The Campaign For Better Transport

Guest comment from Isaac Broome

Having visited Edinburgh a couple of years ago, I was facinated to read about their city council now undertaking a project to build a modern light rail system:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Trams

 Interesting to note that Edinburgh has a population of 450,000 and Auckland City also has a population of 450,000. With creation of the new Auckland Super City, the population will be over 1 million.

 Light rail is definately a mode of public transport which needs to introduced into central Auckland to provide a cleaner, quieter, more efficient and attractive option of travelling around the city such as along the waterfront on Quay Street and Tamaki Drive between the Wynyard Quarter and St Heliers Bay, up Queen Street and out along Karangahape Road and Great North Road to Motat, and out along Upper Queen Street, Ian McKinnion Drive and Dominion Road to the Mt Roskill South shops on Richardson Road.

 A light rail network along these routes would compliment the current heavy rail network and would be a truly attractive option for Aucklander’s to leave their cars at home for commuting or shopping in the central city and suburbs.

 If the Auckland tram network were to be built to the standard gauge of 4′ 8″ (1435mm), this would enable Motat’s heritage trams to operate on the network as well making it much easier for Auckland to purchase new light rail trams on the international market.

 This is not pie in the sky stuff, it is a very real practical, sensible transport option for Auckland and is a sustainable option as trams run on electricity and not reliant on expensive and ever decreasing overseas oil.

 The new Auckland Council needs to make light rail a reality for Auckland. If Edinburgh can do it, so can Auckland.

Media Release from the Campaign For Better Transport

A petition calling for the introduction of a commuter rail service between Auckland and Hamilton has gathered nearly 8,000 signatures.

The Campaign for Better Transport wants to present the petition to Hamilton and regional politicians in two weeks time, however campaign organiser Jon Reeves describes the coming weekend as “a sprint to the finish.”

“People from all walks of life have signed the petition so far– business people, students, grandparents, retailers and tourists included,” says Mr. Reeves. “But we really want to demonstrate the strong public support for Waikato rail to Environment Waikato and central Government as emphatically as we can.”

Three quarters of those who have signed to date are from Hamilton and Waikato towns that would be served by a commuter rail service.

Volunteers will be collecting signatures at key Waikato events this weekend, including the Ngaruawahia Regatta and markets and festivals in the Hamilton area.

The cost of establishing a commuter rail service running three times a day between Hamilton and Auckland has been estimated at up to $1m. However, Mr Reeves says required subsidies will decrease over time.

“In comparison with the just announced $168.7m funding package for the Te Rapa section of the Waikato Expressway, the cost of establishing a commuter rail service is minimal and would be a good strategic hedge against rising petrol costs.”

“A rail service makes economic as well as environmental sense as obviously commuters won’t need to fund the ownership and operating costs of a vehicle, and they can make good use of their time with laptops and phones, or by simply relaxing and reading the paper.”

“For once Hamiltonians will have a guaranteed time of arrival into Auckland and be able to connect to the regular airport shuttle buses direct from Papatoetoe station,” concludes Mr Reeves.

The petition can be downloaded from here.

The Herald reports that:

Early community consultations are expected on route preferences for a new “road of national significance” costing up to $2 billion between Puhoi and the north of Wellsford.

That follows the Transport Agency’s awarding last week of a contract worth to $12 million for route investigation work on a proposed 38km link, entailing a four-lane extension of the Northern Gateway toll motorway to Warkworth and a dual-carriage expressway beyond that.

The investigation, by engineering and environmental specialists Sinclair Knight Mertz, is expected to take 15 months, but agency acting regional director Tommy Parker said he would be “disappointed if we are not talking about [route] options before about the middle of the year”.

 The Transport Agency fudges the poor economics of the project by saying:

…the figures were calculated by discounting the benefits at a standard 8 per cent each year after the road opens, a rate it sees as more appropriate to short-term projects.

It says if a 4 per cent discount rate could be used to reflect the longevity of the road, the economic returns could rise to $2 for every $1 spent.

I actually feel a bit for the NZTA here, basically being forced to justify a totally uneconomic project to satisfy the whims of the Minister of Transport.

Mike Lee pretty much hits the nail on the head with CCO’s and Auckland Transport:

According to the explanatory note to the third bill currently being deliberated by the select committee, the Super City was intended to “create one Auckland, which has strong regional governance, integrated decision making, greater community engagement and improved value for money”.

But what has become quite obvious is that Auckland isn’t getting this at all.

He bullet points the unacceptable features of Auckland Transport: Read the rest of this entry »

We need your help!

The CBT petition calling on the Govt. and its agencies to immediately fund Waikato commuter trains to Auckland will be presented to MP’s at the end of this month. We have over 6,000 signatures now ( 3,000 collected in just the past 2 weekends). There is huge support for these trains in the Waikato community, we just need to collect more signatures. It would be great if we can get 10,000!

Dowload the petition here.

If you can give just half a day for signature collection, we’ve got the locations for you! Details of how you can help below the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

Both TVNZ and the NZ Herald report that KiwiRail is under pressure to mothball the Napier – Gisborne line, and the northern portion of the Wairarapa line (Masterton – Woodville).