Dear Minister Twyford,
Recently we had occasion to call into our granddaughter in Botany on our way to Parnell. We departed Chapel Road at 4.50pm and arrived in Parnell at 6.35pm, one and three-quarter hours later. We could have had a trip to Hamilton and back to Huntly in that timeframe.
My commuting gave me plenty of time for thought. The recurring thought was that the government’s transport policy was aimed at getting people out of cars and onto public transport. With this in mind, I started observing passenger loads on the many scheduled buses. Most were near empty to a quarter full in the EVENING PEAK. Auckland Transport may show an increase in trips and passenger numbers but it is in no way freeing up the roads. The problem is not the lack of public transport but the lack of people using it.
There are obvious reasons for this. Many people commute across town for work and many people need vehicles for business. To think that increasing services equals fewer cars on the road shows an oversimplification of the problem and a less than good understanding of people’s transport requirements.
Supermarket shopping, children’s sporting and many other similar commitments, school drop-offs, parties, restaurant evenings, movies with the family, all of these are achieved more efficiently and cheaply using the private car. Having said that, the Northern Busway and the spine services such as Mt. Eden Road are a success.
This idea of getting people out of their cars and onto public transport is simply part of the Coalition’s ideology. In practice, it is a fallacy. Even if public transport patronage is increasing, the roads across Auckland are in complete gridlock at peak times. Until the government makes roads a priority the problem will only worsen.
The real problem is we have more cars on the road and less room for them to move due to necessary bus lanes and unused cycle lanes. In Auckland, people HAVE to use their cars. It is a fact of life largely due to the topography of the region. We are now the most congested city in Australasia.
I have seen the transport plan for Wellington that was announced, I understand, against Treasury advice. Again, using your rationale everyone will be out of their cars and onto public transport. Roads, I notice, are not the number one priority. Ideology over commonsense. Wellington might have a better chance due to its topography but I wouldn’t be overly optimistic.
As an aside, I had occasion to travel to the Bay of Islands one Friday returning on a Sunday. The road is badly in need of two lanes both ways. Until that happens any idea of moving the Port up there is lunacy. A holiday highway it definitely is not! Please don’t suggest a bus every five minutes. That is not the answer.