Tonight at 7.30pm the annual general meeting of the Campaign for Better Transport is being held at the Grey Lynn Community Centre, 510 Richmond Rd. The CBT is a politically neutral lobby-group for transport issues in Auckland and elsewhere in NZ, and has had many successes, like the Onehunga Line, rail electrification and so forth.
Before the AGM, Auckland City Mayor John Banks will be giving a talk and answering some questions about transport issues. The meeting is open to all CBT members, although you can join on the night for a $20 yearly membership fee.
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I’ll be there… Can anyone give me a lift to Dom Rd or the CBD after..? Save me catching the 30 minute frequency Richmond service…
Sure.
Very interestng… He said lots of the right things but every now and then you could see it was being said because it was what people wanted to hear…
My thoughts too. As his main advisor was formally the Auckland City Council General Manager of Transport I would have thought Banks would be a bit more up to play on the details. Great general statements (Albany to Airport rail is a nice dream) but as always, difficult to get the details.
Hopefully someone asked him about AMETI. His first disgraceful proposal for that lost him all credibility in my eyes.
But I don’t think a leopard can truely change his spots.
“To build a temple at the bottom of Queen St when we don’t have the trains, we don’t have the rail, we don’t have the railway cars, we don’t have the railway stations and we don’t have the carparks next to the railway station is crazy. “The way we deal with the transport problems is to urgently complete Highway 20 and the eastern corridor bypass … and that is the first thing I will be focused on next week.
John Banks (Oct 10 ,2001)
@TopCat, yes that was mentioned, by Banks himself.
I don’t remember exactly how he said it, but he said something along the lines of “the 36th Mayor of Auckland was well and truly buried in Hobson Bay” – a reference to part of his planned Eastern Corridor route and how it cost him the next election.
He hadn’t been briefed on the 50% farebox recovery ratio policy before coming – when asked about it he did fumble around and came up with a generalistic answer about PT not being “costed out” of the pockets of existing and potential users. I believe he’d be more in opposition to the farebox policy if he better knew what it was about.
He also supports the Holiday Highway – but at least he was honest about it. On that note I don’t agree that he said exclusively what he thought people wanted to hear, as most of us would disagree with him on that one and I think he knew it.
My main criticism was he was too generalistic and non-specific in a lot of things he said needed to be done with regard to transport and urban design.
Seemed like he was saying the new Auckland Mayor would stand up to the Govt, then later on meekly fully supported the Holiday Highway as a priority (because it is Steven Joyce’s priority). It is noted that the Holiday Highway is not in the top 10 priorites for Auckland, so the Govt’s spending on that should be challenged, not agreed to.
Lap dog to the Nats was my opinion, not service to Auckland’s major transport needs for the next 10 years.
He also dissed the trams come back on the Waterfront, rather than saying “great idea let’s extend it to Britomart for greater conectivity.”
I understand (from someone who was there) that when asked about cycleways and public transport, he prevaricated, in a way he did not when extolling the benefits of completing our motorway network, INCLUDING Holiday Highway
(Oh, how I hate those words “completing the motorway network”. Mark me, the next proposal is going to be a motorway to the airport, and they will suddenly consider that an absolutely crucial piece too, without which Auckland CANNOT ever survive).
Good analysis Andrew & others. Sorry comments didn’t pop up earlier, my anti-spam seems particularly harsh at the moment for some reason.
You’re not wrong there Karl, upgrading the SH20A airport expressway to full motorway standards has been floating around the agenda for some time now.
But not in the public view, I guess – “Just one more motorway, then we can quit…”
Building a motorway to the airport WOULD damage the case for airport rail (less need for it for another couple of years), though if played well, it could at least include a rail designation and pre-designed structures that can accommodate the link later.
My impression is that he is still cars focussed but talks about “integrated transport” ideas so he doesn’t sound quite so extreme. I was impressed with his answer to my question about parking provision in District Plans, it showed a good understanding of the planning process which is great for a politician.
BTW Jarbury, well done on the nomination. Sorry I couldn’t chat, I was there with my friend Yvonne who wanted to shoot off after the meeting.
Ahh… so you were the one who asked that question. Cheers, we should catch up some time.