Allow me to introduce, not myself exactly, but the little series of posts that the Wellingtonista people have kindly allowed me to publish here. “Notional Significance” will be somewhere between travel writing, history, psychogeography and personal reflection, based upon walking the length of Wellington’s stretch of State Highway 1. The concept may sound familiar. I […]
It’s nice to see some solid local news reporting over at new Wellington website The Examiner. The Examiner says it aims to be “… a site where we look deeper and think harder about the city we live in and the issues that matter to us. It is also a forum for telling Wellingtonians’ stories, […]
It’s been a long time coming, but finally the buses are running through the thoroughfare formerly known as Manners Mall. With clipped bus wing mirrors, bowled down pedestrians, and general chaos predicted by some, I decided to get down to Manners Street and check out the new bus route.
This category is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s where we put things that we want to celebrate that didn’t seem to fit anywhere else, but that doesn’t mean these nominations are second thoughts. Indeed, they’re actually the some of the first things we think of when we try to define what makes Wellington […]
You know when you tag on with a Snapper and the voice goes "PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO TAG OFF"? Well, duh.
Or when you tag on with less than $12 on your card – gasp! – and the voice goes "CARD VALUE LOW" in a tone that sounds really concerned for your financial wellbeing, like it wants to add "This has been happening for a while now. Oughtn’t you get some budgeting advice?"
Well, Snapper have realised that these voice alerts are kind of annoying and/or unnecessary; and that we as public transport users have learned how the magical fish box works, so they’re updating the Snapper sounds.
Here’s a handy table of the changes:
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That’s right – the Snapper boxes will now go beedoo beedoo beedoobie diddly doo.
And not only that, it’s also going to be a lot quicker to tag on. No waiting for the previous passenger’s tag-on message to play before you can tag on.
Go Wellington buses will be updated with the new beeps and sounds from this Friday evening, 9 April.
And there’s a comprehensive post about the changes over at the Snapper blog.
Sometimes, we receive our news about Wellington from Twitter:
And then we follow it up with emails:
10:05 am (7 minutes ago) llew:
Quay Corporate told me that something near them is on fire – they’re very near Real Groovy
And more emails:
10:06 am (6 minutes ago) James Guthrie:
yep. 2m flames coming from a bust pipe.
10:08 am (7 minutes ago) Hadyn Green:
that’d be why power was out everywhere*.
blog it!
And now we need you to fill in the details for us!
* That explains why the bus wires were down this morning. Sigh. It’s hard to be passionate public transport advocate sometimes.
I’ve been blathering about it all over the place, but the Wellingtonista has thus far remained staunchly unblathered about IntensCITY week, which started yesterday.
Downtown Wellington is full of exhibitions, posters, shipping containers, lunchtime talks and video installations, all celebrating and/or critiquing our urban spaces. The official site is on the WCC website, and brochures are available in cafes, libraries and council places, or as a big juicy PDF.
Anyone else find it amusing that every single dairy in Wellington today had the Dominion Post‘s “P pipes seized from dairies!” story on proud display out in front of their respective shops.
(And is there a technical term for those wire-frame things that hold the big one-page headline banner for the day?)
Today I parked in the Tournament car-parking building on Marion Street and made the mistake of walking down the stairs to the street. Along with the delightful smell of urine, the stairs were also littered with used condoms. Now, I’m really stoked that people were practicing safer sex, especially because I’m going to assume there’s a connection between the number of sex workers on Marion Street and their proximity to that building, but really, isn’t there a more ummm enticing place people could go? I’ve also seen people having sex in the Lombard parking building as well – what’s up with that, Wellington? Is it the smell of petrol and urine that’s such a turn-on? Or are all Wellingtonians just so horny that if you’ve gotta get off, you’ve got to get off wherever you are?
Fancy a little accident spotting while you enjoy a nice pizza? Word on the street is that the best seat in town is at Scopa.
Michael Gregg comments:
Someone will be injured on the Ghuznee/Cuba Corner soon. Spend ten minutes in Scopa and watch the intersection to see for yourself.
Pedestrians crossing Ghuznee Street are struggling with the new two-way traffic flowing through Ghuznee. There is no reminder to look both ways and regulars are falling back into old habits, glancing and running. Even worse, the new traffic lights bring traffic out of Cuba at the same time as the pedestrian signals engage, meaning the intersection brings impatient drivers and bustling, rushing walkers together. As the weather deteriorates, I’m worried that someone might get hit.
The solution:
- Remove the chains and allow pedestrians to cross diagonally and on both sides of Cuba Street halting all vehicle traffic for this period. This will quickly clear the backlog of walkers by allowing more room to cross, plus take them off the street when the cars get their right of way.
- Install clear signage at eye height and on the curb.
- Mark the Ghuznee east intersection clearly with a no-left turn arrow.
- Mark the Cuba intersection with left and right lanes to direct turning traffic.
- Put two way arrows on the Ghuznee roadway (like we do for tourists on SH1) for both entry/exits into this intersection
How are you enjoying the two way traffic on Ghuznee?
I love it, but then my favourite memories are of cars going the wrong way down Molesworth St. Such a blissful spectator sport.