thomasnash.bsky.social
Wellington Regional Councillor and Transport Chair, Te Pane Matua Taiao Greater Wellington. Adjunct Lecturer Massey University.
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Marko has already done this to help them out:
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Also, after digging through the archives an updated investment graph
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Well this wasn’t reporting, it was an opinion piece, but opinion pieces still need to be based on fact!
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Luke Pierson
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Local government is for everyone, not just the wealthy. When we sign our declaration as Councillors, we commit to serve the residents, not just the ratepayers. Yes, councils must be cautious and judicious with public funds gathered through rates, but councils serve people, not money. 4/
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The Mayor has properly invested in the neglected water infrastructure she inherited and lifted the constraints on housing supply she also inherited. Dwelling consents are now rising, leaks are being fixed and major drinking and waste water infrastructure is being delivered. 3/
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The Mayor’s loudest critics include past mayors and wealthy land owners who presided over the emergence of these problems. While past mayors talk about a “Vision for Wellington”, the current Mayor of Wellington is actually delivering for Wellington on both housing and water. 2/
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Because I didn’t know that OVpay had launched in 2023! Our briefings also suggest there are some novel elements to what is being developed here. But also I am not trying to defend a position that we are first - doesn’t matter to me! I do think we are doing something reasonably involved though.
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Singapore has it, but obviously not quite the same set up as ours in terms of knitting together multiple different regional public transport authorities with different fare set ups etc. The Netherlands OVpay is the closest analogy, launched in 2023.
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Working with the bus operators to get the fixes made before we can get all the racks operational again. Would be much simpler if we had one bus operator and fewer bus models. Bit of a complex problem but we are working as fast as we can.
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Yes I got the same info back too! Great that KiwiRail’s two inter-regional public transport services Te Huia and Capital Connection will be in Motu Move. And yes a reminder that KiwiRail does not see its other passenger rail services as public transport.
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I know the Netherlands has had OVpay since 2023, offering the equivalent to what we are rolling out this year, which is an account based national ticketing system where you pay with a debit card for every type of PT in the country. Can you pay by bank card on every city PT network in Switzerland?
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If investing in public goods gets you freedom then isn’t freedom part of the return on investment? I don’t think ROI is the only way to argue for public funding of public goods, but in a political environment of cuts where public goods are constantly framed as costs it seems important.
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Yes - the list of public goods is long!
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Route not quite confirmed yet but will be soon and will use Harbour Quays to service key destinations like Queens Wharf, Civic Square, Library, Te Papa, Tākina, etc.
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Yeah I think the equivalent step to get to what we are doing in NZ was OVpay, which went live in 2023 - that is the system that allows payment by bank card rather than by stored value transit card.
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Good question! But you don’t need to worry about buying a Motu Move card if you just use your debit card or phone to pay.
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Question for KiwiRail I guess as to whether they will integrate Capital Connection and Te Huia into Motu Move.
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Yeah the best thing would be for the Manawatū line services to be integrated into the rest of the public transport network once the new trains arrive in 2029 but a wee while to go yet on all that. Not sure it can happen before.
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Yes - looks like the Dutch OVpay system launched in 2023 has got there before us - you snooze, you lose! Even a couple of years ago we were being briefed that this was a world first, but yeah, time passes. No doubt our roll out will be watching and learning from how the OVpay rollout has gone.
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I hope we can sort this out and get a signal of financial support for this regionally significant bus lane project that will *actually* improve travel times for people through central Wellington. Also hope we can build a more cooperative relationship with the government, based on mutual respect. 3/
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NZTA already confirmed last year that the bus time savings presented by the former Transport Minister relied on the planned Harbour Quays bus lane project that the current government has so far declined to fund. So it’s totally unjustifiable not to release the modelling and analysis showing this. 2/
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We will be consulting on a new Regional Public Transport Plan shortly and we want to hear your ideas for your public transport network. This government’s new settings are bleak for growth in public transport, but we are determined to deliver more and better services and to invest in the future. 4/
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We have a major challenge this year to maintain our current levels of service, improve our performance particularly on rail, invest in future improvements, including better accessibility, all while keeping public transport affordable as the government seeks to reduce its share of funding. 3/
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Porirua and Hutt City are 6th and 7th for affordability, presumably reflecting the higher cost of the train relative to the bus. Compared to the 2020 survey, Wellington is up for reliability, steady on frequency, but down slightly on other measures and notably down on safety, which is a concern. 2/