BM-GS
7th August 2009, 16:42
Just paying my ARC rates when I saw that they have an Auckland Regional Land Transport Strategy paper out for consultation. This was released in May, but gawd knows when the submissions deadline is.
I searched through it for their ideas on bikes, and found they were lumped (by implication) under the Great Satan of private vehicles and were singled out only to mention that there were more people getting hurt riding them.
I feel that the ARC are missing out on all the good points of our favourite mode of transport and should be set straight - more bike parking, more use of buslanes, dispensation to fit rocket-launchers to help clear traffic jams, etc. One might fit space to encourage them to have more adverts aimed at stopping 4x4s running over bikes, seeing as nearly all bikers I've met have been someone's mate/father/bro/sis/wife/etc. One or two are clearly twats, but they'll clear themselves out of it sooner or later anyway, and are less likely to hurt others riding a bike badly than driving a car badly. Or a bus or train...
The poor sod who got his name at the bottom is Peter Hanning and his number is 366 2000, ext 8055.
The doc can be seen here:
http://www.arc.govt.nz/plans/the-workroom/the-new-regional-land-transport-strategy.cfm
Have a read, have a think & give the man a call.
My main points (apart from those above, maybe minus the rockets) are mostly about the carrots - they love beating us onto buses with sticks, but wtf else are we supposed to do, with buses & trains being what they are in Auckland? Northern Busway - great, but the linking to it is crap; I can get from any Busway station to town in <15 mins, but it's a long & shitty walk between home & the nearest 2 - there's no bus to get me there! And why would I take a bus when it means I have to leave work 30mins earlier than if I took the bike, especially if it costs me more?
One might even turn this on them by suggesting they put everyone on a bike and stop the buses, then they can stop paying the huge subsidies...
I searched through it for their ideas on bikes, and found they were lumped (by implication) under the Great Satan of private vehicles and were singled out only to mention that there were more people getting hurt riding them.
I feel that the ARC are missing out on all the good points of our favourite mode of transport and should be set straight - more bike parking, more use of buslanes, dispensation to fit rocket-launchers to help clear traffic jams, etc. One might fit space to encourage them to have more adverts aimed at stopping 4x4s running over bikes, seeing as nearly all bikers I've met have been someone's mate/father/bro/sis/wife/etc. One or two are clearly twats, but they'll clear themselves out of it sooner or later anyway, and are less likely to hurt others riding a bike badly than driving a car badly. Or a bus or train...
The poor sod who got his name at the bottom is Peter Hanning and his number is 366 2000, ext 8055.
The doc can be seen here:
http://www.arc.govt.nz/plans/the-workroom/the-new-regional-land-transport-strategy.cfm
Have a read, have a think & give the man a call.
My main points (apart from those above, maybe minus the rockets) are mostly about the carrots - they love beating us onto buses with sticks, but wtf else are we supposed to do, with buses & trains being what they are in Auckland? Northern Busway - great, but the linking to it is crap; I can get from any Busway station to town in <15 mins, but it's a long & shitty walk between home & the nearest 2 - there's no bus to get me there! And why would I take a bus when it means I have to leave work 30mins earlier than if I took the bike, especially if it costs me more?
One might even turn this on them by suggesting they put everyone on a bike and stop the buses, then they can stop paying the huge subsidies...