Tim Welch

We're on a mission to map and catalog every tree in New Zealand, creating a complete digital record of its entire life. ALTO, the Aotearoa Long-term Tree Observatory, is over 6.2 millions trees strong and growing! Check out the Auckland release: alto.tfwelch.com

I’m speaking at Leafy Lab on Wednesday 11 November at the Horse & Trap in Mt Eden. Tree by Tree: what aerial surveys tell us about Auckland’s trees, where the data still has gaps, and how a photo and a tape measure can help fill them. Tickets on Humanitix: events.humanitix.com/leafylab11nov

I guess I misinterpreted “bike to school day.” Oh well. I had a lovely time cycling with my kid’s bike…

Nobody send me another email. I want to keep this round number! And also, there will be a long queue to get to your email...

Apologies to @timwelch.nz that should have been @tfwelch.com for the Auckland Transport Access Atlas, which is a good opportunity for me to share this snapshot of the cycling safety lens applied to Where To Act - check it out yourself here ataa.tfwelch.com

This morning in the Nelson Mail, the impact of lower and higher speeds on SH6 Blenheim to Nelson: www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3610... And the full data and analysis backing the article: crash.tfwelch.com/nelson/ People will die on SH6 due to higher speeds.

Never a dull moment when you‘re a public transport user! Bayswater ferry I was on seems to have run aground. They got it moving again and hustled us off the boat. Hasn‘t sunk (yet) so that’s good. But definetly a first for me!

Sometimes you see something cool, and you want it for yourself. Inspired by Anthony Castrio's nyc-cartogram, I made an Auckland version: drop a pin and the city is redrawn by public-transport travel time instead of distance, with a couple more modes and a few extra features. warp.tfwelch.com

The council should not be jeopardising millions of dollars of government funding on the basis of such a flawed review. This review set out to kill investment in our public spaces, and it's tried to achieve that by fudging the numbers www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

An infuriating analysis from @tfwelch.com of how the Budget reflects transport priorities. 3/4 of new capital spending to roading, and most of that to *one road*. Zero new investment in walking and cycling. Fuel excise relief signalled, but not PT fare relief. theconversation.com/as-global-fu...

I frequently read OIA requests and responses (related to transport and infrastructure) and see all kinds of things, but this (unrelated) one made me laugh. And the genuine response is just as good. "Why did someone look at my LinkedIn?" Gotta love public records!

Budget 2026 hierarchy: roads first, rail a distant second, general public transport, walking and cycling nowhere. $150m goes to fuel supply, but basically nothing to reducing oil dependence. My latest: theconversation.com/as-global-fu...

From the Archives : Poverty 2012 and 2021

$15b in weather losses over the past decade. Moa Point dumped 70m litres of raw sewage into Wellington Harbour. Groundwater contamination is rising. Half our rivers are unsafe to swim. Budget 2026 drops water spend from $127m (2026) → $35m (2027) → $5m/yr (2028–30). Make it make sense.

We're in the midst of the worst oil crisis in history and the government's new budget is dedicating $1.8 billion to a single highway while taking $2.5m from public transport bus decarbonisation to fund underground utility maintenance.

When the government releases its budget later today and undoubtedly puts more money towards roads while putting less money into public transport and no money into cycling or walking, remember that driving is the only mode of transportation that is both currently and historically falling in Auckland.

“In our biggest cities... if we can encourage people to use public transport more, that will reduce pressure on fuel demand that can be used for people who don't have public transport options available." Featuring our own Matt Lowrie (and wise words from @tfwelch.com): www.rnz.co.nz/news/environ...

I don’t accept that sweeping away our most vulnerable people for the comfort of those that don’t want to see our society’s inequities is legitimate policy. And neither should you. My latest piece for Newsroom: newsroom.co.nz/2026/05/25/m... #waronthepoor

Adam Douglas Thompson in The New Yorker.

They're taking the land that houses our people, and the water for crops that feed our people, to build the data centers that will put our people out of work. What's the problem? www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

Only one word can adequately describe this video: PERFECT. www.youtube.com/watch?v=790O...

I’ve been doing it for 5 years now, but getting to work on a bike and ferry is still such an unbelievably amazing privilege. So much better than driving!

You’d think a 20% rise in cycling trips from April 2025 would be headline news. 309,197 cycle trips in April, 1.30 million YTD, and 3.48 million over the past 12 months. Amid surging fuel prices, Aucklanders are finding cheaper, healthier ways to get around. More data at: cycleway.tfwelch.com

Say hello to the CCET Love Cycling Centre in Mt Eden – the free bike repair service on a mission to help you reduce your carbon footprint. https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz/news/welcome-to-the-ccet-love-cycling-centre-in-mt-eden/

A decision on Auckland’s next Waitematā Harbour crossing is expected (maybe) next month. Worth remembering: bridge traffic still hasn’t returned to its 2018 peak, and 50% of commuters now cross the harbour by bus. So why is the current process focused on more road capacity? Move people, not cars.

It will be interesting to see where fuel prices go in the coming weeks and how closely/quickly they track crude prices. In MBIE's latest fuel stock update, on-shore diesel stock slipped below 20 days. Worth noting: retail price data is 11 days old, and fuel stock data is 6 days old.

My kids were not thrilled at school drop off this morning when the cargo bike odometer hit this number right as we parked. They suggested I should walk home so they could see the rollover to 3k after school.

How you can tell this isn’t my first cyclone (or hurricane)!

Not a bad view from the home office to wrap up a long week!

“It would be a pretty big mistake to dust off our hands and say problem solved. This is going to be an ongoing problem. Even if the issues with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz are resolved fairly quickly, oil imports will continue to be a liability for the country.” www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

Every effective tool for reducing fuel demand right now (free PT, cycling, EVs, lower speed limits) is a policy the NZ coalition government has spent two years dismantling. My new piece in The Conversation on why they've gone quiet and how they get out of it. theconversation.com/the-governme...

MBIE’s national retail fuel series was basically flat through Jan and most of Feb. Then, from 27 Feb to 27 Mar 2026, diesel rose about $1.42/L, regular petrol about 82c/L, and premium 95 about 85c/L. This is not just a fuel-price story. It is a transport-policy story.

Hard to argue with that. We've seen what he eats...

People rushing to drop $50k on a new EV and commit to years of payments, insurance, registration, WOF, etc. I'm trying to decide whether to replace the $7 kickstand feet on my "EV" or wait another month. Cargo e-bikes would probably work for a lot more people than you'd think.

On Monday, MBIE said we have 54 days of diesel cover. But only 22 days are actually on shore. The rest is on water, most outside the "EEZ", weeks away. The headline number blends fuel that's here with fuel that isn't. The dark bar is what matters most. We're a week past this data now.

Let's take a moment and appreciate how much work public transport in Auckland does every day. Here's an animation of 5 hours of buses, trains, and ferries serving the city yesterday, with somewhere around 400,000 boards across over 5,000 bus stops, train stations, and ferry terminals.

57.7% of NZers, 2.9 million people, can reach public transport within a 10-minute walk. Auckland hits 87.8%. The govt's new fuel subsidy targets 143,000 families. Free fares could reach 20x as many. NZ has the access. What's the argument against?

This monstrosity is burning 3.5 litres of fuel per second.

People in $90,000 utes with 80-litre fuel tanks, call me an elitist for riding a $2.5k ebike that costs $0.10 (yes, 10 CENTS) to charge... (Photo from Reddit)

Yes, and – we'd nuance this, e.g. for Auckland & Wellington (already high usage/ good services), govt could consider options like: • deep discounts for children, young people, CSC holders • and 50% off all fares, or a lower weekly cap ...while focusing fully free fares on smaller cities and towns.

In my latest for @newsroom.co.nz, I argue the government should make public transport free for at least three months. The $50 fuel payment costs $373M/year and doesn't cut a single litre of consumption. Free fares would cost less and actually reduce petrol demand. newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/27/f...

BREAKING: information now coming in that the Dutch have been hoarding the solution to the oil crisis.

Uh oh... MBIE's fuel stock update page has suddenly vanished!

While we're paying more at the pump, fuel importers are making almost nothing. MBIE's own data shows the diesel importer margin has collapsed to near zero. NZ is 100% import-dependent. When there's no margin, either prices rise (a lot) further, or supply doesn't come. There is no third option.

New MBIE data (Mar 22): in-country diesel down to 18 days, territory where the National Fuel Plan contemplates mandatory constraints. Yet we are doing nothing. Only 2 ships arriving in the next 2 weeks, 1 carries diesel. Total supply: 46.6 days, down from 52 in two weeks. Updated graphic below.