ACTION HOBSON MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday 17 May 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Action Hobson Celebrates Electrification Victory

The Government's announcement that it will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the electrification of Auckland's railway network is a victory for Action Hobson and for common sense, Action Hobson councillors Christine Caughey and Richard Simpson said today.

"Action Hobson campaigned in 2004 for Rapid Transit Solutions for Auckland to replace our existing ramshackle public transport system and move the city away from our reliance on roads," Cr Simpson, who is chair of the Auckland City Council's Transport and Urban Linkages Committee, said. "We have been persistent - some would say annoying - advocates for that vision at both the local and central government level, and we make no apology for that. This announcement is an essential first step towards achieving the Rapid Transit Solutions that Aucklanders deserve and that all other leading Asia Pacific cities take for granted."

The Action Hobson councillors said every other leading Asia-Pacific urban centre provided fast, efficient transport to enable citizens to move quickly about their cities for business, work and day-to-day life. A modern rail system offered the potential to move as many as 25,000 people per hour along a single line, compared with a lane of motorway moving as few as 2,400 people per hour, and is the least-polluting and lowest-energy-using means of land-based transport.

Cr Caughey said Action Hobson's success in stopping the Eastern Motorway, which would have destroyed Hobson Bay, had forced local and central government to take seriously Rapid Transit Solutions.

"We applaud Finance Minister Michael Cullen for this step and urge both the Government and Opposition to further commit to an indisputably world-class Rapid Transit System for Auckland," she said. "Auckland is in competition with Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Vancouver, Singapore and Seattle for investment and talent and we will continue to lose out to them until we put in place the Rapid Transit Solutions that will make it efficient and easy to get around our city for business and pleasure."

Cr Caughey said Action Hobson would continue to fight for provisions for an Eastern Motorway across Hobson Bay to be dropped permanently.

"There are those on our City Council who refuse to let go of the idea of an Eastern Motorway across Hobson Bay," she said. "We need to stop it permanently because it's a bad idea and because it's a distraction from the real solutions of which Dr Cullen's announcement today is an essential component."

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