Papers obtained by TVNZ have revealed how much of a joke John Key’s “national cycleway” has become. Remember this was the major initiative to come out of the Jobs Summit, which Key promised would be a “do-fest” not a “talk-fest”. The cycleway was to provide an immediate economic stimulus, helping to keep kiwis in work while also creating a long term legacy of real value to New Zealand. So far it has done neither.
The papers TVNZ has obtained show just how much Key’s original ambition has shrunk. Originally he was proposing a cycleway the full length of the country. At a cost of between $300,000 to $500,000 per km, the benefits would have been highly questionable. It would also have left unresolved the biggest problem kiwi cyclists face, which is the lack of dedicated and safe cycleways within the urban centres.
The watered down proposal, which focuses on a series of “great rides” around the country, actually makes more sense, but it hardly meets the original aim which was to create jobs and help stave off the effects of the recession. I’ve biked the Central Otago Rail Trail and I think it’s great. But replicating that success around the country will take time and it’s not going to provide the type of short-term economic stimulus we so desperately need.
I’m a keen cyclist so I’m generally supportive of initiatives that will make life easier for those travelling by bike, but frankly that’s not what we should be focused on at the moment. With 1,200 people joining the dole queue every week, saving and creating jobs has to be the government’s number one priority. Instead we’re getting smiles and platitudes rather than real action from Key’s government.
Unfortunately TVNZ didn’t put the raw papers online so people could look at them and dig through them.
We are now reaping the follies of the last Labour govt, 1200 ple a week going on dole. The great social paradise unwinds during depressions, set up by Labour. At least the cycle way is not as big a joke as Kiwi Rail as the cycle way has not cost a cent, while Kiwi rail is $300 Million plus less than what was paid for it.
This place will become a banana republic.
I reckon a whole pile of cycle parks is a great idea – but Keys’ suggestion that they are an important part of the answer to getting out of the recession is just nonsense.
@Gidday – “reaping the follies” What a load of bollocks.
For the last nine years or so – under Labour – the number of people on benefits dropped staggeringly. Even the Herald grudgingly admitted it on the front page!
The recession has flipped the graph and the number is once again trending up. What’s criminal is that the current government, for all their talk pre election, seems to have no real plan. The cycleway hasn’t produced a single job. The 9 day fortnight has saved only a few hundred and Paula Bennett’s best idea is a subsidy to McDonald’s to have people flip their burgers. It’s freakin’ criminal.
When Cullen explained that the surplus was there to help during downturns like this everyone bayed for his blood and called him “Scrooge”, now National’s gone and blown it on tax cuts for the wealthiest 3 per cent while the rest of NZ gets sweet FA.
Brighter future my ass.
Do you reckon Cullen was scrooge when he spunked up $650M on the train set? No way, he was a fiscal fool. He knew the books were going to turn sour but he still comitted economic suicide on this. Jobs rose in the last govt, but productivity dropped. The jobs made were of low value and came from my taxes so it is a folly suggesting that this was good for the country in the long run. BTW, US payroll is dropping 600000 people PM, so we are not unique in the amout of jobless.
@Gidday
I think you’ll find that productivity still rose, but a little slower than from 1978 to present.
http://www.stats.govt.nz/products-and-services/hot-off-the-press/productivity-statistics/productivity-statistics-1978-2008-hotp.htm
I never thought Cullen was a Scrooge. I thought he was a man playing a long game – which also helps explain the purchase of the rail. My guess is that the purchase decision will prove invaluable long term as road congestion increases, the price of oil keeps rising and we get serious about limiting carbon emissions.
History aside, you have to laugh about the cycleway (at least I would if it didn’t seem to be National’s *only* idea). I wonder how long before Key wishes he’d never mentioned it.
If the Rail subject needs discussion, let us see it in another thread. The Rail is not a precedent for a Cycle way – Rail existed, and a national cycleway does not. Thank you in advance for your consideration on this matter Gidday.
Specifically on the cycle way, if we are talking about a number of initiatives in local areas, then does the government need to be involved. I have heard about quite a labyrinth of cycleways covering Napier and Hastings – seafront and river banks. Did that require funding from Wellington? It must be an asset to the region for locals and tourists alike – for fitness and for sightseeing.
Also there are mountain bike parks that the public can use near cities like Napier, Rotorua, Hamilton, and Auckland.
The North Cape to Bluff cycleway could become John Key’s “lamburger”.
It won’t come to that. It is becoming clear that in this particular case, John Key could do nothing and talk about the facilities that exist today. A promise almost fulfilled! He He !!
I dont think any rational person thinks the $50m was to create a new cycle way from one end of the country to the other.
There are already cycle tracks in most areas of the country as you say
.
By linking those already in place it shouldnt cost to much.
Ecan in Christchurch are apparently planning their portion of the track.
To deride National for not budgeting on spending billions to create a new cycleway from scratch is silly
markm – I’m not deriding National for not spending billions on a cycleway, I’m deriding their lack of a plan to save and create jobs. When it was proposed, the cycleway was supposed to be part of that plan. It clearly isn’t, so what are they going to do instead? Thousands (yes, thousands) of kiwis are losing their jobs every week yet the government seems like a possum caught in headlights.
Mark M
You say of cycleways “By linking those already in place it shouldnt cost to much.”
Lets look at the volcanic plateau of the North Island. If the links were to follow the rail as some have suggested – what fraction of the overall distance would be in place? How can you argue that it would not take “that much” to deal with this harsh terrain?
Even in Auckland there is nothing relevant for the North-South plan that I have noticed. Arguments about bikes on the Harbour Bridge are presumably ongoing.
In terms of North-South cycleways that could form a genuine part of the cycleway, I would think there is very little about. Lets turn it around – exactly which pieces of the jigsaw are in place?
If you were right in saying that the total project was worth billions, then the $50 million from the government would be even more ridiculous – just a token.
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