Kasey McDonnell

politics

Where is the vision?

🛢️I wrote this before the war in Iran. Holds up even more now, I think. The country is facing a challenge: if

I want a better catastrophe

I just spent the better part of an hour listening to Andrew Boyd walking through his beautiful, poignant, empathetic and stark flowchart

city

Wellington’s bike lane buildout is at risk. We can do something.

If you care about Wellington taking climate action, you have to tell our city councillors ahead of a vote on Thursday. Contact

transport

Digging deep on bus replacements

You're not going crazy. Bus replacements are getting worse. Over the past couple of months, I've been collecting

OIA

LGOIMA: Bus replacement demographics, Jan 2024 to Dec 2025

Snapper tag-on data for Metlink rail replacement bus services and scheduled rail services across Wellington, broken down by fare type and line (Jan 2024–Dec 2025).

OIA

LGOIMA: Every bus replacement from July 2017 to January 2026

Greater Wellington Regional Council has released monthly bus replacement service counts for all four Metlink rail lines from 2017 to January 2026, broken down by planned and unplanned disruptions, in response to this January 2026 LGOIMA request.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

transport

Your political guide to restoring Wellington’s trams

As recently as 2022, over half of Wellingtonians wanted trams to return to our streets. For decades, the people of Wellington have

On a culture of oui

Henry Cooke, writing for the Post: But you’ll note from my examples above that we don’t need to look away

OIA

LGOIMA: Metlink daily rail patronage from 2018 to August 2025

Greater Wellington Regional Council has released detailed daily rail patronage data spanning 2017/2018 to August 2025, including individual trip high-count statistics for all train lines, in response to this September 2025 LGOIMA request.

OIA

LGOIMA: Wellington City Council Parking Capacity

Wellington's central area contains approximately 13,750 publicly accessible car parks, including 4,096 on-street spaces, according to this February 2026 LGOIMA response from Wellington City Council.

transport

Why trams should rebuild Wellington

🚋This is part two of my series on Wellington trams. Part one covered our history, part three will tackle the politics. It&

AA Insurance is temporarily halting new insurance in Westport

Kate Newtown, writing for RNZ: AA Insurance, which has approximately half a million New Zealand customers, wrote to Buller District Mayor Chris