Media release
VAN – Valley Action Network
20 September, 2007

Hutt fight to stop Cross Valley Link road kicks off Sunday

A grassroots campaign will be launched this Sunday to stop a major new
Cross Valley Link road between the Eastern and Western suburbs of Hutt
City.

Community campaigners will be going door to door along the proposed
route talking to residents who would be affected. They will be asking
people to sign a petition opposing the project and calling for improved
public transport as the sensible solution to traffic congestion.

"Although Valley Action Network is kicking this campaign off, our aim
is to help build a broad-based action group embracing everyone opposed
to the road", said VAN organiser Grant Brookes.

The Cross Valley Link is listed among possible new projects for
2007-2016 in the Regional Council's Land Transport Strategy. But the
likelihood of the road going ahead got a boost last month when all five
candidates for the Hutt City Mayoralty came out strongly in favour of
it.

The Cross Valley Link will cost upwards of $60-$70 million to build.
Hutt ratepayers will be expected to contribute $18-$30 million, at
least.

The road's supporters say it will relieve congestion on the East-West
route along the Petone foreshore Esplanade.

"Spending this kind of money building another major road to encourage
more car use, in an age of climate change and rising oil prices, is
crazy", said Grant Brookes. "At best, it's a short-term fix for
congestion that will move the bottleneck somewhere else.

"The sensible alternative is vastly improved public transport. VAN's
policy of Free and Frequent Public Transport, reprinted below, is just
the kind of solution needed.

"Grassroots pressure has forced the Council to back down over and over
again", added Grant. "They've been forced to scrap their plans to close
the Moera Library and Mckenzie Pool, knock down the historic Korohiwa
Bus Barn and abolish Community Boards. So we can stop this road."

Although the grassroots campaign will begin among residents along the
proposed route, it will be rolled out to involve Hutt residents
everywhere.

"Voters at the upcoming Council elections have a clear choice",
commented Grant. "VAN is the only group standing for Council which puts
the sensible solution of improved public transport over more roads,
more cars and more congestion."

All supporters and media representatives are invited to attend the
first campaign action on Sunday.

For more information, contact Grant Brookes:

organiser@huttvan.org.nz
(021) 053 2973
www.huttvan.org.nz

-------------

Free and frequent public transport – It makes climate sense and serves
the people

The burning of oil and other fossil fuels is raising the levels of
greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and threatening huge climate change.
At the same time, peak oil – the end of the world's cheap oil supplies
– is around the corner. Competition for what's left is fuelling wars.
To tackle these major problems facing humanity, new solutions are
needed.
In New Zealand cities, the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions
is transport – mainly private motor vehicles.
For Hutt residents, transport is a big issue. A third of the Hutt
residents in jobs commute outside the city to get to work. Many more
commute for family and social reasons.
Drivers face clogged motorways, frustration and road rage. Roads within
Hutt City, too, are choked at peak times. Businesses lose money through
the delays.
The Council's solution to these problems is to build more roads. They
support plans to spend a billion dollars on a new motorway through
Transmission Gully and upwards of $60 million on a new Cross Valley
Link.
But more roads encourage more car use and more greenhouse gas
emissions. They're a short-term fix for congestion in one place that
moves the bottleneck somewhere else. And new charges on motorists, like
a regional petrol tax, will be needed to build them.
What's needed is a major push to encourage people into public transport
– particularly into our electrified rail service, which is powered
mainly by clean, renewable energy.
Making trains, buses and ferries free would do this, without hitting
drivers with new taxes.
Other cities like Christchurch and Invercargill already have some free
bus routes. Campaigners in Auckland and Dunedin are pushing to extend
this to free and frequent public transport city-wide, like in some
European and North American cities.
Fares could be eliminated by diverting a fraction of Wellington's
roading budget to public transport. But it's unlikely to happen under
current ownership arrangements.
The privatisation of public transport has been a disaster. Private
operators have been happy to cream off profits, while the network's
been run down.
When major investment is needed to maintain or upgrade the system, they
demand hand-outs from the public purse.
The government already owns the railway tracks. The Greater Wellington
Regional Council is spending more than $500 million refurbishing the
trains, buying new ones and building new stations.
Public subsidies cover around half the annual operating costs for Tranz
Metro. Bus operators get two thirds of their income from the public
purse.
It makes sense to spend a little extra and take the whole transport
network back into public ownership. Then there would be no private
operator creaming off profits, and every public dollar could go on
reducing fares and improving services.
In 2002, the Regional Council won government backing to buy a half
share of Tranz Metro. The deal fell through, mainly due to ideological
opposition to public ownership from local councils and business
interests.
We say that a fraction of Wellington's roading budget should be used to
take public transport back into public ownership and make it free and
frequent. It makes climate sense and serves the people.

VAN – Valley Action Network wants moves towards this by:

* Speaking out in favour of public transport over more road-building in
all public forums.

* Scrapping plans to waste millions of ratepayer dollars on a new Cross
Valley Link.

* Pressing Greater Wellington Regional Council to bring forward its
plans for trains on the Upper Hutt line every 10 minutes at peak times,
and every 15 minutes off-peak.

* Linking up with other authorities and campaigners in the region to
petition the government for more money for public transport.

* Reviving plans for Greater Wellington Regional Council to buy out
private transport operators, and then move to reduce fares towards
zero.

ENDS

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