Kia ora koutou,

Apologies for the long gap between updates. I was just waiting for Auckland Transport to post their confirmed meeting minutes from their board meeting on August 26th, when we presented our petition to them.

Auckland Transport has acknowledged our Symonds Street petition in the following ways:

• "The board noted the crash on Symonds Street could be attributed to both speed and inadequate infrastructure."
• "The board acknowledged the need to improve speed sign 
  visibility. Police will also assist with speed management and 
  monitoring driver behaviour in these areas."
• "The board acknowledged the wide range of petition supporters."
• "The board discussed that the City Centre Master Plan reviews 
  design and speed concerns in the area and Auckland Council 
  should address Symonds Street's crash risks within this 
  process."

You can read the meeting minutes from the August 26th AT Board Meeting here.

You can read the presentation I gave on behalf of everyone here.

Having been in the room and met with the AT board members, I can say I felt they had a genuine care and appreciation for the issues we raised around pedestrian safety around AUT and UOA, which I think is reflected in these meeting minutes notes.

As an aside, if you have the time, I recommend attending one of AT's public meetings if you have an interest in Tāmaki Makaurau's transit issues. An example of something they discussed at their last meeting was the existence of those bus route fan pages you might have seen on Instagram.

Returning to the petition, the introduction of any specific measures has not been confirmed yet, so we will have to wait and see what they decide to do with Symonds Street to address the safety concerns.

From the board meeting minutes, it seems like the most likely measures to be taken up could be improved signage, improved enforcement of speed limits with police and/or possible implementation of the City Centre Master Plan's vision, aka a transit corridor without general traffic. Regardless, we have most definitely put our safety concerns around our Universities on AT's radar. I look forward to seeing what changes might come to Symonds Street in the future.

Thank you to everyone who supported our petition!

I want to give a special thanks to the following organisations and people whose input, mana and mahi helped get the petition over the line:

The Auckland Transport Board, The University of Auckland, AUTSA, Te Waha Nui, Greater Auckland, RNZ, NewsTalk ZB, AUSA, Civil & Structural Engineering Students Association (CESA), Students of Urban Planning & Architecture Association (SUPA), Vroom UoA, the Auckland University Women in Science (AUWS), the Eastern Students Association (ESA), Te Mana Pakihi, the University of Auckland Volleyball Club, Princes Street Labour, Debate Magazine, Grey Lynn 2030, Chlöe Swarbrick, Mike Lee, Shanan Halbert, Connor Sharp, Jeffree Qiu, Luke Fisher, my colleagues and the contributors at Craccum Magazine, and of course, everyone who signed, supported, advised and shared the petition! It really was a team effort; we did this together!

That's all for now, here's to a safer Symonds Street!

Ngā mihi,

Lewis from Craccum