Monday 8 October 2018, 1:50PM

Strong Public Support For Faster Trains Over Govt’s Slow Tram Plan

Organisers expect strong support at tomorrow’s public meeting to highlight why a train link to Auckland Airport is better than the Governments preferred choice of a slow tram via Dominion Road or a user-unfriendly bus transfer shuttle via Puhinui station.

One of the organisers, Paul Miller, Chair of NZ Transport 2050, said “Feedback on social media and as seen from comments on news reports have been overwhelmingly in support of a Rapid Train serving our largest airport. The public agrees, a tram or a bus transfer shuttle to Puhinui railway station proposed by the Government are not optimal solutions.”

Auckland airport is the primary gateway to New Zealand. It has been undergoing massive growth and forecast to be at 40 million passengers in just over ten years time.

Jon Reeves, National Coordinator of the Public Transport Users Association, the other organisers of the meeting says “A slow tram service does not stack up. Aucklanders seem to be smarter than the Council or the Government and comprehend that they won’t get out of their cars to catch a tram that takes an hour to reach the airport, or carry large suitcases onto buses only to have to unload them 10 minutes later and drag them to a railway station at Puhinui. That’s not a good solution for moving large numbers of Aucklanders, business professionals or tourists”.

Paul Miller added” Auckland Council decided to follow a tram plan to the airport based on a very seriously flawed report, by a consultant lacking any experience in heavy rail. Lobbying by interest groups has global best practice put in the back seat which isn’t good for Auckland. Tomorrow we will present all the facts of why the report is seriously flawed and the alternative of faster train service to the airport which has the highest reach for Aucklanders and also for people living in Waikato and Tauranga. Not only is it better for more people than the slow tram plan, but this enables for a greater catchment for higher density housing development next to railways stations across the Auckland and Waikato network.

The public meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday), 7 pm, Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, 487 Dominion Road.

ENDS

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