top of page
Safer streets, better transport choices
Key Actions
-
Reallocate road space to create protected lanes for e-scooters and bikes along key transport routes. Use cost effective plastic or concrete barriers for protection.
Beach Road protected cycle way. Image credit: Auckland Transport
-
Provide better markings and way-finding signs to help people use quieter back street routes for biking where practical. Look into developing a Bike Hamilton app.
-
Put raised crossings at each entry/exit at roundabouts to allow pedestrians and cyclists to safely navigate roundabouts.
Franklin Road roundabout, Auckland
-
Invest in maintaining and fixing footpaths. Currently, many of our footpaths are in bad condition, making them hazardous and difficult to use for the elderly and those with disabilities.
-
Increase the number of raised pedestrian crossings on busy roads. Slow traffic through better road design. Create pedestrian streets in the CBD.
-
Make the bus an attractive option through installing more bus shelters and working with the Waikato Regional Council to increase frequency and reliability. Investigate where there may be enough road space to create bus lanes.
-
Better manage parking, particularly around the inner-city fringes, and encourage more people to commute via public transport.
-
Remove or reduce minimum car-parking requirements for new properties where appropriate (such as in the city centre, and along key public transport routes).
-
Work closely with central government and neighbouring local authorities to develop a regional rail network. This includes more efficient passenger rail along the Auckland-Hamilton growth corridor, which will promote economic development
-
Investigate and plan for inner-city rail. This will be a long-term project, but as a city we need to be planning ahead.
Funding
-
Work with NZTA to secure central government funding.
-
Reprioritise current transport budgets. For example, the long-term infrastructure plan earmarks close to half a billion for widening roads and building a new bridge in the North to address congestion as the city grows. These funds would be better spent on solutions that give people real alternatives to driving (such as quality public transport) and thereby provide a long-term solution to congestion.
-
Get growth right. By planning transport and housing together, we can significantly improve transport outcomes. Higher density housing along key public transport routes will help to support financially sustainable public transport. Reducing sprawl and building the city up is also key - a compact city with mixed development will reduce walking and biking distances
-
User pays for parking. We need to focus on better, longer-term solutions for regenerating the CBD.
Note: I will be publishing more detailed plans regarding housing and the environment over the next few days, so watch this space!
Get in touch!
Authorised by Sarah Thomson 82 Bankier Rd, Horsham Downs
bottom of page