Fuel tax to go up

This post is based on a post from December last year, but I thought I would drag this topic up again now that the legislation is being debated in Parliament.

As you would have seen, fuel excise duty is to be increased by 3 cents each year. By 2015, FED will be 9 cents higher per litre. 

On one hand, I support increasing FED and making road users pay for their own costs. We need to internalise the external costs of people’s choice to drive, i.e air pollution and congestion,rather than just passing the cost onto the public.

But unfortunately, that is not the reason why fuel tax is increasing. The increases in FED are due to the need to pay for some very expensive motorway projects that the Government is planning on building. In particular Transmission Gully and the Puhoi to Wellsford ‘Holiday Highway’, which have benefit to cost ratios of less than 1 and will cost more than $3 billion between them to build. Because of the Government’s ‘Roads of National Significance’, NZTA is experiencing major cash flow issues. Revenue has been modelled on the basis that driving was going to increase. But of course with people driving less, FED revenue decreases. As fuel prices continue to rise, this will of course continue, as FED is a specific tax.

We need a more balanced transport policy and investment in sustainable transport projects like the City Rail Link, which will actually be transformational to Auckland and the entire country. New Zealand has had decades of investment in highways, we do not need any more. National cannot claim to be “fiscally responsible” and also support building these RoNS at the same time.  

New World Victoria Park – will you pay youth rates?

POST UPDATED:

I want to support businesses that operate ethically, and I do not want to support ones that don’t. Now that youth rates are legal, pressure should be placed on businesses not to pay youth rates and leave wages at the New Zealand minimum wage. Inspired by this post on No Right Turn I decided to contact my local supermarket – New World Victoria Park via this contact form.

Dear Sir / Madam,

Foodstuffs New Zealand has made statements to the media that they are interested in paying youth rates to employees. Youth rates legislation was passed by the Parliament recently and allows minimum wages for young people to be lowered to a very low $10.80 per hour. This wage is not acceptable to live on and is discriminatory.

New World Victoria Park is my local supermarket and my favourite supermarket to shop at. I would like to know whether you intend on adopting youth rates. If you are then unfortunately I will no longer be able to shop at New World Victoria Park as I would consider it to be supporting a very unethical policy and a breach of my principles.

I look forward to your response,

Louis

Will they pay youth rates?

UPDATE:

Just got this reply:

Dear Louis,

To confirm New World Park does not have youth rates in place.

A slightly hard to understand response. Given that it has only been 10 days since youth rates became legal, saying that they do not have them in place is not a very useful answer. I would have preferred “We will not under any circumstance pay youth rates”. Also, is “New World Park” a different shop to “New World Victoria Park”!?

I encourage you to contact your local supermarkets.

The problems with Park-and-Ride: A letter to The Editor

This letter was published in today’s Herald and was in response to this opinion piece as well as a letter that made a similar argument that was published in Monday’s Herald (they do not publish letters on the internet).

Monday, 6 May 2013
The Editor
New Zealand Herald
46 Albert Street
Auckland 1010

Sir,

I am writing in response to your correspondents Neil Binnie and Rosemary Buckingham about their suggestions for a large expansion of park and ride facilities at stations on the Northern Busway.

While park and ride may be a good way to boost patronage in the short term, it is not an effective solution for suburban public transport in the long term. It requires large amounts of land, which has to be paid for out of the public’s purse. It seems very unfair that people who drive their cars to the station get free car parking while people who use a feeder bus must pay another fare to transfer. Given that most vehicles parked are occupied by one person, one parking space will generally provide for only one additional passenger and often rather than adding new passengers, it simply means a passenger will drive rather than walk, cycle or use a feeder bus to the station. Increasing the supply of car parking will not reduce overcrowding due to the effects of induced demand.

Using the land around rapid transit stations for apartment developments would be far better as it could put hundreds of people right next to a high quality bus or rail service. The money used developing park and rides could be spent on providing frequent and intensive feeder bus services to connect to the rapid transit service, as well as cycle lockers at the station. When park and ride is used it should only be for rural areas where feeder buses are more difficult to provide. For a more efficient allocation of resources, parking should be charged based on supply and demand.

Yours faithfully,

Louis

How to make the Harbour Bridge more efficient?

You have probably heard of the proposed Additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing Project. It was included in the Auckland Plan, along with pretty much every road and public transport project ever thought of. The transport component of the Auckland Plan has caused a great deal of controversy, in particular the funding ‘shortfall’, which is what the Consensus Building Group was formed for, although in my opinion their terms of reference were poor and they should have had a broader task but that will be saved for a later post.

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Harbour_Bridge

In my opinion that AWHC project in NZTA’s current proposed form is a bad project and a gross waste of money. At $5 billion, it would be New Zealand’s most expensive transport project ever, and one that will simply encourage car driving, exactly what we want to discourage and have little effect on congestion.

We need to think about ways to make the existing Harbour Bridge function more efficiently. Firstly we absolutely need walking and cycling access. While I have some reservations about the SkyPath project, I think it is overall a very good idea. The trust have got it a point where it may well happen in the near – future. The one thing I really dislike about the proposal is that it will be tolled, which is a ridiculous situation where cars can use the road for free but pedestrians and cyclists will have to pay. That is not the fault of the trust though, unfortunately that is the reality of living under a government and a transport agency which does not believe in sustainable transport modes. I think we need to be pushing this project through as quick as we can and worry about the tolls later. I think there will be an uproar once it is opened about paying tolls and a politician will campaign at the next election on nationalising the path and removing the toll. I blogged about SkyPath in this post

Despite popular belief, traffic levels on the Harbour Bridge have actually fallen in recent years. There are fewer vehicles crossing the bridge than what there was a few years ago. However there has been an increase in the number of actual people travelling across the Bridge. How is that possible? It is possible through this:

Acknowledgement: Bus Australia -www.busaustralia.com

Buses carry many times more people than an average car, and thus take up far less road space. More people are catching buses, and are leaving their cars at home. Patronage is on the rise. Around 40% of people crossing the Harbour Bridge now do so on public transport. Even when you take into account that buses are larger vehicles than cars, I doubt that buses would take up more than about 10% of the road-space during peak hours. Double decker buses will be even better as they have a much higher capacity. Conclusion: Buses are far more efficient.

We have come a long way in terms of expanding priority for public transport on the North Shore. We now have the Northern Busway, which has significantly improved the situation for both bus users and motorists. Without the Busway, patronage would not have grown and all those people would be driving single occupant vehicles instead.

There is still much more that could be done to improve the bus service. The Northern Busway actually only runs as a Busway between Akoranga and Constellation, which as Peter M analysed at the Auckland Transport Blog is only 41% of the Northern Express’ (the flagship Busway service) route. Some bus lanes are provided on Fanshawe Street, but despite carrying 40% of the people, the buses get no priority on the Harbour Bridge itself and have to share with general traffic. The Bridge is the major weakness of the Busway and needs to be fixed.

My solution is changing how we run the ‘tidal’ lane on the Harbour Bridge. The tidal lane is the extra lane that gets opened up to the peak direction of traffic during peak hours. The eight lane bridge usually runs as four lanes in both directions. But during the morning peak, the lane dividers are moved so that there are five lanes southbound and only three northbound and then vice versa in the evening. It is a good system, and one that I think NZTA should have considered using on Sate Highway 16 as well, instead of deciding to waste millions on widening it.

I think that the time has come for the ‘fifth’ lane to be turned into a bus lane. It would be reserved exclusively for buses during peak hours and would be southbound during the morning and northbound during the evening. There are already overhead gantries installed on this section of motorway, so it would just be a case of changing the lighting so that there could be a switch on sign saying “Bus Only”. We would also need some sort of enforcement system, as AT would not have any enforcement authority on a state highway. Possibly the gantries could also be utilised to install CCTV cameras that Police could monitor? I think the cost of such a conversion would be very little.

I think the advantages of this are obvious. It would mean a clear, congestion free trip across the Bridge for bus users.While it is inferior to a full-blown busway, it would cut travel times significantly. The disadvantage is that cars would lose a lane during peak hours. I imagine some will be upset by this and in the short-term, congestion for car users may increase. But again I point out that even with a bus lane, it would mean that 40% of people use only one lane. Meanwhile the remaining 60% would have four lanes, or 15% per lane. In other words, the bus lane would be 2.66 times more efficient than a car lane. Buses would still take up far less than its fair share of space.

Longer term, I expect that the faster travel times would encourage more people onto buses, thereby reducing congestion in the car lanes. Also do not underestimate the impact of the SkyPath, especially if the toll is abolished. Ultimately I think these two factors combined will remove the need for any new motorway crossing of the Waitemata. A tidal flow bus lane is a very good way to improve the efficiency of the Harbour Bridge and could be done cheaply, easily and in a short time frame.

Auckland Public Transport Fares from 1976

As someone who is very interested in the workings of transport systems, I am fascinated with the history of Auckland’ public transport network. I have a particular interest in tickets and fares and given that Auckland’s current fare structure is absolutely terrible and is arguably one of the worst cities in the developed world, I think looking back into past to see how we got to this system would be beneficial.

What’s so wrong with the current system? Well it’s confusing, with around one hundred products offered by all the different operators, secondly, you must pay a new fare every time you transfer, which is not only very unfriendly to customers, but makes planning a better network that depends on transfers next to impossible.

Thanks to Auckland Libraries, I was able to obtain details about Auckland public transport fares in 1976. A new system was introduced in 1976 by the Auckland Regional Authority. ARA got rid of the old system which had numerous different small sections and streamlined it into one user friendly structure. It revolved around four clear and legible zones. Free transfers were also offered. People could change in between different transit services within the selected zones. Sounds very sensible and people-friendly to me! This is a map of the zones:

Source: Auckland Star 24 January 1976, obtained courtesy of Auckland Libraries.

But if this system was so much better than what we have now, why did we ever abandon this system and now have do use the horrible mess of public transport fares that we have now? Unfortunately it was due to government policy. This came at both a central and local government level. Deregulation of the public transport network in the 1980s and 1990s, which was supposed to bring “more diversity and choice”.

The deregulation, which culminated in the short sighted privatisation of the Yellow Bus Company, allowed operators to set their own routes and fares. It worked well for the operators because they could enjoy most of the freedoms of being in a commercial, unregulated world all well as being able to access vast levels of central and local government subsidies. Consequently we got a confusing network of ‘stages’, which vary for each individual route. If you want a pass, then you will be forced to buy passes that work only for that company’s routes.

Of course it is quite obvious what happens when you make things less convenient and more difficult for customers to use your service – they cease to be customers. This has been quite clearly shown with the huge declines in public transport patronage which while have had a lot to do with the rise of the cheap automobile and had begun since before the closure of the tram network in the 1950s, neglection and deregulation of public transport certainly played a part. Meanwhile subsidies continued to increase – Auckland transit operators receive close to $100 million annually from ratepayers and taxpayers.

Deregulation allowed companies to ‘cherry pick’ the profitable runs and then leave the unprofitable ones to be subsidised. Passengers have not benefited at all, they have had to deal with this confusing and expensive system. One thing I noticed from the article was this:

Source: Auckland Star 24 January 1976. Obtained from Auckland Libraries.

Only 2 cross town routes? While there might be one or two more than that now, but only because of the small variations in routes. With the exception of the Outer Link, none of them run at any decent frequency. The 007 fails to even maintain a basic hourly frequency on Sundays.

Source: AT website.

The Government attempted to turn the tide on deregulation, with the Public Transport Management Act 2008 – passed in the last days of the Labour led government. This allowed councils to regulate public transport much more strongly and would have meant greater accountability to deliver on time performance and also to accept integrated fares. Unfortunately the law was repealed by Transport Minister Steven Joyce, who seems to be in the pocket of Infratil (see my posts last year about the Snapper / HOP debacle), a company which was a vocal critic of the PTMA (or rather a vocal supporter of their own interests over the interests of the people).

The good news is that it will be replaced by the new Public Transport Operating Model. This will achieve a lot of the goals of the PTMA. Matt L did a much better job explaining how it works over at the Auckland Transport Blog. Essentially Auckland will be divided into units, which will be collections of routes. Operators will enter contracts for that entire unit rather than the individual run and the less profitables runs will be cross – subsidised by the more profitable runs, i.e some of the profits of the full 7.30am bus will go towards covering the costs of the loss making 11am bus. Alternatively operators can choose to register as a commercial service, which will mean that they receive no subsidy. It will also allow revenue sharing and enable integrated fares to be rolled out. The ‘cherry picking’ will stop and it will empower AT to make more overall route planning, which they have already started to do with the Regional Public Transport Plan. In terms of the above example of cross town routes, the redesigned bus network which is a part of the RPTP includes Mt Albert Rd and Balmoral Rd as part of the frequent transit network – a bus every 15 minutes during the day time, 7 days a week!

Source: Auckland Council Transport Committee meeting 3 April 2012 – http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/committees/transportcommittee/meetings/transportcomminattpublictransport20120403.pdf

The ironic thing is that the planning with PTOM and the RPTP is in a way, a step back to how things were – a more regulated approach. The zone map looks slightly similar to AT’s integrated fares map and also to what I suggested in a blog post a while ago. Not that going back to it used to be is a bad thing. In fact in the case of public transport, it is probably a good thing.

Click this link to see a PDF of the full Auckland Star article Auckland Star

Starling Nationals 2013 – Day 2 to Day 5 reports

Hi everyone and sorry for the lack of news, but the Nationals concluded on Friday. I was not able to get reports posted, partially because the internet at the Beachcomber Inn Hotel was very expensive – $6.99 per half hour! Here are the reports for days 2 -5.

Day 2 – Tuesday 23:

The second day of racing at the Starling National Championships began with very calm conditions inside Picton Harbour. However the Race Committee reported that there was wind outside, and the ‘D’ was raised at 0930. The Starlings were hooked up to RIBs and towed out to the course area.

As the cruiseliner had left, the logging ship that was anchored in the bay was able to return to the port. This meant that we had more space to lay a course and did not need to go all the way out to Allports Island.

The orange flag was raised at 1055 and the warning signal for race 3 ‘yellow’ fleet was made at bang on 11am. Unfortunately this start was a general recall and the race was restarted again under ‘U’. Blue then went into their starting sequence, and again had a general recall.

Some weather forecasts were predicting winds of up to 20 knots. This did not eventuate, and winds were mainly light, probably averaging around 8 to 10 knots. The wind gusted to around 15 knots at times, and there were also lulls of very little wind. The key was being able to connect those gusts together to make sure that you are always sailing in the most pressure. The RC attempted to shift the marks to compensate for the changing wind direction, but the constantly changing breeze meant that it was only possible to lay for the average direction.

Race Officer Gerald Martin was strict with his starts, using the U flag for each race this day. This kept the fleet well back behind the line. All 3 scheduled races were completed today.

Day 3 – Wednesday 24:

Today was essentially a carbon copy of yesterday, with wind moving between about 315 (NW) and 270 (W) on the compass. Again the absence of much wind in the harbour required a tow out the course area for the Starlings, which was laid in a similar position to yesterday.

Again the first race of the day (Race 6) began on time. This time, the fleet were able to stay behind the line and both starts got away under Flag P. Race 7 was started quite swiftly after the finish of the first race. Race 8 was slightly delayed, as the good run with clear starts was over and both groups had a general recall, again seeing a switch to Flag U.

After racing it was back to the club to appreciate some Marlbrough mussels and salmon. Then the Starling Class AGM saw a lot of passionate discussion debate about various things. With 8 races completed, the qualifying series had been completed and the fleet was split into a Gold (upper half) and a Silver (lower half) group.

Day 4 – Thursday 25:
Today was ANZAC Day, and for that reason there was to be no racing until 1300, with many attending the Picton Dawn Parade. People started arriving at the club from around 10.30am and launching and towing began around an hour later. There were a couple of showers of rain in the morning, but by the time we were on the water, the sun had come out and it was nice and warm out at the course area.

Upon arrival at the course area, there was very little wind to greet us. However around 15 minutes before the scheduled first warning signal, a light breeze built from a northwesterly direction. The start was postponed for a short while as the course was laid, but by around 1310 the start sequence for Gold was underway. This was a massive failure of a start, with many boats well over the line, forcing a general recall. The restart under Flag U was also unsuccessful, with too many boats over. After a third attempt to start under Flag U, the RC pulled out the Black Flag and finally the start was away.

The Silver Fleet also mucked around with the starts, and after two general recalls their start was underway on a Black Flag as well, over an hour late. For this race, the wind stayed light at around 6 knots or so. For the Silver Fleet, there was a large right hand shift on the second beat up the inner loop, and the boats that went left (this blogger included) paid the price (in my case, losing over 30 places).

The second race of the Finals for the Gold was underway just after 3pm, however silver fleet was postponed slightly, due to the delays in starting. The RC used the Black Flag to start both races. This time for the Silver fleet, playing a centre left track worked out reasonably well. What the wind was going to do is often unpredictably, especially when it is light.

Day 5 – Friday 26:
The last day of championship racing saw a return to an earlier start, with only two races scheduled today to allow an early pack up. Wind Guru had been forecasting fresh winds today, but no one believed them as they had been forecasting that all week! Predict Wind was forecasting lighter winds, and the sky state the previous night had suggested light winds for the final day of racing. However, people were surprised as we awoke to rather strong winds, with the trees blowing around.

For the first time during the week, a tow was not necessary and we were able to sail out to the course area. The wind was extremely inconsistent with very strong gusts and then very light patches coming through. The wind was very light as we went across the channel and around Mabel Island, but once we were out into the Sounds, there was a decent breeze. The wind never really increased to anything particularly strong during the day, and was much lighter than inside in the harbour.

The Race Officer, keen to get racing away as quickly as possible skipped Flag P and went straight to U for the first race. The start got away cleanly in around 12 knots or so. However a minute or two into the race, there was a significant starboard hand wind shift. This left the RC with no choice but to abandon the race.

After this, the wind failed to settle in for some time. The wind was strong enough, but the direction was highly variable. AP was signalled and the orange flag removed while the course was moved. After a lot of waiting around, and moving of the course area, the restart was finally underway at around 1245, with the Silver fleet following just behind. At this stage the wind was averaging at around 15 knots, with the odd gust of about 20.

During this race, for the Silver Fleet at least (can’t comment on the Gold Fleet as I wasn’t there unfortunately!), the right was quite favourable, with the exception of a short left hand phase about halfway of the way up the second beat, which penalised those who hit the starboard lay line too early.

Following this race, the Race Committee went straight into a second race. Unfortunately a general recall meant that the Gold fleet started under a Black Flag. The Silver got away with just one boat over. By this stage, the wind had begun to drop and by the finish, was around 10 knots or less. This was the last scheduled race of the championships and with that, everyone headed ashore.

The championship concluded with a prize-giving and a carvery dinner – which at $10 per head was good value for money with delicious ham and lamb and a vast selection of salads on offer. First place and the 2013 Starling National Champion was Trent Rippey of Tauranga. Runner up was George Gautrey from Muritai Yacht Club (in Wellington) and in third was Leonard Takahashi-Fry from Murrays Bay Sailing Club (North Shore,Auckland).

It was a very successful regatta, with the wind light to moderate strength for the entire period. The weather was mainly fine, with only a few cloudy periods, and the most of the rain was finished before the racing began on day one. Queen Charlotte Yacht Club did an excellent job of organising this regatta and were very hospitable. Thanks should be given to the organisers and everyone who helped, as regattas require an army of volunteers. Gerald Martin was the Race Officer and he did splendid job. Running races in the Sounds is not an easy job and making a decision about whether the conditions are fair to race in or not is tough. It is important thought that Gerald’s helpers on the signal boat, pin boat, finish boat and the mark layers (who have a particularly hard job when laying marks in over 30 metres of depth). Thank you to the Protest Committee – where chairman John Bullot was ably assisted by judges Alistair Daines, Mike Alison, and Hana Maguire. These people do a thankless job and really do help keep our sport clean.

After the regatta, it was back to the hotel for a good night’s rest ahead of an early 5.30am start to catch the 7am Arahura Interislander Sailing to Wellington. The ferry was reasonably empty, with many sailors onboard. After getting off the ferry, we began the long drive home, which was mainly smooth, with a brief lunch stop at Taihape, it was a 12 hour trip in total, getting to Auckland at exactly 7pm. One of the things that I enjoy most about sailing is the travelling to different parts of the countries and fun is already had on trips away.

In terms of how this blogger went, it was not a good regatta from my perspective. My starts were okay (which was frustrating) but I seemed to be losing places all time up the beats. I was hoping to qualify for the Gold fleet, but did not even come close, so it was a very poor regatta. However, there is not too much point in dwelling on that and focus must be on the future.

Here is a link to regatta webpage with final results and event reports.

Report from Picton – Starling National Championships – Ra Rua

(Note this report is from yesterday, I forgot to publish it. Today’s report shortly. )

Today was the first day of racing at the 2013 Starling National Championships, which are being staged at Queen Charlotte Yacht Club in the Marlborough town of Picton. The day began with extremely calm conditions inside Picton Harbour, and after a briefing, launching was delayed while the Race Committee went to find some wind.

The ‘D’ flag was raised at around 1100 and the fleet began to launch. Due to the very light wind, most boats were towed out of the harbour, stopping to let the Kaitaki ferry cross. As the boats were towed around Mabel Island, a squall came through, bringing a decent breeze but also a fair amount of rain.

The rain came and went, and so did the wind. Yellow was the first group to start, and their race was underway at 1300, with Blue 10 minutes behind. The wind started off well, but dropped away during the race. Yellow were able to finish, however Blue got becalmed around Mark 2. Luckily a light breeze picked up and it was just enough to get the fleet down to Mark 3, where the course was shortened to, with the race taking just over an hour to complete.

Race 2 was postponed for a while, in order to wait for some more consistent wind. It looked like the wind was going to shift around to the right, but eventually the breeze settled in the same northwesterly direction. Yellow were in a starting sequence at around 1500, however there was a general recall, forcing a restart under Flag U. Blue again followed shortly afterwards. This time a good race was achieved, with the wind holding in (although shifting around) for the whole course.

After this, everyone sailed in and packed up quickly, as it was starting to get dark. Results are here