Site Visit and Expert Tour

On the evening of Friday the 4th of March the class attended an on-site tour and introduction to Dominion Road by AUT lecturers and a group of Auckland Transport Officials who head the overall Bus system and the development plan of the light rail sysytem on Dominion Road.

I treated this as an introduction to the culture and background of the road, so dined out with others at a dumpling restaurant before looking to take as much information as possible from the experts, and focus on the questions I came up with after my Assumption Mapping.

Conversation was largely based around the new light rail transport plan to place a tramline up Dominion Road, connecting the airport in a direct route to the city centre. Subsequent issues have arisen with this "plan in limbo" alongside ongoing multi modal transport problems that AT has been unable to resolve as of yet.

The AT experts stressed the following areas of concern:

-Poor retailer mentality with "20 degree" vision predicting a loss of custom when light rail removes space for on road paring

-Vulnerability and safety of pedestrians walking in "dark patches" on unlit pavement or pitch black side roads

-Traffic management and user adjustement during construction phase of light rail and in the aftermath of completion

-Security and stimulation at bus stops for waiting users

-Distance between connecting bus stops and a lack of knowledge of when & where to get off and walk towards respectively

-Removal of parked cars meaning loss of "pedestrian barrier" from vehicles

Suggested solutions and sources of inspiration by AT experts

-Examining close proximity placement of connecting bus stops in Northen U.S.A

-User inclusive mobile application with full journey plan and instructions

-Creating a "temporary" solution to aid traffic management in the construction and aftermath phases of the light rail system plan which could be transferred to locations with similar issues

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I also enaged in a quick Observation session at the close end of Balmoral Dominion Road only and recognised that quite a few people travelled via pavement/bike and that the bus stops were in fact very unstimulating and uncomforting.