Puhoi-Wellsford SH1 Upgrade

[Daniel]

Thats not quite true, National have continued to fund $1.5 billion of previously planned public transport spending but they haven't 'put in' anything in the sense of adding any (plus they cancelled a whole lot of others stuff as well). Although I suppose we should count our graces that they didn't remove absoulutely all the planned public transport spending for their RoNS.

Pretty much even project has been on the pipe line for some time however National were the ones who actually put some money into it.
If you really want to know why it was that came up with the idea you would have to go back into the 1800's as this is when most of the railways were thought out, even the CBD loop has been around since 1910 or so.

It's not the coming up with crazy ideas that matters, its actually going through with them that counts.

Um it was Labour who put some money into it. National just got in government about the time it came to allocate that money and took some credit for it.

[jarbury]

If we look at the $1.6 billion being spent on rail in Auckland, that can be broken down into three projects:

1) the $600 million Project DART. Funded in the 2006 budget.
2) the $500 million for electrification infrastructure. Funded in the 2007 budget
3) the $500 million for electric trains - only "lent" to KiwiRail, with questions as to how this will eventually be paid back still unresolved.

So I'm really not sure what money this government has actually spent on PT in Auckland.

[Riggles]

Are you sure these projects were actually in the governments budget and not just some wish list spending forecast.
As I recall when National came into power Labours transport budget was about $3billion short of what they were saying what was going to happen. Remember Waterview Connection anyone, the project was forcast at just under $3billion however there was only $1billion of actual funds.

[jarbury]

Yeah I am sure, I've looked in the budget "Vote Transport" and "Vote Finance" information.

Project DART: http://www.ontrack.govt.nz/ourprojects/ ... tdart.aspx

Project DART is a series of improvements to Auckland's rail network which, when completed, will allow more frequent and reliable passenger services and improve pedestrian safety around the rail network.

The 2006 Budget included funding of up to $600 million to fund these improvements and speed development of the Auckland rail network.

Electrification: http://www.ontrack.govt.nz/OURPROJECTS/ ... kland.aspx

In the 2007 Budget the Government announced its support for the electrification of Auckland’s rail network, and gave ONTRACK the funds to build the necessary infrastructure.

[Riggles]

So you have $600million for DART there however value stated on the other.

As I recall about 2/3rds of that money was said to come from a regional fuel tax however no work had been done to establish what size or duration of fuel tax was required to provide for that funding.

[jarbury]

The fuel tax was to fund the trains - which I talked about previously.

[Riggles]

The fuel tax was to fund the trains - which I talked about previously.

It was also funding the last and most expensive sections of the DART project. Hence the reason why the New Lynn station had to be scaled back. Oh and the electrification.

[jarbury]

The fuel tax was funding ARC/ARTA's contribution to Project DART - not the government's. And NZTA ended up making up that short-fall.

[Riggles]

The fuel tax was funding ARC/ARTA's contribution to Project DART - not the government's. And NZTA ended up making up that short-fall.

But NZTA didn't have any money?

[jarbury]

We're talking fairly small amounts of cash in the completion of Project DART things. A bit for Newmarket, a bit for New Lynn and I think a bit for Onehunga. The ARC had to borrow quite a lot of money to be able to pay for the last of the SA Trains and ARTA is paying for integrated ticketing. Those were the projects affected by the cut in regional fuel tax. The vast majority of it was going to the electric trains and also to PenLink.

[Matt L]

My understanding is that the government was always going to be paying for the physical infrastructure while Auckland would use the fuel tax to pay for the trains that ran under the wires. To pay for their proportion the government had already raised fuel taxes as that was easy for them to do where as introducing a region specific fuel tax was much harder as it required legislation changes.

[john-ston]

Yes please list one urban public transport project thought up and announced by National.

If I am not mistaken, the Northern Busway was announced back in 1999.

[jarbury]

Yes please list one urban public transport project thought up and announced by National.

If I am not mistaken, the Northern Busway was announced back in 1999.

Ha ha, I did mean this National government

[john-ston]

Ha ha, I did mean this National government

In that case, I hope that you would also note that only two of the seven roads of National Significance are National announcements - the other five were all proposed under the last administration.

[pickle]

Except for Waterview Connection Labour didn't commit to any of these projects though.

[duddley]

yeah but labours plan for waterview was twice the price with 2/3rds the capacity! Wasteful much?

[Riggles]

yeah but labours plan for waterview was twice the price with 2/3rds the capacity! Wasteful much?

Stop spreading incorrect information.

[Chris Randal.]

Stop spreading incorrect information.

So prove it wrong or forever hold your peace!

[pickle]

Labour's plan was for a $1.5 billion road just as National's is.

[Feijoa]

Stuff: Crossing State Highway 1 with no crossing

A group of elderly Warkworth residents feel cut off from their town.

Lack of a safe crossing for mobility scooters at the notorious Hill St intersection near State Highway 1 has turned their retirement homes into a virtual prison.

They are compiling a petition to raise their concerns with the Auckland Council.

A shame the NZTA have postponed improvements here while they prioritise spending on trying to ram a RONS square peg through the very rounded and hilly countryside. Meanwhile people's lives are at risk:

Judith Mabbet recalls her now late husband Ray was nearly hit after one car stopped to let him cross but another car passed it on the inside.

One woman with a walker got stuck in the middle. She was rescued by a police officer who took her in his car to get her groceries and then brought her home again, Mrs Mabbet says.

Rather than petitioning Auckland Council, wouldn't it make more sense to petition National and Steven Joyce who will do everything to resist a pragmatic fix for the existing highway?