Quotes
23 December 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants office will close at 5pm Wednesday 23 December and reopen at 9am on Thursday 7 January. Between Thursday 7 and Friday 8 January there will be a skeleton staff attending to calls and responding to urgent client enquiries. The office will fully open from Monday 11 January 2009 to assist with all your transport planning needs.
Abley Transportation Consultants wishes all our clients, staff and family a merry Christmas and happy new year. We look forward to catching up with you in 2010.
17 December 2009
Work undertaken by Abley Transportation Consultants was used by NZTA's Jacqueline Blake and Susan Chapman in an article that was published by the NZ Planning Institute (NZPI) today. The article in the NZPI 'Planning Focus' newsletter made extensive use of the accessibility assessments Abley have undertaken in Christchurch and Gisborne and the article explains the benefits of accessibility planning. For more information please contact Paul Barr or Steve Abley.
16 December 2009
Peter graduated from the University Of Canterbury today that was attended by friends and family. Completing the technical requirement for an engineering degree is a significant achievement and a major milestone on the way to becoming a Professional Engineer. All of us at Abley Transportation Consultants congratulate Peter on a job well done.
11 December 2009
This year was a night time theme with a Thai dinner and late night evening at Scared Scripless. Scared Scripless is New Zealand's longest running comedy show that commenced in 1988. It is fully improvised, off the cuff, suspense filled comedy. A great night was had by all.
10 December 2009
The Christchurch City Council and its consultants including Abley Transportation Consultant's Paul Durdin and Steve Abley celebrated the significant conclusion of this major piece of land use and transportation planning tonight. The evening concluded with a short game of lawn bowls and nibbles at the Belfast Bowling Club.
1 December 2009
Michelle, Cynthia and Peter undertook a full day of Community Street Reviews today in Auckland as part of a research project being undertaken for the New Zealand Transport Agency. Community Street Reviews include not only a qualitative consumer audit but also a quantitative rating. This benefits the community and provides practitioners with an asset management tool to prioritise walking schemes. Community Street Reviews also provide guidance on what improvements, to what extent, improvements might enhance an environment. If you want to learn more about Community Street Reviews please see www.levelofservice.com. If you would like a Community Street Review undertaken in your city or town please contact Steve.
25 November 2009
Begun in 2005, the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for the engineering professionals of New Zealand. The awards are presented in two major areas: Awards Recognising People, that recognise leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship and our young engineers; and Product and Project Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Product and Project winners.
The winner of the Transportation Infrastructure award was the Auckland Northern Busway. The implementation of the busway has resulted in the number of bus passengers increasing to 150,000 per month, exceeding expectations, and the reduced use of private vehicles is estimated to have saved 400,000 litres per year of vehicle fuel. Abley Transportation Consultants wishes to congratulate Opus International Consultants Ltd, Beca Infrastructure Ltd, Aurecon New Zealand Ltd and Fletcher Construction Company Ltd on the success of this award.
19 November 2009
Michelle, Cynthia and Peter undertook a full day of community street reviews today in Gisborne as part of a research project being undertaken for the New Zealand Transport Agency. Community Street Reviews include not only a qualitative consumer audit but also a quantitative rating. This benefits the community and provides practitioners with an asset management tool to prioritise walking schemes. Community Street Reviews also provide guidance on what improvements, to what extent, improvements might enhance an environment. If you want to learn more about Community Street Reviews please see www.levelofservice.com. If you would like a community street review undertaken in your city or town please contact Steve.
17 November 2009
As part of our agreement to lease our building at the corner of Victoria and Salisbury Street the upgrading of the foyer starts today. Access to the building will be maintained via Victoria Street and the work will be completed prior to Christmas; our apologies for any inconvenience.
16 November 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants is committed to professional development and the training of a new generation of transportation professionals. Courtney Chapman has just completed her second professional year of her engineering studies and will complete her professional practice requirement over summer 2009/10 while working at Abley Transportation Consultants. She plans to graduate in 2011.
12 November 2009
IPENZ Professional Development Manager Paul Gardiner informed Abley Transportation Consultants today... "It is with great pleasure that I can report that you have each been successful in attaining IPENZ Professional Development Partner status for a period of a full three years. This period is only awarded to those applicants that have the highest standards in place"
We are obviously very proud to have gained IPENZ Professional Development Partner status and signals to current and prospective employees an organisation's strong commitment to the development of their engineering staff and support for the engineering profession.
5 November 2009
Paul Barr presented at the New Zealand ESRI Users Group conference 2009 at the Wellington Town Hall on the 5th of November. Paul's presentation was titled "What is Accessiblity? (...and how can it be measured?)". In his talk, Paul discussed the development of a GIS based methodology used to generate an Accessiblity measure. The delegates at the conference were a mixture of ESRI GIS Software users from local and national governnment as well as the private sector. A copy of Paul's presentation is available on request.
3 November 2009
Steve, Cynthia and Peter undertook a full day of community street reviews today in central Christchurch as part of a research project being undertaken for the New Zealand Transport Agency. Community Street Reviews include not only a qualitative consumer audit but also a quantitative rating. This benefits the community and provides practitioners with an asset management tool to prioritise walking schemes. Community Street Reviews also provide guidance on what improvements, to what extent, improvements might enhance an environment. If you want to learn more about Community Street Reviews please see www.levelofservice.com. If you would like a community street review undertaken in your city or town please contact Steve.
23 October 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants office will close at 5pm Wednesday 23 December and reopen at 9am on Thursday 7 January. Between Thursday 7 and Friday 8 January there will be a skeleton staff attending to calls and responding to urgent client enquiry. The office will fully open from Monday 11 January 2009 to assist with all your transport planning needs.
20 and 21 October 2009
Steve Abley and Paul Barr were invited to speak at the Accessibility Forum being run by the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) in Melbourne at the request of the New Zealand Transport Agency. ARRB are undertaking research for Austraods on the measurement of accessibility and the development of utility and potentially economic indicators.
The forum was seeking practical techniques practitioner have developed to assess accessibility. Steve and Paul explained the analysis they have undertaken for Christchurch City Council, Timaru District Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency in Gisborne. Steve and Paul's presentations are available on request; please contact Steve.
8 October 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants were interviewed for Development Partner (PDP) status today. Professional Development Partners work in partnership with IPENZ to develop staff, strengthen the business and support the wider engineering profession.
PDPs believe a strong professional development programme with pathways to IPENZ competence-based Membership classes MIPENZ, TIPENZ or AIPENZ; and registers CPEng, ETPract or CertETn enhance the status and standing of their engineering staff, and be a key mechanism for attracting and retaining new staff. Recognition as an IPENZ PDP signals to current and prospective employees an organisation's strong commitment to the development of their engineering staff and support for the engineering profession.
We will know if our interview was successful after the IPENZ Standards and Accreditation Board (SAB) meets mid next month.
5 October 2009
We are very proud to welcome Cynthia Edmonds to the Abley Transportation Consultants Team. Cynthia has come to us from the United States of America and has four years experience in traffic engineering. She has passed the Engineer in Training competence from New York State and is on her way to MIPENZ and CPEng status in New Zealand.
15 September 2009
Steve presented to the 11th Canterbury Active Transport (CAT) forum today. The CAT was set up to encourage information sharing and cross-sector action in Canterbury between agencies with an interest in Active Transport, including representatives from such sectors as education, environment, health and disability, recreation, sport, tourism, transport and local and national government. The CAT Forum meets on a quarterly basis and aims to work in collaboration with the Canterbury Regional Active & Passenger Transport Working Group (APTWG) which was established under the auspices of the Regional Transport Committee (RTC).
Steve's presentation was in the acrea of accessibility analysis that reflects a new area of transportation planning study that places emphasis on multimodal transport. Steve presented on the work undertaken for ECan and other research being undertaken to show how active transport is a key part of a sustainable and economically efficient transport system. A copy of Steve's presentation is available on the CAT website at http://ecan.govt.nz/get-involved/working-groups/Pages/canterbury-active-transport.aspx.
10 September 2009
Steve and Andy presented at the national Trips Database Bureau (TDB) 'Trip Generation Seminar' in Auckland today. The Seminar is designed for Practising Engineers and Planners involved in data collection, reporting and policy formulation. It is particularly relevant to those involved in the interaction of Land Use and Transportation, Integrated Transportation Assessments and long term Integrated Transportation Planning.
Andy presented in the comparison of UK and NZ trip rates and travel profiling using the Ministry of Transport National Household Travel Survey data. Steve presented on the extension of the travel profiling work that is due for completion in 2012 and Integrated Transport Assessments.
Abley Transportation Consultants is a keen supporter of the TDB and sponsored the morning tea. Andy and Steve's presentations are available on request and are available to attendees on the TDB website.
03 September 2009
Abley's Senior GIS Consultant Paul Barr has been selected to present at the 2009 NZ ESRI User Conference in Wellington (3-5th November 2009) on the recent accessibility modelling methodology developed as part of a research project for the New Zealand Transport Agency.
24 August 2009
Paul Barr returned to work recently after completing a 3 week "Classic" course at Outward Bound in Anakiwa, near Picton. The course focused on challenging yourself to push past what you believed to be your physical and mental limits and reach your full potential. The course fostered a strong ethic of teamwork, community service and development of leadership skills. This all took place within a program of intense physical activity: Kayaking, Tramping and Sailing. Not to mention the final challenge of running a half marathon.
21 August 2009
To add to our existing traffic modelling software Abley has today purchased a licence for S-Paramics.
S-Paramics simulates the individual components of traffic flow and congestion, and presents its output as a real-time visual display fro traffic management and road network design. S-Paramics represents the actions and inter-actions of individual vehicles as they through a road network. It models the detailed physical road layout, and includes features such as bus operations, traffic signal settings, driver behavioural characteristics and vehicle kinematics. As a consequence, S-Paramics can accurately portray the variable circumstances which lead to congestion in all types and sizes of road network. S-Paramics enables non traffic experts, such as the public and their elected representatives, to interactively test 'what if' scenarios and immediately see the results in terms of real-rime traffic flows and congestion.
This purchase complements Abley's existing SIDRA micro-analytical traffic evaluation tool. Contact Steve to understand how we can test your 'what if' scenario.
6 August 2009
Steve was invited by NZTA to present to various stakeholders involved in the Gisborne Integrated Planning Project (GIPP). Stakeholders included the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Education, Gisborne District Council and others.
GIPP is attempting to use the modified UK 5 stage accessibility planning for the first time in NZ and applying the process to Gisborne. Abley Transportation Consultants is helping the Agency understand accessibility across the region and trial different options for improving accessibility. A copy of Steve's presentation is held on the Department of Internal Affairs website and by selecting here
5 August 2009
Paul Durdin contributed to a very successful Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM) conference in Adelaide. Paul's presentation included an outline of the Trips Database Bureau activities and how these activities including applied research can be used in real practice. Paul's presentation can be downloaded here. If you are interested in learning more about the activities of the Trips Database Bureau please visit www.tdbonline.org. To learn more about how newer research can be applied to your transport problems, please contact Paul Durdin.
3 August 2009
The Competency Assessment Board (CAB) ensures that minimum standards of professional engineers competence are consistently applied to candidates seeking recognition through IPENZ competence based membership classes and registers. Abley Transportation Consultants were fortunate to host the bimonthly face-to-face meeting of the CAB whereby they approved approximately 114 applicants to the various IPENZ membership classes and registers.
28 July 2009
At long last the scaffolding is on its way down. After approximately 12 weeks, the work on the exterior of the building has been completed, and the scaffolding is being removed to reveal the 'new look' building.
27 July 2009
Cynthia Edmonds will be joining the team at Abley Transportation Consultants Limited in early October 2009. Cynthia has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the United States of America. Cynthia's specialist skills include traffic modelling and 3D simulation, traffic signal system optimisation / coordination, safety analysis and safety audits.
24 July 2009
Courtney Groundwater will be joining Abley Transportation Consultants Limited in early 2010. Courtney is currently completing her professional year of a BE(Civil)(Hons) degree from the University of Canterbury and will graduate at the end of 2009. Courtney is a specialist transportation and traffic engineer, specialising through papers taken at the University of Canterbury and gaining experience working for a local Council.
24 July 2009
Peter Rose was a summer student over Christmas 2008 working at Abley Transportation Consultants. In the latest edition of Student Direct (the IPENZ magazine for Student Members of The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc) Peter writes to fellow students about his experiences over the summer break and the wonderful career opportunities and support Abley Transportation Consultants provides to its graduate employees. To read the article click here.
12 June 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants has recently undertaken an in-depth analysis of the May 2009 Government Policy Statement (GPS) and compared it's alignment with the August 2008 New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS). If you would like to obtain a copy of the analysis please contact Steve.
3 June 2009
The Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management Incorporated (AITPM) National Conference 2009 will be held in Adelaide from 5-7 August. The aim of the national conference for 2009 is to explore the notion of "Traffic Beyond Tomorrow..." Paul will be presenting on Thursday 6 August on research activities of the data and the tools we use. For more information about the conference click here.
1 July 2009
The Waitaki District Council today approved a Development Contributions Policy. Abley Transportation Consultants developed the technical methodology for the calculation of the appropriate contribution for different land uses including Rural Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Accommodation, Primary Industry, Primary Industry – Dairy and of course residential. The calculations are based on trip generation and therefore asset utilisation by each land use category and household unit equivalent (HUE). If you are interested in learning more about how Abley Transportation Consultants can develop a Development Contributions policy for your district or city, please contact Steve.
25 May 2009
Michael Chou was asked to provide a short working history of his career with Abley Transportation Consultants so engineers and technologists could gain exposure of what it is like working for a transportation consultant. The article that Michael submitted was accepted and published in Student Direct (the IPENZ magazine for Student Members of The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc). To read the article click here.
14 May 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants Limited held thier Office Launch Party on Thursday 14 May. Abley prides itself on strong client relationships and the office launch provided a great opportunity for clients to familiarise with our new premises and interact with Abley Staff. The extensive list of attendees included lawyers, planners, engineers, directors and managers as well as Christchurch City Council Councillors. We were honoured to have Anthony Wilson the President of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Governing Board welcome attendees to our new office. The launch was a great success and a good time was had by all those who attended.
7 May 2009
Steve Abley presented at the New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI) Annual Conference, 'Letting of Steam - The pressure Issues' in Rotorua on Thursday 7 May. Steve presented on the topic of New Urbanism Is it Really that New? Steve's presentation focussed on the importance of New Urbansim, what is currently done and current problems surrounding New Urbansim. Over 400 delegates attended the conference over the course of the 3 days. Steve's presentation can be obtained from the NZPI website.
22 April 2009
The move to new offices on the third floor of 99 Victoria St, Christchurch is exciting and shows the confidence that the Director Steve Abley has in the performance and thinking of the Abley team.
"We're particularly proud of our new offices" says Steve, "We're here for the long term and our confidence reflects our good client relationships and the outstanding value that our clients place on our strategic advice".
The new office has been fitted out to enable collaboration between team members and encompasses our values that include 'quality', 'professionalism', 'relationships' and 'innovation'. Our vision is to be "The leading provider of Strategic Transportation Advice".
Our new office is professional and includes a 12 person conference room and a comfortable sofas area for relaxed client meetings. It's not a traditional office environment, but then again Abley Transportation Consultants isn't traditional.
Abley Transportation Consultants welcomes inspection of the new offices, drop in and see us. Directions, vehicle and cycling parking details are shown here.
14 April 2009
Abley Transportation Engineers Limited is proud to announce a change of company name to Abley Transportation Consultants Limited.
The change of name from Engineers to Consultants reflects and ever increasing range of services not just associated with engineering but also including Geographic Information Services (GIS) and behavioural sciences. The company Director Steve Abley said "Although our core services remain engineering based, the most innovative transportation solutions require cross discipline solutions and we are expanding our services to meet our clients' ever demanding needs"
Abley Transportation Consultants provide a wide range of professional transportation solutions. Contact Steve Abley to find out more about our people and services.
9 April 2009
Steve completed this comprehensive five day, six night residential course today. The course provides a complete understanding of the role, duties and knowledge requirements (including governance principles, finance, law, risk and strategy) for directorship in New Zealand.
The Institute has designed this course to address all aspects of excellence in corporate governance. It is brought to life through a board simulation exercise and highly interactive case studies. Steve says that the course was intense but exceptionally rewarding, focusing attention on strategic issues and the practicality of demonstrating independent thought at the board table.
24 March 2009
We are pleased to announce that Paul Barr has accepted a position as a Senior GIS Consultant. Paul is a GIS analyst educated at the University of Canterbury who has a First Class Bachelor of Science Honors Degree. Paul commences work on Monday 27 April.
19 March 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants finished second nationally and first in Canterbury for the 7-24 staff bracket. This is the second year in a row Abley has placed in the Bike Wise Battle, we are proud of our effort that reflects our support for sustainable transport. Click here to view the national winners for 2009 in the Bike Wise newsletter.
17 March 2009
Steve and Paul presented to ENTR611 'Planning and Managing for Transport' at the University of Canterbury on Tuesday 17 March 2009. The presentation was on Land Use Development and Transport Assessments.
While the major part of this course is individual based, the block course covers Road and Transport administration and the transport legislative environment in NZ; Transport assessment and economics, demand management and tolling and construction planning and contract management. The course is not only targeted at post graduate transport students but industry professionals and practitioners as well.
10 March 2009
Steve Abley presented at the 3rd Annual TDM conference held in Auckland on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 March 2009. Steve presented a paper on Implications of Government Policy.
23 February 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants are seeking a Senior GIS Analyst to provide cutting edge thinking and analysis for the various transportation projects we are undertaking. For more information regarding this opportunity click here, or alternatively you can click here to view the job on seek.
10 February 2009
Understanding catchments and the attractiveness of centres and locations can often be a difficult process. Abley Transportation Engineers were commissioned to geocode 18,000 number plates that were recorded at a number of different centres in the Auckland region. This meant that for each vehicle number plate the registered address of the vehicle was identified, located and plotted. A more detailed analysis can then be undertaken including the relative attractiveness of the centre compared to other centres and the combination of geocoded census information to determine the probable consumer catchment profile.
This analysis had a very high sample match due to the expert processes used by Abley Transportation Engineers. Contact Nicole to find out more.
15 January 2009
The 2008 amendment of the Land Transport Management Act (LTMA) 2003 introduced a requirement for the government to issue a Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport funding. The Government released the statement on Land Transport Funding 2009/10 – 2018/19 in August 2008 that set broad targets that would achieve the desired impacts in the New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS). The NZTS targets are prescriptive e.g. specifying exact mode share targets, whereas the GPS targets are generally broader e.g. reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. But what does it actually mean when it says "demand management and community programmes" makes a key contribution to "reduce kilometres travelled by single occupancy vehicles, in major urban areas on weekdays, by 10% per capita by 2015"?
Steve Abley will explain how the NZTS, GPS and specific to Auckland the Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Act 2004 and Auckland Regional Growth Strategy, fit together into a comprehensive framework that supports and encourages a change in travel behaviour. He will also show at least one of the current policy tools that are assisting Auckland to achieve "A transport system which enhances the Auckland region as a great place to live, work and play".
12 January 2009
Steve Abley has been invited to present to the annual NZPI Conference that is being held in Rotorua this year between Wednesday 6 and Saturday 9 May 2009. The conference theme is titled 'Letting Off Steam - The Pressure Issues'. It is intended to focus on topical issues relating to the profession and provides an opportunity to challenge and inform and an excellent opportunity to ‘let off steam’. Steve will be presenting a paper titled 'New Urbanism – Is It Really That New?'
Abley Transportation Consultants has recently completed a detailed analysis into some of the underlying American research that informs the Traditional Neighbourhood Development (TND) vs Planned Unit Development (PUD) debate. This analysis has identified some concerning evidence that New Zealand transportation practitioners are probably misinterpreting and/or misapplying this research in a New Zealand context. Steve will expand this theme and provide quantitative research to inform this ongoing area of interest.
6 January 2009
Abley Transportation Consultants have been commissioned by Environment Canterbury to help develop an improved methodology for the measurement of accessibility to the regions public transport networks.
Typically access to public transport is measured as the distance from a house to a bus route or bus stop. This older measurement style does not consider the whole journey to a key destination, the services, frequency or reliability of bus services. These types of measurements are often too basic to fully inform good decision making.
In contrast undertaking whole journey measurements based on where people want to go and the public transport services that are provided improve decision making. Environment Canterbury is keen to increase public transport patronage and this work is intended to assist in delivering a world class public transport system for Christchurch.
5 January 2009
Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) is the most important quality mark attesting to the current competence of a professional engineer in New Zealand. It is a statutory title under the Chartered Professional Engineers Act of New Zealand 2002, (CPEng Act) which established a register of professional engineers whose competence is up-to-date.
Steve Abley and Paul Durdin have maintained their Chartered Professional Engineer status and have been granted the maximum 5 year terms until their competency next needs to be demonstrated. This is a significant achievement and endorses the professional work that Paul and Steve undertake for clients.
