Michael Wood, the Transport Minister, has announced yet another working group, this time to work out what to do about their pet light-rail project:
The Government has decided a “fresh start” is needed for its long-awaited light rail project in Auckland, pushing back any final decision on what to build to some time around the end of 2021.
Transport Minister Michael Wood announced on Wednesday he wanted to draw a line under the disquiet that surrounded previous ideas for the project and listen to Aucklanders about what sort of light rail system they want.
Key decisions on the project would be put out to the public for feedback.
Those decisions include the route the line will take, whether the light rail line should be surface-level or a light metro that goes underground, and who will actually own the line.
Stuff
No mention of honouring Jacinda Ardern’s broken election promise of light rail to Mt Roskill by 2021. Looks like the “game-changer” project is stillborn…still.
But wait, the spin for this is amazing:
“There’s wide-ranging support for rapid transit, but Aucklanders felt shut out of the project. Today I’m drawing a line under that and involving Aucklanders from the get-go,” Wood said.
Except a tram, which is what light rail is, has never been, nor ever will be, “rapid transit”. It especially won’t be rapid if it has to trundle down the busiest suburban road in New Zealand, Dominion Road.
Labour has developed an inability to deliver anything except broken promises. It is unlikely they’ll be able to deliver a tram to Mt Roskill unless they get an old one from Motat and truck it there.
