TRAINS A 20th CENTURY SOLUTION

Source: Sam Stubbs, Stuff, 4-Feb-2022

Sam Stubbs is chief executive of KiwiSaver fund Simplicity and a regular Stuff opinion contributor.

I totally agree with Sam's article in Stuff.

I continually hear advocates for returning rail as a primary method of commuter transport. Yes, trains do have a huge role in mass transit of commercial goods like containers and timber, but this country just doesn't have the population to justify the huge cost of fixed rail lines that rail requires.

We need to start thinking 21st Century, and look to technology to resolve our public transport issues. Yes, driverless vehicles are quite here yet, but within the next ten years they will be a reality. This is a solution worth waiting for.

However, we shouldn't think that we can be "the first mover". Uber tried that, and after investing US$2 billion, they have walked away from their driverless technology. We just need to be patient. It is coming, but let's be a fast adaptor, rather than a first mover.

In his article on Stuff Sam Stubbs said “The reality is, while our politicians and planners are wedded to the idea of trains, they are not the future of public transport. Globally, research and development are focused on electric and hydrogen cars and buses, electric bikes and new forms of air transport. Trains are a 20th-century solution for a 21st-century problem.”

And trains are very inflexible. Most people have to drive or cycle to a train station, and drive home. Trains work in dense environments where people can walk home, but that is not Auckland [and definitely not Tauranga]. By landmass, Auckland is one of the largest cities in the world and forever expanding outwards.

“As a KiwiSaver manager, nothing would please me more than to have more New Zealand-based infrastructure to invest in. Yet I fear we will be now be hobbling ourselves to a single massively expensive option, which is more a nod to a romantic past than a leap into the future,” Sam said.

“The future of public transport is probably going to be electric driverless vehicles that will pick you up at your door and drop you off at your destination. You’ll share them with half a dozen or more other people. It definitely isn’t going to be trains or trams.”

TAURANGA CITY - WHAT IS STILL GOING WRONG

All comments regarding Local Government are my personal views, and do not purport to represent the views of our Regional Council – of which I am an elected representative.

I have no problem with the replacement of our elected Tauranga City Councillors with appointed Commissioners – We had an extremely dysfunctional Council with the then elected members (including the Mayor) acting very parochially, with no understanding of the meaning of governance. Each had his/her own agenda, and they weren’t thinking “What is best for our city”. The key will be wheher we get back to democracy in 2022.

The new Commissioners came in with a “clean slate”, but unfortunately they too haven’t addressed Tauranga City Council’s biggest issue – that of a totally siloed staff who have built a bureaucracy that suits staff, but was never “fit for purpose”. Staff numbers have ballooned – as has Council expenditure.

For me, these appointed Commissioners should have first addressed (before anything else) the bloated bureaucracy and siloed thinking that has been synonymous of Tauranga City Council for nearly two decades. This is a basic requirement of Local Government (see Section 17A of the Local Government Act 2002). The blow-torch needs to be aimed at "efficiency and effectiveness" - something that has been missing for far too long.

You only have to look at the mess that Tauranga City staff have made of our city roading infrastructure to understand the problem. The “Greerton solution” is just one example of the mess that transport planners at City centre have made. Solutions for 15th Avenue/Turret Road was also piecemeal, and never addressed the underlying issues. Now our current unelected Commissioners have allowed Transport Planners to front a risky (in my personal view) Cameron Road upgrade.

In my view, our city doesn’t have a substantial congestion issue – I am not saying it isn’t there, but it is exacerbated by Central Government not adequately funding our state highways. Cameron Road is directly affected by lack of a State Highway 29 solution. Congestion builds at Tauriko, then at Barkes Corner, and is further exacerbated by the ridiculous failure that is Greerton. This builds down Cameron Road, and our Commissioners are committed to a 3 stage redevelopment and upgrade of Cameron Road.

Stage I UPGRADE - from the CBD to 17th Avenue Stage I includes retaining the existing four car lanes, and adding two bus lanes, as well as a two way cycling lane on the eastern side of Cameron Road – plus, of course, pedestrian access on both sides. The bus lanes will initially be for peak-time traffic only, but a condition of the Central Government (taxpayer funded) CIF funding of $45m is that within 10 years these busways will need to become permanently bus-only.

I was opposed to the original design (that reduced the thorough fare to only one car-lane each way), but now support this revised proposal. I considered adding lights at 3rd, 6th and 9th Avenue ridiculous – thinking that these will just permanently reduce Cameron Road to gridlock. I remain concerned, but will give the project design the benefit of my doubt on this – but blaming Central Government for insisting on overly zealous road safety measures (valiant aims at protecting cyclists and pedestrians). I see this as just frustrates our commuters even more – putting everyone at higher risk because of impatience.

STAGE II – Cameron Road - From 17th Avenue to Barkes Corner Stage II is scheduled to start in June 2022, but the $160m cost is currently unfunded. This is, in fact the more difficult section, and runs from 17th Avenue to Barkes Corner. The problem is that the road reserve is constrained, and Tauranga City Council say that it is unlikely that they can put a funding case that would include property purchase to mitigate the width issue. It also includes the political football of reversing the previously disastrous Greerton upgrade.

TCC says that it is their hope that they can go “back to back” on Stages I & II.

STAGE III RUNS FROM BARKES CORNER TO TAURIKO This Stage isn’t currently costed, but is expected to cost at least another $140m. The problem is also coming into Tauranga (via State Highway 2 – from both the North (Omokoroa) and the East, along Hewletts Road (access to the Port) - both on the head of our Labour Ministers. The State Highways are congesting the entry into our city. We rely on our appointed Commissioners to link with Ministers to get these issues resolved. The problem of course is that both Tauranga and Bay of Plenty Electorates have long been National Party strongholds, and (call me cynical) I believe it is a Labour strategy to propagate the disenfranchisement of these two electorates.

RACECOURSE & GOLF COURSE MUST REMAIN AS GREENSPACE I also believe that our four appointed Commissioners are showing no understanding of the overwhelming community feeling that our “green space” is non-negotiable. To even consider stealing (yes, stealing from our community) the Racecourse and Golf Club for Kāinga Ora Housing (social housing) is an outrage.

Yes, we recognise that we want growth – but only sustainable growth. Stop destroying the structure of our city, based on the failed ideology of the left.

In my view, the biggest mistake that our four appointed Commissioners have made is in supporting the theft of more than $1 billion of ratepayers money in the Three Waters fiasco, but also not holding staff to financial account. TCC staff are incredibly siloed , and this must be addressed with urgency.

ISSUES FACING COMMISSIONERS § Three Waters theft § Tauranga City Council’s bloated bureaucracy unaddressed § Greenspace – stealing Racecourse & Golf Club for social housing § Cameron Road upgrade issues - while mostly addressed, activists will continue to undermine

The optics for our four Commissioners are extremely disturbing. If (as they say) they are only here until October 2022, then time is against them for leaving a positive legacy. All four of these issues don’t look good for a positive legacy. All four issues need a quick reversal if they want to keep faith with ratepayers.

As Chair of Public Transport at the Regional Council I need to (and want to) work closely with our City Commissioners on all of these issues. I am sure that all four Commissioners are well intentioned – and I want to help. But…

Our City needs them to do better – both for their credibility and for Tauranga City’s future. Otherwise history will not record their legacy at all kindly.

IS THIS AN ESSENTIAL WORKER? - COME ON JACINDA...

The head of Waikato's Mongrel Mob chapter was given an essential worker exemption to travel in and out of Auckland last weekend.

Newstalk ZB revealed that the exemption was granted to Sonny Fatupaito – who has been working with some of the harder to reach communities in the city, such as those with gang affiliations.

This is just a joke, and yet Jacinda Ardern has once again tried to defend the decision.

Gangs are of prime concern in halting this covid pandemic spread, and it is time for Central Government to recognise that these people not only peddle misery (in the form of drugs, violence and abuse), but they are anti-society and need to be stamped out - not encouraged and funded. Ardern is out of touch with ordinary New Zealanders!