Tolls of $6 proposed for Auckland Harbour Bridge, $3 to enter city

[Karma]

You guys think you've got it bad? Try moving to the uk... somewhere in the midlands preferably... hmm... Nottingham should do I think.

Then you'll be begging to come back here.

[Cookie]

True enough I am sure.

Like Skyryder says, things are changing. We can't keep on adding cars and trucks to bulging roads for ever and ever. My guess is that in 20 years, you will need a damn good job just to run a vehicle full stop.

[Karma]

My idea was that they ran a train along SH1, coming up from south auckland... into the britomart or something, then right up, over the harbour, past takapuna, past glenfield, past albany, and stop somewhere around orewa.

All you'd need is some big car parks up there, cheap enough fares on the train with regular services, BAM, problem solved.

The government subsidises Stagecoach by millions... but the buses are taking up space on the road as well...

Tell stagecoach to get fucked, put the money into a train system and you'll halve the number of cars on the road.

You can't tell me that all those people commute into auckland over the bridge every day because they enjoy it!

[Marmoot]

That's a very simplistic thought, Weasel.

Stagecoach is workable if the system is workable. But now they are barely there.
I was thinking of busing, but I don't enjoy 15 minutes walk to the bus stop followed by BETWEEN FIVE TO FORTYFIVE MINUTES wait. Yes, it is that uncertain. Timetable my arse..........

In Singapore, the maximum wait time for a bus would be 7 minutes, and that is off-peak hours. Bus comes up whether it is full or empty.
The drivers are being paid by the milleage they travel, not by hourly rate.
Bus stops are always within 5 minutes walk from wherever you are.
And the MRT/Subway comes every 5 minutes at most.

Same as in HongKong.

In Jakarta, even though the buses look suicidal, they come within 3 minutes of each other.

Auckland transport system is not a full-blown city transport system. It is worse than 3rd world countries.

If government wants to charge us for using cars/bikes (yes, Bikes. Don't we read the news?) then they should bloody well sort out the public transport first! Otherwise, it's just a bloody taxation.

[sAsLEX]

From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3607418a10,00.html

Quote:
Motorcycles would not be exempt or discounted.


hmmm shows they have done their research and followed good examples like the London congestion charges,oh thats right bikes dont get charged over there, now what is their reasoning to charge us here? Do we cause more congestion in this country than England? Stupid tax loving lefty bitches

[kro]

The absolute insanity of the CBD concept is the fault of the corporations who decided the elite business area was a trendy idea, and made their business look powerful.

Instead of pinging the motorists, cut the CBD up, and relocate it. Turn Half of downtown into parks and gardens, and spread the traffic flows around.

If you want to blame people, blame the so called "clever" people who built their towers, and hi-rises in the CBD. This mass centralisation of financial style companies is what created the monster you see today. People should be able to drive/ ride without being tolled.

[Waylander]

Toll tags, the little infared transmitter/reciever thing someone mentioned earlier, work when inside your jacket pocket so no reason to have it on the bike. The cool thing about them is you only need one regardless of how many vehicles you have and the toll is usually cheaper aswell. Add on that in toll tag lanes you don't need to stop or even slow down. That is ofcourse what they do in the states so the chances of it happening here are damn near non-exhistant.

The train thing would work cause Sweeden uses that system. Live in the outskirts and egde towns and take the bus to the trainstation then train into town. Bussess also arrive at the stops within 5 mins of the scheduled times wich are thirty minutes appart.

Things like that will work for Auckland and other sities here but the government here is too fond of keeping all the money in thier own pockets. Hell even with the greedy politicians in the states they still don't keep it all.

[Flatcap]

Quote:
Motorcycles would not be exempt or discounted.


hmmm shows they have done their research and followed good examples like the London congestion charges,oh thats right bikes dont get charged over there, now what is their reasoning to charge us here? Do we cause more congestion in this country than England? Stupid tax loving lefty bitches

Fucking cummunist hippy FUCKERS. This Labour government have no idea about the real world. I for one am sick of paying tax upon tax for no other reason than to pay tax. Surely the goal should be to get more poeple out of CARS into ALL other forms of transport. Fucking morons.

[SuperDave]

Those maps showing the proposed 'taxing schemes' on the Herald website crack me up - from the looks of these badly detailed blobs of red, white, blue and green they are gonna set up charging points in the harbour. To what stop people crossing from the north shore on a car kept afloat on barrels?

[froggyfrenchman]

Aucklanders have no reason to complain! Wot about the rest of us that pay a tax directed at paying for auckland roads everytime we fill up?

[Flatcap]

Aucklanders have no reason to complain! Wot about the rest of us that pay a tax directed at paying for auckland roads everytime we fill up?

Mate - if Auckland got it's fair share of the petrol tax right from the start, we wouldn't have a roading problem and you would be driving on gravel.

[oldrider]

Why not just give significant tax breaks for companies to decentralise throughout New Zealand again, instead of centralising everything in Auckland.

I remember that they (The companies) only did that because of the significant economic gains they made.

The drift North to Auckland for employment that followed, created the Southern drain of the fifties and sixties.

In order to reverse the buildup caused by centralisation in Auckland, leave taxes as they are in Auckland and reduce them progressively North or South of Central Auckland.

The further North/South, the greater the tax incentive! (Real incentives, not Cullen bullshit)

It would piss me off having to share our lovely empty countryside and roads with all the Jaffa's but some things have to be sacrificed for the greater good I spose.

Welcome to the South people, seriously, welcome! See you in Invercargill!

Did you know that Bluff is the closest NZ port to Australia, our closest offshore market!

Closer by air closer by sea, fuel savings etc? Cheers John.

[Skyryder]

You make some valid points Old rider. But the problem is that the govenment has gone into this 'market dictates' mode. New Zealand is now owned by overseas interests and climate and population figures drive some the economic decisions............ If production costs gets too expensive due to wages fuel costs etc Corperations just threaten to go off shore. From what I hear Shadbolt has done some good things for Invercargil. Don't know if true or not. But anyone who has poured their own concrete knows what hard graft is like.

Skyryder

[Krusti]

Quote:
Motorcycles would not be exempt or discounted.


hmmm shows they have done their research and followed good examples like the London congestion charges,oh thats right bikes dont get charged over there, now what is their reasoning to charge us here? Do we cause more congestion in this country than England? Stupid tax loving lefty bitches

Even more congestion, have ya seen how long it takes me to get change out when on my bike!

[Brett]

I really do not think that this will solve our problems. It will just cause industry and business to change zones, and move tyhe problems to other area's of auckland.