what it could be used for long-term.

And there’s always the fear the waterfront will improve but never be completely able to be walked as long as it’s a port – a port presently facing industrial problems and the loss of a major client.

Queens Wharf’s 100-year-old Shed 10, which at one stage had been under threat, got a makeover and is on the Mayor’s list to be the venue for the  new cruise terminal wharf

Queens got a makeover in time for the RWC

But the big waterfront success story was Wynyard Quarter; for once, a project wasn’t half-assed thrown together and the mix of industrial heritage and new gave it a San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf feel.

WYNARD QUARTER: A mix of industrial and practical

Forward planning

While Central government and other political parties can’t see beyond winning the next 3 year term, Auckland Council gave us an exciting vision for the next 10 to 40 years which included restricting urban sprawl and opening up the CBD to make it at least more pedestrian-friendly.

Pedestrian and light rail in Queen St as envisaged by the plan

RWC brought improvements

Thanks to the RWC, the city got numerous improvements.

Eden Park got a multi-million dollar makeover but remains in a challenging spot, being in the middle of a quiet old neighbourhood some distance from  the CBD.

EDEN PARK: A great makeover but is it in the right place?

International art

In September, in the middle of sports madness, the Auckland Art Gallery opened its $114m extension and again we felt as if this could not be Auckland as it was like some of the international galleries some of us have set foot on overseas. I loved the way it met Albert Park in harmony.

AUCKLAND ART GALLERY: International class

In terms of street art: City officials “accidentally” painted over the art of Askew in K Road as the city went grey for the RWC but thankfully his Morningside work near the train station survived.

ASKEW: Morningside mural survived Auckland City officials attacks

Improving the CBD

The inner city around the Auckland Town hall area at last got some attention, in part thanks to the smart Waitemata Local Board- including the much neglected Myers Park, a rare inner city park sanctum bequeathed to the city in 1915. It’s getting improvements at last.

Heritage battles

Auckland has a disgraceful history of ripping down heritage buildings and it seemed we have learnt little as buildings in St Heliers fell despite public protests and some questionable brothel owners from Wellington arrived in town. Their purchase of a heritage hotel in Victoria St is now rubble and history gone. As is so often the case, they escaped prosecution.

PALACE: The heritage tavern being demolished

NZTA soothed concerns about the Victoria Park Tunnel development by helping with heritage in the vicinity restoring the much neglected kindergarten in Victoria Park and, after moving and moving back the 125-year old Birdcage (Rob Roy) Tavern the tavern got restored -and NZTA is building a surrounding square. It will be named Wai-atarau Plaza.

RROB ROY TAVERN: The 125-year-old Birdcage gets moved back to its original spot

Britomart gets it right

The Britomart rejuvenation continued to please with restaurants and bars that gave a visible nod to the area’s important heritage.

Even the Imperial Arcade between Queen St and Fort St got a new life just before Christmas with cafes that recognised the area’s former life as an early theatre and cinema.

The Britomart East complex, across the road from the station, housing the new Ernst & Young and Westpac HQ opened. The public thoroughfare provides new escalator and lift access to Britomart’s underground train platform.

But the stunning highlights are the Natural Habitats 60 custom made panel living walls sitting between two to five stories above ground level in the atrium of that thoroughfare.

BRITOMART EAST; Eco walls help give the building a NZ Green Building Council five-star rating.

SKY moves

SKYCity did a deal with the Council & Government and in exchange for some casino privleges, got permission to build a much needed convention centre for Auckland in Hobson St.

We need the centre. Not sure about the proposed Federal St air bridge as part of the casino’s expansion. And not impressed with the need for funding overriding any moral issues.

Proposed SkyCity design for Federal St

Mind the gap

Progressive Enterprises finally bought the dreadful hole in the ground – the massive Ponsonby hole left by the failed misguided SOHO project but refuse to say what’s planned now apart from supposedly a giant supermarket to replace the inadequate Grey Lynn Countdown up the road.

The abandoned Soho excavation

Not so successful was the attempt to build a “Rhubarb Lane’ inner city New York style village in the big space available in Cook Street – it was abandoned late in the year and the space back again for lease.

We’re still awaiting work what exactly will happen to another big space- that occupied for years by the Lion Brewery in Khyber Pass Rd.

Mayor Len Brown’s PR mantra was that Auckland will be the world’s most livable city.

A big call but at least he has a plan and there are healthy signs of much-welcomed improvement.

The city feels a better place already.

Signed sealed and delivered soon

There is no going back now.

In October, the paperwork was signed for Auckland’s EMUs – the electric units that will become know as our electric trains taking rail into a new exciting era.

The deal was with Spain’s CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA) company for 57 three car electric multiple units (EMUs).

And those trains are promised to incorporate the “latest technology in terms of safety accessibility and modern amenities on board like Wi-Fi networks. They will be comfortable, quiet, environmentally friendly.”

It was a good deal with Auckland getting to own the trains.

We were shown images of what the trains may look like although we’ll have to wait to see the finished product. At least it gets us excited.

EMUs: Auckland's new trains may look like this

EMUs: Inside the new trains

But it’s a long wait. The first arrive mid-2013 and it will 3 years before we see them all.

And Wellington’s new trains slowly came into service – too slowly to stop the angst amongst commuters fed up with delays.

Just before Christmas, Matangi services more than doubled on the Kapiti and Hutt Valley lines – increasing from the current 14 daily return trips to more than 30 return trips every weekday.

Wellington's Matangi: Slowly coming into service

Getting wired

Auckland’s march to electrification could be seen visibly as wiring appeared.

AUCKLAND ELECTRIC TRAINS; The first sign of traction

And the more masts that appeared along the lines, the more real it felt.

RANUI: Masts appeared early in the year

More stations

Two new stations became closer to a reality.

At Christmas, track work began for the new Parnell train station after years of pushing by former ARA Chair (now Auckland Council transport chair and AT Board member) Mike Lee who has done so much to push for better public transport.

AT predicts with its location near Auckland Museum and Auckland University, it will become the 5th most used station in Auckland after it opens in 18 months.

MAINLINE STEAM: A busy construction site for the new Parnell station

And Feb-March sees the opening of the first new Auckland railway line since the 30s, the yet to be officially named Manukau which including an underground trench resembles New Lynn and like New Lynn has a nearby bus transport hub (and from 2013 a Manukau Polytech alongside). It was a forward thinking vision of then Manukau Mayor Len Brown.

AKT had the first photos of the inside.

MANUKAU TRAIN STATION: Opens Feb-March 2012

The opening of Manukau coincides with the last timetable changes before the EMUs arrive.

The station that served Auckland as its Parnell-based main Auckland railway station for 70 years returned for the RWC but it’s not know what use the Strand will be other than an emergency station. It was to have been the Waikato to Auckland final stop and a stabling yard.

STRAND: Revamped as an emergency station

Going nowhere

Other proposed new services weren’t so lucky.

The hard-fought Waikato to Auckland service came to naught.

In the end, with neither government nor NZTA funding, Councils were too worried about ratepayer backlash to give it the go-ahead to cough up the money and there were too many questions about its viability with travel from Hamilton having to end at Auckland’s Strand platforms, the cost of tickets and services taking longer than the bus service.

A new Eastern rail station near Selwyn College and connecting to Gowing Drive would cost at least $20,000,000, according to Auckland Transport and was crossed off the list although advocates including the Orakei Local Board are still hopeful something can be worked out or new research might find a convincing argument.Meanwhile

Orakei’s big rail bridge replacement programme has begun.

We’re assuming it’s happening

The City Rail Link remained the elephant in the room with Britomart reaching its capacity.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown bravely continued to act as if is definite despite the Government insisting the funding issue rests on his shoulders.

The Mayor says he expects the Government to pay 50%, and ratepayers 16.6%. 30.9% would come from what he calls alternative transport funding and 2.5% from development contributions.

Ideas being kicked around include a congestion tax or toll on the existing bridge – both of which face a lobbying campaign from the AA and transport interests and some potential motorist backlash as the recession continues to hurt.

The Mayor told the Council’s strategy committee in a presentation of his 10-year plan, that the construction should begin from 2016 and the cost will be $2.4 billion.

Anyway, we can pretend it’s happening. Property will be acquired from next year and a Labour-Greens Government in years ahead would be more sympathetic. The best news is that the City Link is the Mayor’s number one priority and Aucklanders voted for it when they elected him. Even the official representative of Auckland’s motorist population,  Her Majesty’s Royal NZ Herald, seems to have come around to thinking the Link may be a good idea.

NEWTON CITY LINK STATION: A very rough graphic

Smart but slow

Also moving very slowly ahead was the much needed integrated ticketing.

Auckland Transport awarded the tender to supply smartcards for the full stage roll out of Auckland’s HOP integrated smartcard to a joint consortium comprising Australia’s Placard and NZ Post.

The final phase of HOP will be completed by the end of 2012, with the introduction of trains and ferries initially, followed by all bus operators. At least other operators have confirmed they’ll be in.

The thousands of us already enjoying HOP on the NZ Bus fleet wish it could be hurried up.

HOP: The machines here at Morningside won't be used for a year

Flying high

Airport Rail also moved slowly ahead although that timetable is definitely decades away.

A conventional rail loop connection from the airport through the northern corridor and southern corridor connecting to the existing passenger rail network at Puhinui and Onehunga got a big tick in stage one of the study investigating future transport to Auckland Airport.

At time of writing, funding from NZTA for stage two was still being awaited.

Not so favourable was North Shore rail which dropped off the agenda after then Transport Minister Steven Joyce insisted the Northern Busway was proven as the answer and NZTA seemed to prefer  the concept of another non rail carrying bridge.

The Mayor, battling to get the City Rail Link across the line, popped North Shore rail into the too hard for now basket.

New life for old stations

A programme of train station revamps was drawn up by AT.

One driven by the NZTA and taking shape is at Ellerslie  involves reducing the station’s platform by 2 metres in width and extending it by another 20 metres.

Driving the change is that the Southern Line tracks need to be relocated to create space for an additional northbound lane to be constructed on the adjacent SH1 at a later date.

ELLERSLIE: A station revamp dictated by motorway development

One of the most needed was Mt Albert which will get a $4.8m upgrade ahead of a bigger town centre revamp.

MT ALBERT: Bus shelters & longer platforms gave it a temporary revamp

The need for longer trains and the arrival of electric trains prompted other platform changes.

Remuera’s heritage train station had not only had its platforms lengthened but the station building is no longer off limits and was given a nice clean up.

Remuera's signal box and station restored

Turning it around

All eyes will continue to be on KiwiRail – and fingers crossed that its Turnaround Plan will do just that  and please the Government.

It’s been difficult with the ongoing Christchurch earthquakes, the continuing economic downturn and improvements to motorways making road freight still popular, not to mention coastal freight.

KiwiRail’s 2011 annual report put a brave face on its result which misses targets and the company revealed plans for a $6b writedown on assets.

When KiwiRail’s Tranz Scenic passenger service between Christchurch and Picton resumed on August 15, it ran under a new name – Coastal Pacific, the name the train was given in the early stages of its inception.

And it got nice new carriages.

COASTAL PACIFIC: Inside the new carriages

New locomotives arrived from China amid a heated political and union debate about the future of NZ’s well-established railway workshops, suffering from dwindling work because of the overseas competition. There were redundancies.

The new DL locomotives from China arrived

KiwiRail commenced investigations into the provision of a third line out of Westfield heading south.

The future of provincial lines including Northland and Gisborne will be known in the coming year. If they are closed or mothballed, they won’t be coming back to life anytime soon in the future so this coming year’s decisions are crucial long-term ones.

The Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust has lodged an application with Greater Wellington Regional Council to reconstruct the former railway line between Maymorn and Summit, located in the Pakuratahi Forest Park.

Rimutaka Incline | NZ Railways magazine 1930 www.nzetc.org

And Aucklanders continued to flock to trains.

A good start

Auckland Transport celebrated its first year – it’s done a fantastic job.

PT popular
I have long argued: Build it and they will come.

They have. Each month AKT has reported and published the graphs of public transport usage which goes in only one direction – up while Wellington’s has been largely flat.

ONEHUNGA: Proved to be popular in its own way & as part of the Southern Line

In the last monthly AT stats for 2011, for November, people using public transport in Auckland continued to take giant leaps – a 9.1% increase in the last 12 months.

Auckland public transport patronage totalled 69,032,572 passengers for the 12-months to Nov 2011, an increase of 5,738,734 boardings or +9.1%.

PATRONAGE: 12 months to November 2011

RWC’s mixed bag

The holding of RWC provided Auckland with numerous transport upgrades but rail use was a mixed bag.

A popular AKT mantra was that if public transport was not reliable, people would not use it after having a bad experience.

We all know how badly Auckland coped with the RWC opening night – with awful scenes played over and over on TV of passengers pulling emergency buttons in overcrowded trains and scrambling up banks to safety while trying to get to Eden Park.

The worst possible advertisement for public transport.

An independent report commissioned by AT said that not estimating the number of people likely to attend the Opening Night waterfront celebrations was the biggest factor in the night’s transport and Quay St fail.

Another independent report put forward transport lessons from the RWC as a whole.

It left a bad taste although subsequent RWC matches fared much better, AT said they reached their goals and thankfully patronage figures continue to rise.

RWC TRAIN FAIL: Long queues, frustration and poor communication on opening night

AMETI

At last attention was being given to growing PT in the much neglected East Auckland with the first contract awarded to Fletcher for work for the weirdly named AMETI project including plans for a busway along the Northern busway concept.

This will be one to watch.

AMETI: Millions of dollars will be rewarded by a leap in PT growth

Back to the future

Light rail in the form of old heritage trams arrived at Wynyard Quarter – a sneaky way to introduce real modern light rail eventually.

In the meantime, the battle has finally be won to get the trams going beyond going around in a loop around the Quarter and at least get to Britomart which is now in the planning stages. The Mayor talked about it going up Queen Street.

Despite the sceptics, the heritage trams proved to be a popular attraction especially at the weekends.

DOCKLINE: Wynyard trams began running

Getting across

Cycling and walking got some attention but never enough for those who are advocates.

NZTA and Auckland Council did not come to the party- at least so far – for the proposed pathway across the Auckland Harbour Bridge but a rally about it attracted keen supporters who are prepared to pay a toll across if it can be built. Cyclists got a taste of crossing the bridge proper in the December TelstraClear cycle race but a taste is never enough.

PATHWAY: Image of what the Auckland Harbour Bridge walk cycleway could be like

The bridge itself will be a big issue in the next 12 months wiyj an announcement about whether the next crossing will be another bridge or, as local politicians want it, a tunnel.

An NZTA board paper on the next Auckland harbour crossing emphasised that another road bridge is the cost-effective solution but does not make any recommendation.

Another confidential report referred to columnist by Brian Rudman as appearing in the well informed AKT (thanks Brian!) confirmed bridge traffic is actually dropping.

Walk to work

The hugely popular RWC Fan Trail  -10,000 people one night- showed people will walk. Especially if it’s fun along the way and safe.

Sadly after attracting 10,000 to walk to Eden Park, the fan trail concept died and another opportunity to promote walking as an option was lost. There’s a missed opportunity to promote walking as a cheap healthy option and a way to help reduce car dependency.

FAN TRAIL: People walked and buskers entertained from bus shelters

Dominion Road

A controversial city arterial issue moved ahead.

Auckland Transport began geotechnical investigation along Dominion Road to inform the design for the Dominion Road Upgrade project.

Auckland Transport reviewed the project which was begun under the previous Auckland City Council. The project will upgrade footpaths and landscaping in village centres along the route, widen bus lanes and upgrade the road. As a result of community feedback, Auckland Transport has decided it will retain the ability for cars to park in bus lanes outside peak hours.

Grafton Bridge

Anything to do with bus lanes got Aucklanders blood pressure rising and enforcement of Grafton Bridge at times it is bus only continued to cause arguments. I don’t know why the simple solution isn’t taken – ban it to motorists at all times.

Motorways got bigger

Big motorway projects got the go-ahead. Waterview got the nod in a fast tracked process but there remains concern about the ventilation stacks proposed and we’ll have to see how it all works out in reality.

NZTA originally presented this view of the stack as it would be from a primary school yard

And Victoria Park tunnel opened and will get its new southern lane layout in the new year.

Before it opened to traffic, we got the chance to walk through it.

VICTORIA PARK TUNNEL: Thousands walk through it on its opening day

A question mark remained over the Wellington Street on-ramp.

Hobsonville Motorway was also opened. The burnt orange look that dominates the landscape drew considerable debate.

HOBSONVILLE; Noise walls made of wood were painted orange

But any art to dilute the harshness of infrastructure is always welcome even though one man’s art is…

This was the finish of the long-running Sturges Rd rail bridge with its artwork.

STURGES RD: The new bridge art work

Gimmie shelter

Proving more controversial was the $2.1m replacement bus shelter concept for Karangahape Road. Some simply hated it. But the old ones were 40 years old and past their use by date. One upsetting issue though was when they first appeared the shelters blocked the iconic city view.

And also controversial was the late decision to give more shelter to the RWC visitors using Kingsland’s station close to Eden Park. Fair enough but canopies at $2.1m? It felt excessive.

Kingsland canopies: Put up in July for the RWC at cost of $2.1m

Arrival times

And probably also up for debate next year is the new solar powered electronic display for bus information appearing at some bus stops that do not have the conventional signs. Great for the environment but you have to look into the screen to see when the bus is coming, not glance up. And the DLY DUE bus electronic sign information system continues to be a joke.

You have to peer into this to see when the bus is coming

Real time information was being introduced on train stations, one train got trialled for Wi-fi, some trains got recorded on board announcements but we have yet to see the concept popular overseas of a quiet carriage when mobiles and loud music are discouraged.

Still this was a year we made visible progress.

And reader Andrew W also found some photos of Auckland rail of only a few years before that date -a few of those published below – that seemed like something out of  centuries ago ,not the early 2000s.

Take Newmarket. You know that busy Auckland suburban railway hub that caters for more than one line.

When I started the blog Newmarket station was  inadequate with not even proper signage.

AKT complaints helped lead to a man being hired to go with a loud hailer at peak times to announce which line a train was arriving as you could not tell if  a train was going west or south and often people got on the wrong one (as I did twice).

Even more bizarre that a man yelling into a loudhailer on the platform was the fact, the young low paid student’s English was his second language and I couldn’t tell what he was saying.

Newmarket in 2003

We get frustrated when trains don’t arrive or get delayed today. But catching a train in Auckland a few years ago was a real lucky dip.

This was the rundown but heritage Newmarket station building that will soon get lovingly restored and recycled as the new Parnell Museum train stop.

OLD NEWMARKET; Hardly the award winning architectually designed hub of today

The Newmarket signal box

This is how we caught trains in 2002. And we thought that was modern rail.

Waiting at Avondale. You'd never really know if you would ever make it.

ORAKEI: These widely used shelters, only now completely vanishing, reminded me of high school toilet blocks

We grumble about timetables today. When I started writing this, you had only the odd train coming through.

Train schedules and signage in 2002

So not surprisingly see how low patronage used to be on suburban lines – while  this year’s patronage reports  talk of millions.

As we await those flash new electric trains, when I started catching them, they reminded me of the centuries-old ones you would see in those old classic black and white movies!

And we have put up with much during the rejuvenation of rail.

This was catching a New Lynn train in 2009:

EXCITING: A new temporary station for New Lynn!

Breakdowns were the norm. You would think you were in the middle of the African jungle trying to get through difficult terrain, not in the middle of West Auckland.

We waited for another train to arrive to tow it

So before you grumble about what happens today, check out where we have come from in the last decade.

Auckland rail 2009

Key rail events in photos 2009

Auckland 2010 highlights

Rail 2010 A year of openings

This is the revamped Victoria St looking towards Queen St

This would be Queen St if it were shut off permanently or at set times such as for weekend markets

This is Hobson St with its present one way system onto Spaghetti Junction

Here is Hobson after it becomes two-way and friendlier to pedestrians

Here’s the dreadful motorway ramp in Lower Hobson St above Tepid Baths

And with it gone

Here’s the Britomart Transport Centre and QE Square

And it will become like this

Here’s Quay St today

Here’s Quay St in 2040

Here’s the Nelson St off ramp today

Here’s how it would look by 2040

Here’s Fanshawe St today

Here’s Fanshawe St with modern light rail instead of trams and a more friendly pedestrian feel in 2040

This is bare concrete-dominated Upper Queen St Newton off Queen St today above the motorway

This is how it would change

Here is Federal St today

And how it will look to enhance the work already done with St Pat’s Square

And Quay Park around the Strand railway station

It would look like this

Worth the money and effort? Enough change to make it a liveable city?

What the Plan says about Transport

Taming Auckland’s landscape – what the Plan says

Plans for Auckland’s Waterfront

How Auckland will pay for it

Read Auckland Plan

My wish list to Santa is very small and reasonable in view of the economic times:

• Full government funding of the City Rail Link
• An Auckland airport rail service
• Immediate implementation of full integrated ticketing
• Bus & train real time information signs that actually work
• A tunnel harbour crossing that allows for rail
• Queen Street to be closed to traffic at all times
• An Auckland Harbour Bridge cycleway
• Adequate funding for much needed railway station upgrades
• A government that accepts the wishes of Auckland Council’s project list

Santa better deliver!

Greg is currently Acting General Manager for Air New Zealand’s operations in North Asia.

GREG EDMONDS: Key role at Auckland Transport

He has an MBA from Auckland University and takes up his new role in the New Year.

His Linked in profile says he’s an experienced General Manager with a strong focus on passenger and freight transportation.

He has been Air NZ’s area general manager in China for just over a year; was Air NZ Auckland airport manager for 6 years and Outsource solutiuons GM Operations at NZ Post for a year.

OCCUPY AUCKLAND: Moving on

today from Auckland Council:
Auckland Council will continue to progress its legal options for ending the occupation of Aotea Square.

The Auckland District Court issued an order that the protestors should cease residing in Aotea Square, and also remove the various illegal structures. The order was served on the occupiers at 2.30pm on Wednesday, and gave them 48 hours to comply.

If the occupiers fail to cease residing at Aotea Square, and to remove the camp, Auckland Council will return to the court to seek warrants for the arrest of the occupiers for contempt of court. Due to the holidays, it is likely this hearing will take place next week.

Auckland Council will continue to work with the police and the court to action the warrants some time after that. Council cannot comment further on this process at this stage.

Auckland Council has restated its desire that the occupiers take the lead of the Occupy protests in other cities and bring the protest action to an end, returning Auckland’s public spaces to the people of Auckland.
—
Earlier

A scraggly bunch of people carried on down Queen St this afternoon on their way to court seeking a stay of judgement on the order the Occupy Auckland tent people leave Aotea Square.

Occupy Auckland protestors march to court

Thankfully the judge declined and they have until tomorrow afternoon to pack up.

Staying beyond that time means they will be in contempt of court and need the police to enforce it – although so far the police have been on the protestors’ side saying they have human rights.

Occupy Auckland protestors at this afternoon's assembly discussion

Before they headed for court, the group held one of their “assemblies” during which an American woman amusedly compared them to Nelson Mandela.

Give me a break.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison and then led negotiations which led to multi-racial democracy in South Africa.

Pretending they are the next Nelson Mandela

I’m highly amused by people sending vile emails to me saying my stand on the tent people is that of some extreme right-wing nutcase Fox news loving bigot.

Go talk to them. They have insulted the cause of those who quite rightly have challenged the businesses and political forces who have caused the financial crisis.

The ones I have spoken to have never heard of say Milton Friedman and think Freddie Mac is a hamburger.

They’re the same old protestors who have nothing better to do than come out on the streets for any cause.

They don’t think anyone else has any rights and are vandals ruining the newly created Aotea Square leaving ratepayers the big bill to clean up their mess and for what? They show no sympathy for us and don’t deserve any. They have made it difficult for people with genuine causes to protest.

TENT PEOPLE: Nothing to do with the US financial protest

Look at the state of the grass.

New grass for the Aotea Square revamp has been runied

Because it’s the transport and industrial relations committee, there are trade union and business people on it – so not everyone is in tune with transport issues.

But there are very few advocates for public transport amongst them and very few who seem to have a record of having a handle on anything other than local roading.

Labour’s new transport person Phil Twyford is on it and he’s already proven to be good value.

Greens have Waiheke Island’s Denise Roche who was an Auckland Councillor so would be familiar with some of the issues.

Others include Waikato’s National David Bennett who opposed the Waikato rail service and right winger Jamie-Lee Ross from Pakuranga who was briefly on the Auckland Council transport committee in his time as Councillor and was part of the minority right wing section on the committee that is sceptical about issues like rail.

Parliament's transport committee has few modern thinkers

Simon O’Connor is a new MP, for the heavy blue seat of Tamaki whose vague election statement on transport was “Transport. Put simply, it is about making it easier to get around our great city.”

Nat’s Chris Auchinvole is from the West Coast and doesn’t appear to have ever made any statement on transport as he is focused on mining and local West Coast issues.

The members are:

• Chris Auchinvole, National
•  David Bennett, National
• Darien Fenton, Labour
• Andrew Little, Labour
• Simon O’Connor, National
• Denise Roche, Green
• Jami-Lee Ross, National
• Scott Simpson, National
•  Phil Twyford, Labour

The Hawke’s Bay Council’s transport committee yesterday considered a report about the line.

There are 340 trucks a day on the state highway to Gisborne each carrying about 29 tonnes. That would make the total freight load on the highway to carry 3.6m tonnes a year.

If all this was transferred to rail it would keep the service going. The volume of freight would be the equivalent of running 15 fully-loaded return trains a day between Napier and Gisborne.

The report says at the present rate a subsidy of more than $2m a year would be needed to keep it going but even that would not make an appreciable difference to the future of the rail service.

KiwiRail is already effectively subsidising the service at a cost of at least $2.5m a year in terms of the loss. The service is still shifting only the equivalent of one or 2 truckloads of freight a day.

A KiwiRail decision on its future is a year away.

KiwiRail says gross income last year was $586,719. That compares with $2m in line maintenance costs on top of running the trains ($1m a year).

The Council officers’ report to the Council committee said that in the short-term a closure of the line would have only a minor effect on heavy traffic volumes on the state highway. In the last year the rail service moved just 23,600 tonnes of freight in both directions combined.

Converted to road-truck equivalents, that’s the same as a single truck carrying 32 tonnes doing a return trip to Gisborne each day.

But it warns that in the long-term a closure of the line would mean the region would have one less mode of freight transport and once closed, it would not be simple to resurrect it.

And the report before the Council suggests that while higher fuel prices could make a difference, if fuel efficiency is the deciding factor for freight, coastal shipping also needs to be part of the picture.

There are presently just 2 return trains a week on the line. Most of the freight is fertiliser from Ravensdown in Napier although its carrying more by road these days. Other freight includes corn product from Corsons in Gisborne (3-8 containers a month) and frozen product for Heniz-Wattie in Hastings (5 containers a week during the picking season).

KIWIRAIL: What's ahead?

The Council report believes that freight users are preferring road transport because of its comparative flexibility and convenience of road freight and the only way rail can compete on pricing is to run at a loss. It’s not possible on current volumes and with all the fixed costs involved to on-charge the full cost of the rail service to the customer.

The report goes on:”In order to be financially viable the rail service needs to attract enough freight to not only cover the costs of running the service but also to arrive at a point where the per unit costs has been reduced sufficiently to genuinely compete.”

It says the economics are also constrained by towing capacities- limits placed on weight. For example, with existing gradients a DC locomotive can tow 840 tonnes and a DXB 940. That leaves 320,580 and 650 tonnes respectively for freight. On the same the same amount of freight could be carried by 10, 18 and 20 trucks carrying 32 tonnes each.

The report notes that in the last 30 years road travel time between Napier and Gisborne has been cut by about an hour and fuel consumption of the average road truck has dropped by a third while rail has not seen big improvements.

“The fuel efficiency of road and rail has therefore come closer together- although rail is ahead.
It’s estimated a fully laden DX locomotive on the Gisborne line would use about 52% of the fuel consumption of the number of trucks required to carry the same amount of freight.

Until recently the real prospect for rail was a new plywood mill constructed by Hikurangi Forest Farms in Gisborne but those plans have been put indefinitely on hold.

The report says that even if the mill went ahead, it would remain to be seen if rail was used as the company did not make that commitment.

As more trees come to maturity in the far north of the region and if there’s a shortage of logging trucks, this may be a niche for rail and KiwiRail is talking to local forest companies.

The local newspaper reports a few bites coming through. Four extra weekly services would start next month and another potentially large customer had been turned away because of a lack of equipment and crews.
Let’s hope that issue gets sorted.

In conclusion, the report says that if the log service happens and works successfully and can be proven over the next 12 months, then other freight could possibly follow and the rail service may become economic.

If that does not occur, then a next priority could be to ensure that the rail designation and rail corridor are at least retained intact so that future options for re-utilisation of the rail corridor are preserved.

A 250-page external consultants’ report for Auckland Council on the RWC released this afternoon reveals that public transport patronage was not as high as the 50% level expected – but was consistent (37-45%) across the time of the tournament.

The evaluation has been undertaken by independent external consultants but has been “combined with internal council assessments.” The report also reveals that only 8.9% of Auckland businesses surveyed felt the RWC had been worthwhile (every taxi driver I have had since has been scathing of how badly they did and I have been to restaurants where they say up to 60% of business dropped off, especially because of the popularity of the Party Central area of the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter).

And the report reveals that for opening night, having extra buses as a contingency was considered.  AT and Rugby asked the government to declare the Friday a teacher-only day to free up school buses but were turned down. They couldn’t source additional buses but on planning considered they had enough for the expected numbers.

The report outlines the lessons learnt with transport.

• The size of the RWC team was based on ARTA’s previous PT responsibilities and didn;t consider the extra bobligations that came because of all traffic and transport operations being centralised with AT. In future the team needs to be “fluid and appropriate to the magnitiude of the event.” A consistent approach is needed across all areas of the organisation and event promoters need event guidelines which need to be developed showing the level of PT required.

• Events where attendance is greater than 15,000 need the sort of special event bus service operated and the buses should continue until the crowd is cleared.
• Staffing levels and infrastructure implemented for the 3 stations should be maintained for future Eden Park events. Efficient corralling of commuters post-match was important for efficient station management.
• Given the numbers using Grafton station, it might be better to run express services between Britomart and Kingsland.
• When Manukau rail starts, the Manukau special event bus service should be discontinued
• Temporary signage at bus stops should be improve to clearly show which services are leaving for which bay.
• AT should set up their own bank of transport ambassadors and train them for specific transport roles.
• Changes to the bus hub at Eden Park are needed to facilitate a smoother and safer operation, including control crowd fencing, a pedestrian crossing, electronic signage and using Sandringham Rd for the return trip of buses.
• New North Rd should remain open until kick off then be closed if needed for safety. But water filled barriers are needed rather than traffic cones for the closure and warnings posted four days before an event.
• AT should install permanent “sleeves” in the ground at each road closure point for Eden Park for the installation of temporary bollards on match days.
• Improvements are needed to the process for advising residents of their correct entry point for parking and Eden Park should develop a clearly ideintifiable accreditation for authorised vehicles to reduce delays at checkpoints. Parking signage needs reviewing.

• An audit of the mobility parking scheme at large events will determine if there is any misuse of the scheme.

• More taxi ranks are required and taxis should be stopped from enterting Central Ave. St Lukes should be used for coach parking.

• Special event buses should continue for North Harbour events.

RWC: Report says thousands came to "play"

The report revisits the troubled opening night.

It says transport planning was based on the expectation at least 50% of the crowd would use PT. PT usage for public events does not usually exceed 30% and is based on a modal split of 10% ferry, 70% bus and 20% rail.

Having extra buses as a contingency was considered. AT and Rugby asked the government to declare the Friday a teacher-only day to free up school buses but were turned down. They couldn’t source additional buses but on planning considered they had enough for the expected numbers.

The planning was also based on the majority of the crowd leaving the Fanzone at the end of the march.

The report estimated 120,000 to 150,000 attended the fanzone and CBD – not the 200,000 earlier thrown around.

RUGBY FANS: Report says the RWC went very well

Apart from the opening night fiasco, the report says the rail operations “generally worked well” with on average rail patronage to matches being around 10,000 passengers while the return was 12-14,000 because of people walking to the venue.

On the plus side: corralling of pedestrians at Kingsland and Morningside stations worked well and the track crossover installed west of Morningside sped up operations.
Rail patronage on non-match days operated at slightly higher than normal and as the tournament progressed, higher than normal for Sylvia Park and Onehunga where extra buses were needed.

RWC OPENING NIGHT: Awful images of people trying to catch a train at Britomart

The report notes the issues were also covered in the earlier independent report commissioned by AT.

After the RWC, that independent report commissioned by Auckland Transport and conducted by law firm Meredith Connell blamed the opening night fiasco on the event organisers for their appalling predictions.

It confirms event organisers had predicted up to 50,000 would attend the waterfront celebrations and Auckland Transport put in contingency for a worst case scenario of 100,000.

On the business side, only 8.9% of Auckland businesses surveyed felt they benefited.
Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay acknowledges that the report “shows a number of Auckland businesses don’t believe they have benefited directly from RWC and it suggests this is because benefits have been been spread evenly. We need to understand better the learnings here for next time.”

You do. And it’s time the authorities stop issuing made up inflated predictions for how much financially Auckland will benefit from big events. It’s been proven a false science, like those who estimated the attendance numbers for the opening night event.

He’s told the Tent People to remove all of the paraphernalia associated with the protest campsite within 48 hours. The protestors have been camping in the square since October 15 and originally said they would stay until the election.

Occupy Auckland says it plans to “appeal this judgement & defend our privileges under the Bill of Rights, for the benefit of all in Aotearoa.

“We would like to express our appreciation to all our supporters and to ask them for any urgent assistance and/or actions in solidarity that they are able to undertake. Please either come to the occupation with any ideas/resources that you have available to you and undertake urgent outreach to supporter networks to let everyone, worldwide, know of this gross injustice that is being perpetuated against us by the Court. “

Occupy Auckland has also started an online petition
and is asking for food donations.

Auckland Council says in a statement that it welcomes the court’s decision to grant its application for a permanent injunction to end the occupation of Aotea Square.

On November 28 Occupy Auckland was issued a trespass notice from Auckland Council CEO Douglas McKay requiring members of Occupy Auckland to forthwith leave and stay away from Aotea Square. Today they were reported as planning Christmas dinner there.

The protestors, including veteran protestors like John Minto and Penny Bright went to court and Judge David Wilson was asked to rule whether Auckland Council can enforce a trespass order and move Occupy protesters out of Aotea Square.

He has done so.

OCCUPY AUCKLAND:" Was it really about the financial crisis?

When I visited there last week one of them told me more than half the occupants were just homeless people who had moved in from the streets. And theoccupiers were approaching people in the square wanting them to buy a sausage for $2 each – one could say quite a ripoff from people who claim to be questioning capitalism.

This protest has gone on far too long. It has never been focused on the aims of the original US tent people and the grass is so damaged, it’s going to cost ratepayers estimated 6-figure sums to repair.

OCCUPY AUCKLAND: The group meeting

They achieved nothing.
The problem is: will they try this on again?

Auckland public transport patronage totalled 69,032,572 passengers for the 12-months to Nov 2011 an increase of 5,738,734 boardings or +9.1%.

November monthly patronage was 6,023,865 an increase of 441,624 boardings or +7.9% on
Nov 2010.

Here are those month’s highlights:

• Rail monthly patronage for November is 887,576 an increase of 18,021 boardings or +2.1%on Nov 2010.

• Northern Express bus service carried 2,225,780 passenger trips for the 12-months with agrowth in Nov 2011 compared to Nov 2010 of +16.7%.

• Strong growth in the use of Isthmus bus services is a standout for the three months since theservice resdesign in August 2011, which included the launch of the City Inner and OuterLINK services. Growth has averaged over 15.5% year-on-year.
• For the financial year-to-date, five months to Nov 2011, patronage has grown by +11.8% (3,268,917 boardings). Patronage for Nov 2011 was 6,023,865 boardings, an increase of +7.9% (441,624 boardings) on Nov 2010.

Delving deeper into the figures means some events have to be taken into account when comparing with last year.
November saw a return to BAU and this is reflected in the monthly patronage figures when compared to last year. In the same month last year there were three major events where free travel arrangements were included as part of the event ticket price (Four Nations Rugby League at Eden Park and two U2 Concerts at Mt Smart Stadium) that boosted the patronage numbers recorded in the month.
The special events this year were the Wellington Phoenix versus Adelaide United AFC match at Eden Park on 19 November and the World Triathlon event in the CBD the following day. Additional trains were also provided to the annual Farmers Santa Parade during both years. All these services were fare paying services. Another factor that influenced the comparative patronage numbers were the number of network closures to progress infrastructure upgrade projects. This year there was one full weekend network closure and one partial network closure compared to two partial network closures for the same month last year.
The net result was that rail patronage for November 2011 was 887,576, or 2.1% more than the same month last year.
Adjusting for the patronage to and from the three “free travel” events that were included in last year’s numbers, the comparative growth for the month is 9.1%. Rail patronage totalled 10,829,282 passengers for the 12-months to November 2011 an increase of 1,779,555 boardings or +19.7%.

Southern Line
For the financial year-to-date to November 2011, patronage has grown by +23.1% (964,678 boardings) Southern and Eastern Line rail patronage including the Onehunga Line totalled 6,805,535 passengers for the 12-months to November 2011 an increase of 861,407 boardings or +14.5% on the same period last year. Patronage for November 2011 was 574,396 boardings, an increase of +0.9% (5,189 boardings) on November 2010.
In November 2011 there were 509,007 passengers recorded travelling on the Southern and Eastern Lines, excluding the Onehunga Line, a change of -5,998 passengers, or -1.2% on Novemver 2010. The factors influencing this result was that for the same month last year the patronage carried to the two U2 concerts at Mt Smart Stadium was principally carried on this service group and two weekend line blocks this year compared to a partial block on one weekend only last year. For the year-to-date there have been 2,814,777 passengers recorded on Southern and Eastern Line services, 9.1% more than for the same period last year.

Onehunga
There were 65,389 passengers recorded using the Onehunga Line during November compared to 54,202 for the same month last year, an increase of 11,187 or +20.6%. Additional services were supplied on the Onehunga Line for the Farmers Santa Parade this year (none last year). For the 12-months to November 2011 there have been 729,165 passengers recorded on Onehunga Line services. Surveys indicate that 60% of patronage on Onehunga trains is wholly on the Southern Line (between Britomart and Penrose).

Western
Western Line rail patronage totalled 4,023,747 passengers for the 12-months to November2011 an increase of 918,485 boardings or +29.6%.
Patronage for November 2011 was 313,180 boardings, an increase of +4.3% (12,832 boardings) on November 2010 , For the year-to-date there have been 1,983,781 passengers recorded on Western Line services 510,255 (+34.6%) more than for the same period last year.

Bus
Northern Express patronage totalled 2,225,780 passengers for the 12-months to Nov 2011 -an increase of 318,344 boardings or +16.7%.
For the financial year-to-date, five months to Nov 2011, patronage has grown by +19.7% (168,890 boardings).
Patronage for Nov 2011 was 179,961 boardings, an increase of +10.7% (17,387 boardings) on Nov 2010.
Passengers on bus services other than the Northern Express Patronage totalled 50,888,853 passengers for the 12-months to Nov 2011 an increase of 3,140,069 boardings or +6.6%.
For the financial year-to-date, five months to Nov 2011, patronage has grown by +8.5% (1,782,409 boardings). Patronage for Nov 2011 was 4,501,763 boardings, an increase of +8.5% (352,426 boardings) on Nov 2010.

Ferry
Ferry patronage totalled 5,088,657 passengers for the 12-months to Nov 2011 an increase of500,766 boardings or +10.9%.
For the financial year-to-date, five months to Nov 2011, patronage has grown by +19.7% (352,940 boardings). Patronage for Nov 2011 was 454,565 boardings, an increase of +13.4% (53,790 boardings) on Nov 2010 .

The men, whose names and identities are suppressed, have been charged under S117(e) & 66 of the Crimes Act, which allege they “wilfully attempted to pervert the course of justice” by altering ship’s documents subsequent to the grounding on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga on 5 October.

The master faces four charges under the Act, and the Second Officer (Navigation) three charges.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.

Both men already each face one charge under section 338 (1B) and (15B) of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) relating to the “discharge of harmful substances from ships or offshore installations”.

RENA: How it's looking |MNZ

The RMA charge carries a maximum penalty of a fine of $300,000, or two years’ imprisonment, and $10,000 for every day the offending continues.

They also both face one charge each under section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act 1994 (MTA), “for operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk”.

The MTA charge carries a maximum penalty of $10,000 or a maximum term of imprisonment of 12 months.

Both men appeared today in the Tauranga District Court and were remanded on bail without plea on all charges until February 29.