Council should promote free public transport
Media release
VAN -- Valley Action Network
28
February, 2008
Regional Council should promote free
public transport
"A radical shift in transport priorities is needed", says VAN transport analyst Michelle Ducat. "That's the message that Valley Action Network are taking to Greater Wellington Regional Council, with our submission on the Ngauranga to Airport Strategic Transport Study.
"Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector – mainly private motor vehicles – are contributing to potentially catastrophic climate change. The Regional Council must break the vicious cycle of building more roads, for more cars, that in turn need more roads.
"The needs of people to move about in the 21st century are better served by public transport, cycling and walking", Michelle added. "VAN's policy of Free and Frequent Public Transport is just the kind of fresh thinking needed to give people a real choice to leave their cars at home.
"Taking this idea to Council, we're representing thousands of Hutt residents who support it. Our policy was very popular during last year's local body elections – not only with those who voted for us, but with people on the doorstep, in the markets and at the sports field.
"Most people who heard the idea agreed that it makes sense for reducing climate change and serves the people.
"VAN will be seeking to address the Regional Council in person", concluded Michelle. "We'll be watching the response to our submission from Regional Councillors. Will they have the political will to promote this idea, and lobby government for it?
"VAN stands for grassroots democracy. That means keeping ordinary people informed about the often distant decisions of local body politicians. We will publicise the response of the Councillors, especially the three representatives from Hutt City – Peter Glensor, Prue Lamason and Sandra Greig."
VAN's submission to the Greater Wellington Regional Council is reproduced below.
ENDS
--
VAN – (Valley Action Network)
Submission to the Ngauranga to Airport Strategic Transport Study
We support the Sustainable Wellington Transport campaign.
Thousands
of people make journeys everyday from the Hutt Valley to
Wellington. As your study indicates, central Wellington will
continue to be the main destination.
Given the plan
"to achieve an affordable, integrated, safe, responsive
and sustainable transport system", we applaud all efforts to
improve public transport and make cycling and walking more
attractive. We also support smart planning that encourages
growth nodes that lessen the need for long
journeys.
However, the report's analysis concludes
that attempting to accommodate the projected growth
through improvements to public transport alone will not
meet the vision for the corridor, and so new roading will be
necessary.
We disagree. The realities of the 21st
Century demand a radical shift in our planning
priorities.
Last year, the IPCC reported that the
effectiveness of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases over
the next two or three decades would have a large impact on
our ability to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gases at
lower levels, and that the lower the ultimate stabilization
levels, the more quickly emissions would need to peak and
decline. For example, to stabilize at between 445 and
490ppm (resulting in an estimate global temperature 2 to
2.4 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average – a
temperature rise which could trigger runaway global warming)
emissions would need to peak before 2015, with 50 to 85%
reductions on 2000 levels by 2050. Many describe these
figures as conservative.
For stabilization at lower
levels the IPCC agreed that improvements of carbon
intensity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_intensity
need to be made much faster than has been the case in the
past,
The Sightline Institute last year took a look at
the greenhouse gas implications of building a new
lane-mile of highway in a congested urban area. Their
conclusion is that every extra one-mile stretch of lane
added to a congested highway will increase climate-warming
CO2 emissions more than 100,000 tons over 50
years.
We know transport accounts for about 40% of New
Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions and that this is
growing.
As the new chair of Greater Wellington Fran
Wilde said. "The next few years will be critical ones for
the region as we face rising oil prices, requirements to
reduce emissions and to become carbon neutral, as well as
the need for a robust economy." As well, Wellington City
Council has publicly aspired to carbon
neutrality.
However, the study's conclusion means we
are planning for the growth of greenhouse gas emissions
through growth in the numbers of vehicles on the road and
the building of new roads. It is laughable to suggest the
reduction in congestion will result in meaningful reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions.
This is not the pathway
to carbon neutralilty or sustainability. This is not
planning for the 21st century.
Yet the study does hold
the seeds of a possibly greener, sustainable, vibrant city
– the workplace of so many Hutt Valley residents - through
its acknowledgement of the role of smart planning, more
intensive public transport, and imaginative transport
demand management.
We need to be bold in our
aspirations for modal shift and VAN believes we can
achieve this through giving people real choice between
public transport and private vehicles. We support the
Sustainable Wellington Transport campaign:
* Light
rail linking the northern suburbs, hospital and airport
through the city centre. Further, we would urge an
extension of light rail from the Hutt Valley to achieve
seamless, quick commuting. * Priority at lights and more
shelter for walkers * More bus lanes, integrated ticketing
and real-time public transport information – plans that
already exist in this study and in the Regional Transport
Strategy. * Safer cycling with good facilities for riding
and parking. There are numerous examples around the world
where active planning for cycling has made this a
realistic option for significant numbers of people. * Smart
planning and good urban design * Faster, cheaper broadband,
teleworking and flexible working arrangements.
Bold
aspirations and good planning have worked
elsewhere:
In San Franciso – a city with constrained
capacity in the highway system – employment doubled in
the downtown area between 1968 and 1984, while the number
of cars stayed the same. This occurred mainly through
aggressive improvements in the transit system and changes to
parking policy.
In Washigton DC, daily vehicle trips
fell by over 81 000 between 2002 and 2005 because of and
Employer Outreach Programme, using travel demand
management strategies like travel information, showers and
lockers for cyclists, carpooling, shuttles to public
transport, flexible work hours, teleworking.
The
Lloyd District nearly doubled the public transport mode
share through extending the transit lines into more
residential areas and through giving financial incentives
to employees to use transit.
VAN goes further. We
advocate free and frequent public transport. Other cities
like Auckland http://www.stagecoach.co.nz/citycircuit/ ,
Christchurch
http://www.christchurch.org.nz/Maps/CityCentreShuttleService.aspand
Invercargill
http://www.passengertransport.co.nz/index_files/Page509.htmalready
have some free bus routes. Campaigners in Auckland
http://ram-auckland.net/wordpress/2007/09/18/the-ram-plan-for-free-
frequent-transitand Dunedin
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0705/S00258.htm 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.