Out for a short bike ride. Washbrook church, here I come...

#TransportNews: A new strategy that aligns public transport improvements with urban development is a key feature of the Regional Public Transport Plan 2025-35, recommended by the Greater Wellington Transport Committee.

Today’s front page doesn’t mention it, but we’ve had extensive and very constructive regional planning among councils and various public agencies in the Wellington region over the past few years. Just last year we adopted our Future Development Strategy, working closely with central government. 1/

This Future Development Strategy is a detailed 30 year plan for the region that involved significant public consultation and ongoing cooperative work with government. Agreed by all the region’s councils, mana whenua and government agencies, it’s an excellent basis for any future regional deal. 2/

We also have a 30 year Wellington Strategic Rail Plan that sets out an investment case for rail upgrades to triple the numbers of passenger trips on the rail network. These are some actual outcomes of regional planning that we continue to do, including towards any potential regional deals. 3/

The Wellington Regional Leadership Committee (that adopted our Future Development Strategy) discussed the “regional deal” question and decided not to propose one right now. The Local Government Minister was formally advised of this decision on 21 Feb 2025. Useful context @thepost-nz.bsky.social. 4/

Despite a rise in patronage overall we’ve seen a 12% drop of kids using public transport since the free kids travel was cut by the govt.

That’s $15 a week or $600 a year per kid so it’s no wonder we’ve seen a drop when money is tight.

No doubt school traffic is now worse too.

(1/3) It needs repeating: in 1994, Ukraine was persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons to Russia in return for the US, the UK, and Russia guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity.

Almost every European leader has spoken out backing Ukraine and Zelenskyy against the attacks and lies from Trump and Vance backing them to stand up to Russia’s invasion.

Will our leaders do the same?

The UK stands united with you Ukraine! Слава Україні!

The idea that the council hasn’t changed direction to deal with Wellington’s problems is clearly false. The decision to allow thousands more dwellings in the city and to massively invest in water infrastructure are two of the biggest changes in decades, they are not more of the same!

Amazing to have a visit from a Mokopirirakau - NZ’s Forest Gecko!! Sunbathing on Theo’s paddling pool! We have lots of skinks and native birds around but we never knew we had one of these.

They’re classified as “at risk and declining” due to rats, cats, possums, hedgehogs and habitat destruction.

When we invest in public goods like public transport, public housing, education, health and, yes, proper school lunches, we get a healthy return on investment. This is often ignored when investments are framed simply as “costs”. We need to get better at communicating the value of such investments.

‘The Scottish Human Rights Commission criticised the “glacial pace” of progress in tackling overcrowding, suicides and mental health problems in prisons; recommendations agreed decades ago had not been implemented.’

@danigaravelli.bsky.social on incarcerated youth:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Golden Mile physical works finally start in April! Along with the new Harbour Quays bus route and bus priority to the east, we will see major time savings from Miramar to Parliament - like 20 minutes or more each way. Crucially, that also means more frequent bus services for the same cost. So good!