Quotes
1 March 2010
Kurt started work today as a Senior GIS Consultant and has a busy workload ahead of him. Kurt has returned to New Zealand from working overseas and has an impressive resume having last worked for ESRI Redlands in California. Kurt has a first class Bachelor of Science Honours degree from the University of Canterbury. Kurt can be contacted kurt@abley.com.
23 February 2010
In the February issue of the Living Streets Aoteroa’s Footprints newsletter Abley Transportation Consultants were quoted in two articles.
The first article quotes some of the recent accessibility planning work undertaken by Abley Transportation Consultants calculating the transportation impacts of the removal of a post shop / banking facility.
The second article quotes the Walkability research being undertaken by Abley Transportation Consultants and Beca Infrastructure Ltd that aims to enable practitioners to quantify the quality of their walking environment on a large scale.
22 February 2010
Paul presented to the Rangiora Town Centre Strategy Project steering group today. The steering group comprises of representation from the community, the Rangiora Ward Advisory Board and the Waimakariri District Council. At the Steering Group meeting Paul presented some of the main transportation issues and possible solution options and ideas to meet the transportation needs and demands of Rangiora Town Centre in the future. Paul received positive feedback from the group for the work undertaken so far. A link to the RTC 2020 project website is provided here.
19 February 2010
Paul presented to the Belfast Area Plan Hearing Panel yesterday on behalf of the Christchurch City Council. Paul was invited to attend the hearing and answer questions raised by submitters on transportation issues. Paul was the lead author of the Abley Transportation Consultants report that considers growth in Belfast to 2041.
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18 February 2010
As part of developing the Timaru Active Transport Strategy two open days were held in Timaru, one in Caroline Bay and the other in Geraldine. The open days allowed members of the public to view proposals for developing the strategy and provide input into the strategy's outcomes. The open days were well attended and advertising for the open days was provided on local radio and public notices in local papers. The results of the consultation will be summarised and reported back to the steering group.
9 February 2010
The Ministry of Education commissioned Abley Transportation Consultants to consider if the current School Transport Assistance (STA) criteria were still relevant and what would be the effect of changing the criteria. The current STA eligibility criteria can be traced back to 1877. Today Steve Abley met with senior Ministry of Education staff to present the results of the Abley Transportation Consultants assessment.
Ministry staff will consider the Abley report, conclusions and recommendations and along with other concurrent work they expect to report to the Minister by mid 2010.
8 February 2010
Ann-Marie Mulligan started as a Senior Transportation Engineer today. Ann-Marie has returned to NZ with 7 years working experience having worked in the UK and Australia. Her experience includes the Sydney Metro, bus interchanges, development applications and public consultation and much more. Ann-Marie is a Member of Engineers Australia (MIEAust) and a Member of the Institution of Highways and Transportation (MIHT); she has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury. Her appointment makes a valuable addition to the Abley team.
Courtney Groundwater started as a Graduate Transportation Engineer today. Courtney has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury. Courtney and Abley Transportation Consultants first met in June 2009 and Courtney was offered a role shortly after. You can read more about Courtney from the 24 July 2009 news item. If you are an undergraduate looking for summer 2010 or full time employment in 2011 please contact Steve.
2 February 2010
Peter completed the geocoding of over 12,000 number plates today. The number plates of vehicles in a number of shopping car parks were recorded throughout New Zealand and the number plates provided to Peter in a text file. Peter then obtained the address of the registered owners of the vehicles and plotted the addresses on a map. It is then possible to model vehicle travel times from origins to destinations and from this information the economic catchments of each site can be determined. This information can then be linked with demographic information and a profile of each shopping catchment can be projected. This enables the performance of proposed store locations to be forecast. If you are interested in this type of analysis being undertaken for your Council or proposed commercial activity please contact Steve .
1 February 2010
Steve announced today he is running for a third term on the IPENZ Governing Board.
"I have proudly served four years on the Board and contributed to increasing membership by 1,600 paying members in this time. My vision is to continue to grow membership and leverage our voice at a national and local level."
"I have valuable leadership experience in commercial and non commercial roles and as Chairman of the IPENZ Canterbury Branch. I currently lead a number of professional engineers within my firm, Abley Transportation Consultants, and I have been a challenging and constructive member of the national board."
"I want to continue and extend my track record over the next two years including further promoting Members’ engineering achievements and the value of our professional organisation to government, the public and other professions."
Steve says "I would be thrilled to represent the membership again."
Electronic voting for the board elections will commence from 9 February 2010 and will close off on 1 March 2010. Hard copy forms will be distributed with the February issue of e.NZ magazine and Engineering Dimension.
29 January 2010
Tonight the Abley Team had an evening out playing lawn bowls at the Christchurch Bowling Club. A great time was had by all although our bowling performance could have been better - we agreed we will remain with transportation planning. Contact Steve if you would to learn more about what it's like to work at Abley Transportation Consultants.
25 January 2010
Abley Transportation Consultants recent report examining the linkage between centres and corridors titled 'Commercial Activities in Auckland: Why A Centres Plus Approach Is Best – A Transportation Perspective' has been quoted by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. The document is available on the TDM Encyclopaedia. A link to the VTPI page is provided here.
25 January 2010
Abley Transportation Consultants is seeking a Financial and Administration Assistant to provide office support. This is an important new role within our organisation with the duties currently being undertaken by external personnel and our professional staff. We are now seeking this work to be undertaken in house. This provides the successful applicant with the ability to fully develop the role and the outcomes that come with shaping a small office; including improving financial procedures and administration systems.
To lean more about this role click here.
20 January 2010
Kurt is currently employed by ESRI Redlands, California and is involved in the development of the new ESRI Release version 10. He has previously worked in New Zealand and specifically the Ministry of Health and Ministry for the Environment. Kurt has a first class Bachelor of Science Honours degree from the University of Canterbury and is joining us on 1 March 2010.
19 January 2010
Peter and Michelle helped undertake a full day of Community Street Reviews today in Wellington 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, and 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.
12 January 2010
Steve Abley has been invited to present at the New Zealand Planning Institute and Planning Institute of Australia International Planning Conference being held at the Christchurch Convention Centre, New Zealand from 20 to 23 April 2010. Steve will be presenting on "Sustainable Infrastructure - What is Accessibility Planning – A District Wide Case Study for Gisborne", and co presenting on "Governance - The Auckland Growth Concept – Managing Commercial Appeals under Different Statutes for an Amorphous Local Government Client".
11 January 2010
Peter Rose commenced employment with Abley Transportation Consultants today as a Graduate Transportation Engineer. Peter is a graduate of the University of Canterbury and has been working for Abley Transportation Consultants on a part time basis for over a year.
4 January 2010
Abley Transportation Consultants submission titled “Public Transport Accessiblity Levels - Christchurch, New Zealand” has been selected for publication in the 2010 ESRI Map Book, Volume 25.
Published annually since 1984, the ESRI Map Book is the only publication dedicated to acknowledging the important and innovative accomplishments of GIS users around the world. Each volume of the ESRI Map Book showcases a small portion of the work presented at the Map Gallery exhibition at the annual ESRI International User Conference.
This book will be released in July at the 2010 ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California.
