Public Transport is smarter

The Green party is calling on the Wellington Regional Council to rethink its transport strategy and abandon a proposed $2 billion spend on new motorways, which will not reduce congestion, and instead focus on the development of trains, buses, walking, and cycling.

Projections in the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Regional Land Transport Strategy released yesterday show that building new roads won’t solve congestion whereas public transport will.

“Instead of wasting billions on building new roads, Wellington’s transport priority must be building a light rail system through to the airport,” Green Party Wellington transport spokesperson Sue Kedgley said.

“Wellington is unusual in having its major commuter rail network finish at the outskirts of the city. The report failed to highlight this strategic failure.

“Until this is addressed, by building a light rail network that takes commuters right to their place of work, our transport system will be hamstrung.”

Ms Kedgley said that building a mass transit system on the Kapiti rail network, with trains running at 5 to 10 minute intervals, would dramatically reduce congestion on the Kapiti line.

“Twelve trains with twelve full carriages running at peak time would carry 10,000 passengers and get 8-9000 cars off the road,” Ms Kedgley said.

Green Party transport spokesperson Gareth Hughes that the Government needs to adopt a smart, balanced approach to transport funding and re-allocated funding from new motorways to better public transport, walking, and cycling.

“Public Transport options are smarter because they deliver higher returns for the money invested,” Mr Hughes said.

“The Transmission Gully motorway has no business case and will likely increase congestion in Wellington.

“The best way to reduce congestion is not to build more roads but to have fewer cars on existing roads.”

Gareth Hughes will be speaking at the Rail and Maritime Union Annual Conference today about how John Key’s Government is wasting billions on uneconomic motorways that will lock New Zealand into a car and oil dependent future.

LINKS
Wellington Regional Councillor Paul Bruce on Transmission Gully
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=27993