Michael Cullen is going to be getting a finger-wagging, talking to from Jacinda Ardern. He’s not staying in his lane. Check out these pearls of wisdom on public transport:
A possible scenario for the future is that electric vehicles will be adopted more rapidly, which could increase congestion. That is because there will be less of a guilty conscience about driving an EV, even though they are far from the environmentally pure form of transport that their more ardent advocates seem to believe they are.
Encouraging EVs means it is all the more important to invest heavily in a public transport network that fits how people move around in Auckland. In that respect, movement in and out of the CBD is not the growing challenge people seem to think it is.
NZ Herald
This is a key point. Current public transport proposals, including the retarded light-rail proposal, ignore how people actually live, work and travel. But the public transport mandarins and zealots want to force us into their very tiny paradigm, and vociferously attack anyone sitting outside of the box…which is almost everyone.
Peak-time travel numbers were slowly declining for some years before Covid hit us, despite population growth. It is likely they will stay lower post-Covid as home-working becomes more normal. Nor do lots of people going to and from the airport want to start or finish in the CBD.
Nobody can make the light rail project have a positive benefit-cost ratio, whatever heroic assumptions about inner-city redevelopment are made. Then there is the lengthy disruption that building the project will create. It looks like an idea whose time has passed.
The alternative is clearly a network of multi-car electric buses operating on dedicated lanes for faster travel times, preferably with free fares.
NZ Herald
Finally, someone who actually understands public transport real-world solutions. Hell, they could even rip up the stupid train lines and lay pavement and create rapid bus transit lanes.
I am told the main problem with this is that the electric (or hydrogen-propelled) buses are too heavy for many existing roads.
Since Auckland is already committed to an electric bus fleet over the next few years, this seems a little strange.
If true, it only highlights the need to progressively upgrade the potential routes — surely a cheaper, more flexible and more efficient option than trying to create the full light rail network which some dream of.
Clearly, someone is lying. But this just reinforces that ripping up the train lines in favour of laying pavement might just work heavily in our favour, certainly on more favourable terms than stupid rail ideas.
I wonder if Michael Wood has the stones to pick up the phone and call Michael Cullen?
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