Posting from day two of the Labour/ Green co-hosted Smart Transport event in Wellington. Focus today is on groups working regionally or nationally on specific campaign issues.
Couple of stand out issues. Almost everyone has noted the difficulty they have had engaging with Steven Joyce on issues. Anyone who has observed his response to any suggestion of alternatives to roading projects will not be surprised by that. But secondly, so much of what is being discussed here is about providing people with genuine choice when the government is instead focused on entrenching the use of cars, and ignoring that it is becoming less and less affordable (not to mention the environmental, urban design, and quality of life issues.) Case in point- the CBD rail link!
And a final word to one group in particular- Rob George from the campaign for better transport in Hamilton is who driving a huge campaign for Waikato trains. Hard slog, but you wouldn’t find a more passionate campaigner. Now he just needs some political will behind him…..
More trains good!
!
Keep up the good work – you’d be surprised how much support you have for promoting more sustainable transport options in the electorate. Please get Shane Jones to speak up more in public!
Don’t know whether anyone there is reading the New Scientist but latest issue 13 Aug p. 26 has an article about how car use is falling internationally, with 2004 the tipping point for the west. Lifestyles and work no longer require a private car,and they are going out of fashion. But public transport and walkable cities are becoming more popular.
Keep at it.
We have way too low a population for it to be viable. Same as kiwi rail, it won’t stand alone and will always need subsidising. Forget it.
oldlogger , that is a myth. Auckland is no less dense than that of most of the suburbs surrounding London. We are never going to be like the inner core of cities like London , but we are better than Sydney, Brisbane Perth etc.
The other side of the coin is that Auckland has a very high motorway mileage for its size, more than melbourne which has 4 million people and yet the traffic here is worse.
Speaking of Melbourne Ghost I know a dude who lives there who says he doesn’t even need a car!
More and more obvious, daily, is that Joyce has already sold our affordable public transport sustainability chances and infrastructure rights to the road highwaymen. Some other ‘Well-Connected’ group perhaps.
It’s hard to pretend to consider the other point of view when Joyce and Key have already betrayed it.
That in itself is worthy of this government being thrown out.
As for the sell off of the SOEs to China and the $7billion included in the budget – check how dry the ‘ink is on the sales order’ next year if Key gets in. You’ll probably find the goods were sold off this year without a mandate and with a Chinese whisper.
Hilary says:
August 20, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Interesting Hilary. It seems New Zealanders like to do the opposite to most countries, like vote in a currency speculator when the global financial meltdown has been attributed to the moneymen or contract out our water for decades when countries are taking ownership back or selfishly build more roads when so many people can hardly afford to pay petrol never mind afford the upkeep of a car.
We’re either backward or just stupid. I once imagined we were neither.
Labour had 9 years to do something about this if they had wanted, and now it’s all Joyce and Key’s fault?
Old logger- gee you are full of myths today- the answer is that they were.
Perhaps you havent seen the transformation of the Wellington and Auckland rail networks in the last nine years.
Joyce and Key are to blame because they are cutting the money for the next 3 years and telling Auckland s Mayor to take a jump on the inner city loop yet they have money for a very expensive holiday highway where there is even lower population density. Decisions lead to out comes didnt you know
Jum, it is interesting than when people are given a say in designing their city, as is happening with Christchurch, cars and the requirement to drive and park private cars, are low on the list. I don’t see demands for motorways and parking buildings coming out of this consultation.
Trouble is we are governed by those who grew up in the age of the car, probably all drive four wheel drives, and have no lived experience of using public transport. They haven’t realised that not having a personal car, or even more, not even having a driving licence, are going to be the markers of ‘cool’ in the near future.
Hamilton trains-been tried, were a failure, what’s changed?