Transport planning in New Zealand, Peter Stoeveken, a transport planner from Germany

Peter Stoeveken, a transport planner from Germany who is currently doing some contract work for Greater Wellington and NZTA, will be giving us his perspective on the way transport planning is done in New Zealand - and in Wellington.

For this meeting, you are also welcome to invite non-members of Sustwelltrans with a specific interest in these issues - although space will be limited.

The details:
When: 5-6pm Wednesday 30 June
Where: Greater Wellington ground floor meeting room, 142 Wakefield St
Cost: Free

Peter Stoeveken moved early 2008 from Germany to New Zealand. In Germany he was head of the public transport operation company in Wiesbaden, the Capital of Hesse. Later, Peter was CEO of German transportation consulting companies and he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to New Zealand, particularly in public transport. He worked on several consulting and planning projects in Germany as well as in Mexico City, Asia and Istanbul. Peter is has now established his own company, Stoeveken Consulting and he is working on projects for NZTA, Regional Councils and City Councils.

Comments

When you are planning public transport, don't focus on current passengers. Focus on drivers.
What do you need to do to make PT more attractive, convenient and cheaper than driving?

For NZ, good PT requires a paradigm shift.
Services delivery is dominated by PT providers (bus and train companies) rather than optimised for the passenger.

Some of his suggestions:

  • enable purchasing of monthly travel passes online
  • to speed travel, don't check tickets. Random ticket inspections + fines.
  • don't charge people extra to buy a Snapper card
  • instead of routing all buses through the CBD, put in transfer stations at suburban centres e.g. Miramar. Kilbirnie and Seatoun. Run feeder buses, and expresses buses.
  • put in bus lanes over the whole network
  • use technology e.g. Bluetooth to send travel info to customers

To achieve change, need to do all this at once, not piecemeal.