Transport

Much of modern commerce is about scale and the supposed economies that brings. Products are mass produced or, at least, collected en masse at limited numbers of sites for widespread distribution. The same type of process applies to services as centralisation gathers pace throughout the world.

Cable cars could well be closer to making a return to at least one Dunedin route following a meeting of the Dunedin Cable Car Trust that attracted more than 160 people on Saturday.

The road through the Octagon should be closed to accommodate temporary taxi stands to assuage drivers annoyed about not being consulted about changes to their ranks, a Dunedin taxi company owner says.

A push to further commercialise public transport could lead to fewer and even more heavily subsidised bus services in Otago, regional council policy and resource planning director Fraser McRae warns.

There are still very real concerns that the emissions trading scheme will be a millstone around the neck of an already overburdened land transport industry, former Act New Zealand and Labour MP and new Land Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley said.

Three recent crashes on the same section of State Highway 1 north of Dunedin will be investigated in depth by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), after emergency services attributed the crashes to black ice.

The latest person to set up as a taxi operator in Alexandra is confident the demand will be there to make it viable.

Forget penny-farthings - the pennyfakething is the latest craze to hit Oamaru.

Health experts are backing a government proposal to cut the blood alcohol limit, saying people driving within the current level may be slurring their speech and falling over.

Rugby fans could have the option of travelling by train between Dunedin and Christchurch during the Rugby World Cup next year.