Thomas Nash

@thomasnash.bsky.social

1987 Followers 246 Following

Cities, transport and economic and climate transitions. Social Entrepreneur in Residence and Adjunct Lecturer at Massey University, NZ.

Image of the Symphony Centre which will be built above the new Te Waihorotiu station in Auckland.
Artist’s impression of the new Tūhono train for the lower North Island to be manufactured by Alstom.
Graph showing July monthly bus passenger trips in the Wellington region from 2019-2025.
Map showing the proposed Harbour Quays bus route with existing Golden Mile stops and proposed future Harbour Quays stops.
Map of the proposed faster buses route through the city noir to the eastern suburbs.
Graph showing the increase in weekend bus patronage in the Wellington region between 2019 and 2025.
Screen shot from GWRC press release in May 2024: Greater Wellington councillors also agreed today to introduce journey based daily and weekly fare caps when the NTS is implemented in the region. "Fare capping makes public transport more attractive by effectively offering free travel after you've taken a set number of daily or weekly journeys. It's a great way to encourage public transport use and has proven very successful and popular in lots of other cities and regions," Cr Nash says. Metlink Explorer Day passes and 30-Day passes will be replaced by fare capping, giving similar discounts to all passengers not just those who can afford passes."
Graphic showing bus travel times on the Newtown to Courtenay Place corridor from 2019 to 2025, showing a signs and reduction in afternoon peak travel times.
Extract from Beehive press release with quotes from Infrastructure Minister, Chris Bishop. "Poor asset management results in expensive renewals and emergency works, poor infrastructure quality, asset failures, and less funding for new services. The Infrastructure Commission estimates that for every $40 spent on new infrastructure, we should be investing $60 in maintenance and renewals. "In practice, years of poor asset management means leaky hospitals and schools, mould in police stations and courthouses, service outages on commuter rail, and poor accommodation for Defence Force personnel and their families. It's not good enough. New Zealanders deserve better.
Map of temporary speed restrictions (TSRs) on the Wellington regional rail network.
Google map image showing the Metlink airport bus trip taking 24 minutes at the start of the afternoon peak.
Extract from Herald article: Whanau won the mayoralty in 2022, beating Labour's Paul Eagle and incumbent Wellington Mayor Andy Foster in the closest thing to a landslide possible under Wellington's STV voting system. Looking back, Whanau is proud to have lifted the city's water investment to $1.8 billion in the 2024-34 Long-Term Plan. The council's district plan will enable thousands of new homes. The council has also planned to upgrade over 800 social housing units. It has built 27km of new cycleways and bus priority lanes have doubled from 4km to 8km. "I'm really proud of that ... that is exactly what I was elected to deliver and now with the Golden Mile project starting officially I feel very proud. We're, we're in the middle of transformation," Whanau said.
Screenshot of letter to the editor in the Sunday Star Times: Greens defend record As Green-affiliated city and regional councillors in Wellington City, we are proud of our record in Wellington over a challenging few years, working from difficult starting points. We have achieved record investments in water infrastructure, unlocked generations of constraints on building new homes and delivered all-time high patronage and reliability on our buses. We understand good news and actual tangible progress doesn’t always make the headlines and instead there’s often a focus on setbacks and disputes. We see it as an important role for us to help communicate the actual facts around what has been and is being achieved. Some pundits have said, without any evidence to support their claims, that we have “no record”. Of course, not everyone agrees with the progress we’ve made, but it’s important for local democracy that people can judge for themselves. So, we’ve collected some facts about our work in a new website: www. capitalworks.nz. Check it out for yourself and get in touch - we would love to hear from you. Mayor Tory Whanau, deputy mayor Laurie Foon, city councillors Nīkau Wi Neera and Geordie Rogers, regional councillors Yadana Saw and Thomas Nash
Extract from Mayor Tory Whanau’s oped in the Sunday Star Times: We can also continue to look for efficiencies across the city. One of the biggest costs with our transformation projects is traffic management. I'm looking forward to seeing if we can reduce this significantly by bringing that function in - house. It will also make things significantly easier for local businesses who are keen to host street events.
Extract from Post article saying: Churchman also said he concluded the council and minister did not fail to provide adequate reasons in rejecting a greater character area zoning. Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said the ruling was a positive step forward for Wellington, particularly in addressing the pressing need for more housing. She said the win allowed the council to continue the goals of the 2024 District Plan and build the kind of city all Wellingtonians deserve - vibrant, resilient and well-planned.
Aerial view of the valley south of Eastbourne
Regional Councillors and Metlink staff getting off the train at Masterton station on our way to the Transport Committee meeting.
Render of the city link bridge connecting Lower Hutt central city to the new Melling Station.
Two RNZ headlines - one reporting on the PM’s criticism of the Wellington region’s approach to the regional deal programme and one reporting on Canterbury’s approach, which was identical. First headline says: Christopher Luxon calls Wellington councils “pretty lame-o”. Second headline says: Canterbury chasing regional deal
Screenshot from Post article saying: “But one area where the council can take more revenue, on top of existing plans for years of rates rises, is charging short-term accommodation providers - such as Airbnb hosts - commercial instead of residential rates. Commercial rates are 3.7-times higher than residential rates.”
Graph of water capex adjusted for inflation over past 20 years showing which mayors were in power when.
Screenshot of opinion piece in The Post: “Wellington's leaders aren't flying blind. They see the data. They hear the concerns. And yet, they refuse to change direction, as if the answer to this well-established malaise is more of the same.”
Render of Courtenay Place post improvements.
Screenshot from article in The Post last year saying: But Waka Kotahi/ NZTA on Tuesday confirmed that those figures were modelled on the assumption that bus priority projects along the Wellington harbour quays were going ahead. It also confirmed that, apart from possibly funding a couple of business cases, it was not spending any money in the current three-year funding period on the bus spine it based its modelling on. Brown would not say whether he knew his time projections were based on a project with no central government funding.
Graphic showing frequency of use of public transport in 8 cities: Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Hutt City, Porirua, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin. Wellington is first by some margin with 48% using PT at least once a week; Hutt City is second with 37% and Porirua is third with 31%.
Screenshot from RNZ article with quotes from Cabinet Minister Shane Jones. BEGINS Jones' speech was also highly critical of banks that refused to work with fossil fuel companies. "This malevolence flows from cult like accords fostered within the UN where banks and their sustainability units foolishly believe they can change the weather. "New Zealand banks should abandon such agreements as the Net Zero Banking Alliance. "These instruments are alien and represent a foreign threat to regional development," he said. ENDS
Bus timetable around 12pm running from Wellington Hospital to Lambton Quay, showing 8 services in a 30 minute period.
Bus timetable showing 8 bus services going past Wellington Hospital in Newtown between 8am and 8:30am on a weekday.
The Post correction saying: Correction: A reference to Wellington parking being "overstretched" has been removed. WCC data for metered car parks shows occupancy at peak times is 52%. Occupancy rates for private sites is not known. - The Post
Extract from Post article: The first three floors will open and then the rest will open as each floor is finished - adding 350 car parks to Wellington's overstretched car parking total with about 700 available once the building is finished.
Rendered image of a Metlink articulated bus coming through the Karori tunnel.
Bar graph comparing 2019 to 2024 bus patronage data, showing monthly growth in patronage over 2024 compared to 2019 (pre-covid).
Screenshot of the Media Council decision upholding my complaint against NZME.
Extract from an article in the post saying: A text message from Gazley to Brown in March, six months before the launch of the Vision group, says: "Hi Simeon, I'm a friend of Nicola Willis, can you please call me when you have time about Wellington city council". It was followed by a firecracker emoji. Brown did not reply.
Screenshot from Beehive press release from the Transport Minister: "Commuters in the capital will see a significant benefit in time savings from these upgrades. Those travelling on the number one bus between Island Bay and the Railway Station are forecast to save 9 minutes during morning peak times, while those on the number two bus between Miramar and the CBD will notice a saving of 11 minutes on their journeys," Mr Brown says.
Graph showing the fixed and variable user costs of various types of modes of transport, with cars at the higher end by far.
Extract from The Post article: He said the regional council needed to consider how it delivered on transport needs for ratepayers "rather than splashing cash on expensive and bizarre projects such as a $2.2 million bus shelter in Paraparaumu that has a garden on the roof".
Extract from The Post article: Transport Minister Simeon Brown said a record $1.3 billion would be put towards Wellington public transport services and infrastructure from the recently released National Land Transport Programme (NLTP). That would be the largest investment in such services that the region had seen, and was a decent share of the $6.4 billion set aside for public transport projects across New Zealand, he said.
Treasury investment forecast chart showing transport investment eclipsing all other spending forecasts in the table.
Screenshot of a letter from GWRC to WCC: “We understand the budget constraints that your Council faces through the proposed LTP Amendment and the difficult choices that will have to be made - GW is working in a similarly constrained financial context. We would however like to reiterate that these three projects are all critical infrastructure projects to maintain and improve the city's public transport services on which Wellingtonians rely - they are not 'nice to have's'. As a consequence, Greater Wellington advocates for: 1. Priority focus on the Harbour Quays and Eastern Bus Corridor; 2. Retention of public transport improvements along the Hutt Road - Thorndon Quay; and 3. Continue with agreed Courtenay Place upgrades with the remainder of the Golden Mile improvements deferred as currently planned in your recent Long-term Plan.”
Aerial photo of the crowd for the Hīkoi showing most, but not all of the crowd - I am out of shot with many more people behind me.
Massive crowd at Waitangi Park with tinorangatiratanga flags flying
Kara Puketapu Dentice talking to the crowd on Matiu
Screenshot from RNZ article: The council's transport chair Thomas Nash said it had "maxed out capacity" on all the rail lines. "Our primary focus is trying to get people through the public transport network as smoothly and safely as we can. On that day it is going to be super busy." Nash was asking passengers to be patient with drivers and public transport staff.
Extract from an article saying NZ is the third largest consumer per capita of aggregate in the world because of the relative size of our road network and population.
Screenshot from a column by Andrea Vance in The Sunday Star Times today saying: “National's bemoaning working from home is inconsistent with its drive to boost urban sprawl and build new roads into main centres.” And my tweet from last week saying: “Bemoaning working from home while promoting costly urban sprawl and expensive new highways is incoherent. Focus housing policy on homes close to the centre, transport spend on public transport and infrastructure spend on renewals and the city will thrive.”
Graph showing percentage of vehicles by corridor and mode, comparing buses and cars on Adelaide Rd, Glenmore St, Thorndon Quay and Mt Victoria.
Graphic showing map of regional rail network and describing the elements of the project being funded including new trains and new track infrastructure.
Map of per person transport emissions in Wellington City showing the people living in the inner city have lower transport emissions and those emissions increase the further away from the central city people live.
The team of elected Greens in Wellington with newly sworn in Councillor Geordie Rogers and Mayor Tory Whanau. Minus MP Julie Anne Genter and Councillor Yadana Saw.
Double decker bus showing “in training” during the rebuild phase for the bus driver workforce earlier this year.
Me smiling in front of one of our new real time information screens.
Wellington central election results summary
Me standing with an articulated bus