Auckland traffic wtf how does one cope

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#1483863 2-Feb-2016 20:10

MikeB4: I take back all I have ever said, I don't know how Aucklanders cope and not go postal. We are in Auckland on holiday, Whangaparaora to be exact and the traffic is insane. It took an eternity to go from Takapuna to Manly Beach mid afternoon.

But in Auckland, we have Manly Beach, and dozens of others just as good. And the best sailing waters in the country - arguably in the world - just offshore. So yeah, we have traffic and it sucks but I still got home by 5pm tonight and had a swim in the warm sea 3 minutes drive from my house.

Do I like the traffic? No. Would I swap Auckland for any other NZ/Aus/UK city? Also no

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#1483879 2-Feb-2016 20:15

jeffnz:
seems like just another Auckland bashing thread. I moved here from Dunedin nearly 17 years ago and love the place you just need to use your head a bit more instead of getting all emotional about it.

I worked in Wellington many years ago for about 8 months whilst staying in Paraparam and the traffic was far worse than Auckland, case of people in glass houses etc etc. Never could understand one road in and out of there but its the way the city was built, not much different to Auckland really.

Then you get all the whingers about how a lot of money is spent on Auckland roading, never ceases really

Was not intended to be an Auckland bashing thread, the opposite in fact. It is clear to me that we should be supporting improving Aucklands transport infrastructure. The cost of downtime must be huge. There needs to be significant spending on the infrastructure.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1483880 2-Feb-2016 20:16

shk292:
MikeB4: I take back all I have ever said, I don't know how Aucklanders cope and not go postal. We are in Auckland on holiday, Whangaparaora to be exact and the traffic is insane. It took an eternity to go from Takapuna to Manly Beach mid afternoon.

But in Auckland, we have Manly Beach, and dozens of others just as good. And the best sailing waters in the country - arguably in the world - just offshore. So yeah, we have traffic and it sucks but I still got home by 5pm tonight and had a swim in the warm sea 3 minutes drive from my house.

Do I like the traffic? No. Would I swap Auckland for any other NZ/Aus/UK city? Also no

I agree staying across from Manly Beach and I was watching Orca cruising past. Simply stunning place.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1483881 2-Feb-2016 20:21

They pass the time in grid lock thinking about how more wealthy they are (owning their own home) since leaving that morning. ;-)

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#1483888 2-Feb-2016 20:36

i drive Mangere Bridge to Devonport daily, its ~30km and takes me just under 30 mins in the morning and with picking my son up at daycare in the afternoon (another 7km to the trip) its about an hour. thats regular traffic

if there is an accident it can add a lot more to the trip, but i have multiple routes i can take if one is congested so its very rare to take more than about 1h10m on the trip home.

for me public transport doesnt work its approximately 1h30mins each way and would mean double the time. thats time i cant spend with my family. for others it may work a bit better.

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#1483892 2-Feb-2016 20:44

richms:

floydbloke:

It still astounds me that in a city of well over a million people you have to travel through suburban streets to get from the airport to the CBD.

Only if you want to go the way with the least kms, not the quickest.

Go down the southern to manukau, hop on the other one and go in the back way to the airport. Been way faster when ive had to go out there.

Didn't know that, sorry. I was going by taxi-ride experience.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

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#1483987 2-Feb-2016 22:56

Example in the OP is pretty silly tbh.

Right now, at 10:52pm Google Maps is telling me its a 34.4km drive which will take 32 minutes. Of course its going to be madness mid afternoon, you have a flood of people leaving work in the CBD and going home on the North Shore. Takapuna is miles away from Manly Beach, so the only feasible route is to go on SH1. Surprise surprise, everybody else is on SH1 too!

Then you get to Whangaparoa peninsula heading to Manly beach, where there are thousands of houses and 1 main road in and out.

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#1483989 2-Feb-2016 23:00

Fred99:

Geektastic: I went to Masterton to get something yesterday. It's about 35km each way. I doubt I saw more than 6 cars in either direction!

Were all of them stolen cars with police (eventually abandoning) pursuit?

No. Some of them were attending an AOS callout that resulted in some whack job being arrested though following reports of "a man with a high powered rifle" seen near the wind turbines..! We'll assume that they meant "a rifle that fires large calibre bullets" and just went with "high powered rifle" for effect....

Local paper is full of reports about the other ones. Apparently one had siblings called Chevy, Dodge and Corvette! I kid you not.

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#1483991 2-Feb-2016 23:03

shk292:

MikeB4: I take back all I have ever said, I don't know how Aucklanders cope and not go postal. We are in Auckland on holiday, Whangaparaora to be exact and the traffic is insane. It took an eternity to go from Takapuna to Manly Beach mid afternoon.

But in Auckland, we have Manly Beach, and dozens of others just as good. And the best sailing waters in the country - arguably in the world - just offshore. So yeah, we have traffic and it sucks but I still got home by 5pm tonight and had a swim in the warm sea 3 minutes drive from my house.

Do I like the traffic? No. Would I swap Auckland for any other NZ/Aus/UK city? Also no

Define 'warm'!

Warm is the Andeman, where I have a dive plot showing 30C!

JamesL

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#1483993 2-Feb-2016 23:08

jeffnz:

I think that Wellington traffic is much worse but depends on where you go and how you think it through. Remember its our largest city not some backwater town with a handful of vehicles :)

If you compare it to Auckland, no way. I live in Wellington now and our peak hour traffic is nothing.

The way roading is done in Wellington is a joke though e.g. Arras "tunnel".. and I look forward to the "smart" motorway achieving nothing because people will ignore posted speed limits (until they line it all with speed cameras)

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#1483996 2-Feb-2016 23:16

bmt:

Example in the OP is pretty silly tbh.

Right now, at 10:52pm Google Maps is telling me its a 34.4km drive which will take 32 minutes. Of course its going to be madness mid afternoon, you have a flood of people leaving work in the CBD and going home on the North Shore. Takapuna is miles away from Manly Beach, so the only feasible route is to go on SH1. Surprise surprise, everybody else is on SH1 too!

Then you get to Whangaparoa peninsula heading to Manly beach, where there are thousands of houses and 1 main road in and out.

I don't agree that the OP's example is silly. Seriously, it's more the norm to be traveling at peak times than at off-peak times. I suspect it's even mathematically provable that this is what happens.

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#1483998 2-Feb-2016 23:25

Geektastic:

Apparently one had siblings called Chevy, Dodge and Corvette! I kid you not.

Naming kids after the place they were conceived is okay, I think.

lokhor

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#1484010 3-Feb-2016 06:43

jeffnz:

seems like just another Auckland bashing thread. I moved here from Dunedin nearly 17 years ago and love the place you just need to use your head a bit more instead of getting all emotional about it.

I worked in Wellington many years ago for about 8 months whilst staying in Paraparam and the traffic was far worse than Auckland, case of people in glass houses etc etc. Never could understand one road in and out of there but its the way the city was built, not much different to Auckland really.

Then you get all the whingers about how a lot of money is spent on Auckland roading, never ceases really

There is a pretty good train service from Paraparaumu to Wellington though.

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

MikeB4

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#1484011 3-Feb-2016 06:50

bmt:
Example in the OP is pretty silly tbh.

Right now, at 10:52pm Google Maps is telling me its a 34.4km drive which will take 32 minutes. Of course its going to be madness mid afternoon, you have a flood of people leaving work in the CBD and going home on the North Shore. Takapuna is miles away from Manly Beach, so the only feasible route is to go on SH1. Surprise surprise, everybody else is on SH1 too!

Then you get to Whangaparoa peninsula heading to Manly beach, where there are thousands of houses and 1 main road in and out.

People in Auckland leave work at 2pm ?

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

shk292

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#1484012 3-Feb-2016 06:52

Geektastic:

shk292:

MikeB4: I take back all I have ever said, I don't know how Aucklanders cope and not go postal. We are in Auckland on holiday, Whangaparaora to be exact and the traffic is insane. It took an eternity to go from Takapuna to Manly Beach mid afternoon.

But in Auckland, we have Manly Beach, and dozens of others just as good. And the best sailing waters in the country - arguably in the world - just offshore. So yeah, we have traffic and it sucks but I still got home by 5pm tonight and had a swim in the warm sea 3 minutes drive from my house.

Do I like the traffic? No. Would I swap Auckland for any other NZ/Aus/UK city? Also no

Define 'warm'!

Warm is the Andeman, where I have a dive plot showing 30C!

Water probably about 26C yesterday evening, it's a gently shelving beach and the sun had been on it all day

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