In last Friday’s Herald Simon Wilson was back on his hobbyhorse of transport in Auckland. Normally I find plenty of Simon’s content to disagree with but this article had more common sense than usual. The common sense was largely made up of points few would find a reason to disagree with. Evidently, the week before, Simon wrote an article about bicycles. As I try to avoid buying the NZ Herald and also paying for their premium content I missed it. Not to put too fine a point on it, I’m not altogether sorry. I think that probably would have had me reaching for some form of medication.
In his most recent contribution, he makes some very good points. He lauds the Northern Busway and how it has taken 60,000 cars off the road. I agree. A wonderful example of how public transport can work to the commuters’ advantage. As I’m sure Simon would agree, the sooner it’s extended to Whangaparaoa the better. Simon points out that everyone is going into the central city, saving 60,000 car parking spaces. That is precisely why it works, everybody going to the same destination.
Simon mentions that electric bicycles are the answer to Auckland’s hilly topography. In theory, I agree but the practicalities are probably against it. If it’s not the car then I think most people would prefer public transport over cycling for commuting to work. You don’t have to worry about storing your bike or arriving wet or in a sweat. I also agree with Simon that integrated ticketing is a plus as are the double-decker buses, so frequent on arterial routes you don’t need a timetable. Simon talks about the need for light rail in the northwest. I think replicating the Northern Busway is a better option.
Simon bemoans the fact that for 50 years both Labour and National have lacked the courage to stand up to “we are a driving city.” So they might have, but the fact is we are a driving city and that will never change. The few people using local bus services attest to that. During the weekdays the motorways are clogged with cars whose only occupant is the driver. These are people who are either working or who are on an errand where public transport is not suitable. There are literally hundreds of reasons people need to travel and for a lot of them public transport or an electric bike is not the answer.
Despite all of the above we still need more roads. The motorways now even have choke points at weekends. We need what National was talking about prior to the election. The east-west link (at an improved cost), the Mill Road to Drury link, the improvements to continue in the north of the city and equally importantly more money spent on the maintenance of roads, particularly rural roads within the Auckland boundary.
All of this needs to happen regardless of the climate change carry on. Simon says if only we’d started mitigating the climate risk thirty years ago when the science was clear, imagine what we’d be able to spend our money on now. Well Simon, the science wasn’t clear then and it’s not clear now. Only if you want to believe in it. It might come as a shock to you but the whole business of climate is cyclical. The next period of cooling is well on its way and after that things will warm up again. It’s really very simple and hardly earth shattering. A commenter on Backchat the other night mentioned that the Thames had frozen over and it was -28 C in Calgary.
Electric bikes had better become popular soon or it will be too cold to ride them Simon. Brrrrr.
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