Bikes but not cars on Grafton Bridge

[Squeak the Rat]

From our quality paper the herald. Grafton bridge will be closed for repairs for a year, and when it's open cars won't be allowed - but bikes will!


Cars to be banned from Grafton Bridge
03.05.06
By Bernard Orsman

Grafton Bridge, built nearly a century ago, will be closed next year for the equivalent of a joint replacement and when it reopens it will be used only by buses, motorcycles, bikes and emergency vehicles during weekdays.
snip blah blah snip

Only buses, emergency vehicles, motorcycles, bikes and pedestrians will be allowed to use it between 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday.

Cars will be allowed on the bridge at night and weekends, as will trucks, which are now banned because of a 13-tonne weight limit.

Auckland District Health Board chairman Wayne Brown has welcomed the new measures but one taxi company owner is outraged. He said it would lead to higher fares from the city to Auckland Hospital.

Mr Brown said the bridge divided the country’s largest emergency hospital from the main city population and limiting traffic on weekdays would improve access for ambulances.

It would also improve public transport access for the hospital’s 5000 staff and one million visitors a year.

Mr Hubbard said the project would cut 14 minutes off bus travel times between the city and Newmarket for more than 65,000 people a day.

But Paul Cafferkey, part-owner of Alert Taxis, said it was "mad and ludicrous" to exclude taxis from the bridge on weekdays. It would increase the cost of a fare from the city from $10 to $18 for hospital passengers, many of whom were elderly and disabled.

[Finn]

This is Council at it's best. The traffic is so bad we're going to close off certain roads. Yip, thut'll fux it. In the area, they've also blocked traffic through Wellesley St too.

Someone here needs to go postal at the Council.

[MacD]

From our quality paper the herald.

Auckland District Health Board chairman Wayne Brown has welcomed the new measures but one taxi company owner is outraged. He said it would lead to higher fares from the city to Auckland Hospital.

more snipping..

But Paul Cafferkey, part-owner of Alert Taxis, said it was "mad and ludicrous" to exclude taxis from the bridge on weekdays. It would increase the cost of a fare from the city from $10 to $18 for hospital passengers, many of whom were elderly and disabled. [/SIZE]

Haven't the taxi drivers discovered the bridge from Wellesley St to Grafton Road yet? It's only been there for two or more years and provides a shorter route from the city to the Grafton Rd entrance to the hospital!?

Still given the lack of knowledge of Auckland streets displayed by most taxi drivers around here now I'm not surprised!

[Swoop]

Excellent!!!

Must store that little gem away for doing a runner...
Cops cannot chase you across the bridge in their cages!

[Wasp]

Cool, bring on the private roads!

Also i think if the cop was chasing you he would be allowed as its probably classes as an "emergency" situation.... be funny if he did and got plastered on the front of an ambo though

[Postie]

i don't use the bridge but i have a bike anyway, so it doesn't affect me, but i am presuming that a lot of the cost is coming from that extra 5.3 cents the govt slap on each litre of fuel. So mostly people who drive cars are paying for turning the grafton bridge into a carbon fibre bus lane, but are not allowed to use it.

And as Flinn said, i thought they were trying to solve Aucklands grid lock problem, now they are just making it worse. I bet that it will be faster for buses to go across, but i bet you never see more then one bus on there at a time anyway. Why is the council run by retards, i know we have to employ them, but couldn't they just stick to sweeping the roads or something?

[Buster]

Another big to the cagers. Oh yeah and its good to see the district health board is doing its bit to fix Auckland traffic. WTF?? How much council cock has been inhaled to pass this one?? Still I guess its a good step for us bikers.

[Drum]

It doesnt matter what changes are made, someone will always be unhappy.

These kind of decisions are made after a lot of investigation, modelling, peer review and scrutiny.

Your opinion is not even based on any facts.

[Squeak the Rat]

And as Flinn said, i thought they were trying to solve Aucklands grid lock problem, now they are just making it worse. I bet that it will be faster for buses to go across, but i bet you never see more then one bus on there at a time anyway.

T'is how they are solving it. The intention is to make public transport the more attractive option to commuters. If they continue to increase the gap between commute times for cars compared to bus/train, then more and more people will switch to public transport, and then roads will get less congested.

At least they are letting bikes through - whether that's because they recognise bikes as a means of reducing congestion, or more likely because it's currently legal for bikes to use bus lanes therefore they have to.

[Postie]

T'is how they are solving it. The intention is to make public transport the more attractive option to commuters.

they would be attractive if they stopped catching fire.

[Motu]

So they ban cars from the bridge,but allow bikes - and still you guys moan! FFS,talk about hard to please....

[Squeak the Rat]

So they ban cars from the bridge,but allow bikes - and still you guys moan! FFS,talk about hard to please....

My guess is 90% of people on here actually drive to work.....

[Ixion]

Do you suppose there is any chance of persuading them to extend this to the Auckland Harbour Bridge?

I guess going for an extension to the motorways would be psuhing our luck?

[Ixion]

My guess is 90% of people on here actually drive to work.....

Well it's their own fault then, isn't it.

[Finn]

It doesnt matter what changes are made, someone will always be unhappy.

These kind of decisions are made after a lot of investigation, modelling, peer review and scrutiny.

Your opinion is not even based on any facts.

Good one dumbass. Right, a lot of investigation, modelling, peer review and scrutiny by incompentent, uneducated, ideological fucking morons that make up Council.

What colour is the sky in your world?