tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7011655232093163642.post2908206273962997371..comments2024-01-14T06:16:50.475+13:00Comments on Cities Matter: A Flawed Case? Auckland’s City Rail Link ProjectPhil McDermotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06869744647213369964noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7011655232093163642.post-20267519719827861352013-01-21T08:57:42.858+13:002013-01-21T08:57:42.858+13:00So why is the CBD still experiencing employment gr...So why is the CBD still experiencing employment growth and why is downtown buzzing during the holiday period? Just how are those people getting there without the CRL? (I know, 45% of workers already use public transport, including a small minority by rail). <br /><br />Do we have to keep inventing problems so that we can implement our favourite solutions? Because that's what the current analyses seem to do with their wildly optimistic forecasts about how many people will work in the CBD and access rail to do so, and pessimistic assumptions about travel behaviour.Phil McDermotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06869744647213369964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7011655232093163642.post-40606998909137126862013-01-16T21:31:00.579+13:002013-01-16T21:31:00.579+13:00Might be waiting a long time for those road based ...Might be waiting a long time for those road based transports solutions. The buy in of being near the main transit corridors which include rail for Fringe suburbs around the CBD continue to be strong and will be strong for a long time come as real estate for those fringe suburbs continue to increase.<br /><br />People dont want to come all the way in from the outer suburbs no more due to travel times...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7011655232093163642.post-25812358281517270382012-12-18T22:58:53.939+13:002012-12-18T22:58:53.939+13:00But then Auckland council said ..."Yeah, but ...But then Auckland council said ..."Yeah, but my soundbite is better that your soundbite, so we will win". <br /><br />Remember if these guys were in the business of reality they would have run away with their tails between their legs long ago. They are absolutely devoted to their current vision. When Labour gets back in, with their potent Green party sidekick, we will get that rail investment and the national tax-payer will have to join the party. <br /><br />Let's hope that serious advances in road-based transport will happen soon enough, fast enough, to get the public to re-think their brainwashing on the "inherent virtue" of rail. At the end of the day it's about public buy-in and sadly they have thus far bought it.Andrew D Atkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04492591375757227409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7011655232093163642.post-39554002338608912432012-12-17T23:34:09.276+13:002012-12-17T23:34:09.276+13:00Quite, the railevangelists claim that traffic is s...Quite, the railevangelists claim that traffic is stabilising on the one hand, and will clog up the city on the other if their pet project is not completed.<br /><br />The electrification is already committed, and it is far too early to tell if forecast increases in patronage from that will come to pass, but we do know that every single rail passenger pays only around one third of the operating costs of the service. It is also clear that the entire capex on Auckland rail is written off as a sunk cost - as it will never generate one cent of a financial return.<br /><br />However, the claims of economic benefits are just that - monetisation of benefits realised by people who don't remotely have to pay for them.<br /><br />It is quasi-religious, it is "visionary", meaning it bears little relationship to forecast real market demands, and bears little relationship to delivering transport network benefits (besides making a grossly underutilised railway even more overcapitalised).<br /><br />Libertyscotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12741049550997300680noreply@blogger.com