Media Release

23 June 2004

POSITION OF AUSTRALIAN 'EXPERT' ON ROADING NO SURPRISE

The AA General Manager of Transport Policy, Stephen Selwood, said today he was not at all surprised by the anti-motoring position taken by Dr. Paul Mees, who had been brought from Australia by the Stop the Eastern Motorway lobby group.

Mr. Selwood said Dr Mees is well known in Australia for his anti-car position and his comments added very little of value to the debate about the future transport needs of Auckland.

Dr Mees has said Auckland should copy Perth and spend hundreds of millions on rail instead of roads. Unfortunately, the facts don't support the argument. Despite spending billions on the rail system in Perth, the public transport mode share is no better than that of Auckland.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics census shows that in Perth only 1.6% of people travel to work by train, 3.2% by bus and 0.9% take a combination of the train and bus. 68.8% travel to work by car, either as the driver or as a passenger and 2.7% of people either ride a bike or walk to work, the remaining 22.8% either work from home or don't attend work.

"Congestion is a major problem in Auckland today. By 2020 the number of vehicles on Auckland's roads will have doubled even if best-case-scenario increases in public transport usage occur. Unless serious planning and construction commences immediately, by 2020 Auckland roads may well be gridlocked most of the time.

"If Auckland's traffic problems are to be successfully addressed, motorists, public transport proponents, cyclists, the green lobby and the various levels of government will all have to find ways to work constructively together. Whether we will it or not, private vehicles, buses, trains and ferries, cyclists and those who opt to walk are all part of the solution.

"The last thing needed is a one sided ill-informed and misleading debate with the various interests locking themselves into no-compromise positions. I would ask people to consider how bad Auckland roads are today and imagine what they'll be like by 2020 with twice as many vehicles using them," Mr. Selwood said.

**********

The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with over one million members. It represents the interests of road users who collectively pay $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges and GST.

ENDS

© Scoop Media