CBT Election forum on public transport

A day late, but better than never. The Campaign for Better Transport's forum on public transport was well attended with over 200 people turning up. The last dozen people had to stand when they arived.

Among the panelists were: Judith Tizard for Labour, Maurice Williamson for National, Keith Locke for the Greens, Rodney Hide for ACT, as well as Elliott Blade from RAM and Aaron Galey-Young from United Future. 

Christine Rose from the Auckland Regional Council was also on the panel. She kicked off the speeches, reciting a lot of very good things that have been happenig recently on the public transport front.

The good news was that every one of them agreed that public transport needed improvement. Almost all backed rail strongly, though National's Maurice Williamson preferred buses to trains for people moving. He argued they are cheaper and more flexible and he would be right about that up to a point. In my own experience, the big drawback wth buses is the need for a driver for each 50-70 people, whereas a train can move many hundreds of people with one driver and perhaps a guard to make sure no one gets stuck in a door. Trains are even more efficient when you stop collecting fares on board and take care of ticketing before people even get to the platform.

Williamson also argued trains were expensive to build and maintain and capital intensive and - again - he is correct up to a point......that point being when masses of buses simply can't scale to match demand. Buses also tend to share roads with other vehicles, further reducing their efficiency and reliability (for scheduling) overall.

The surprise of the evening for me was Rodney Hide's more or less bullish attitude toward public transport. It's not often the "Me first!" party supports the public good. There was one funny moment when the huge cross on the wall above the panel lit up while Hide was making a point. I'm sure he was mystified as to why people suddenly started laughing when he was making a serious (and worthwhile) point about integrated ticketing. Hide made it clear he isn't religious about any particular mode of transport and would be pragmatic in support of what was the best overall balance. But he did support more and better trains.

Judith Tizard put the public transport debate into context and gave a brief run-down on her 35 year history of involvement with the issue in Auckland. My memory may be faulty,  but it seemed to me she laid much of the blame for a generation of inaction on public transport at the feet of the National party's local  proxies, the Citizens and Ratepayers grouping.  She also made it clear that she wasn't a fan of privaisation of public transport by National, saying she thought the old Yellow Bus Company did a good job.

Keith Locke outlined the Greens' public transport policy and arguably received the largest round of applause during the evening. Williamson was hissed at most and loudest, by a few, though all speakers received significant applause, though more polite than enthusiastic for the speakers seen as being most car-friendly.

It was a great meeting, followed by a lively question and answer session with the usual mix of thoughtful questions and quesions that left you thinking "WTF!?" from one or two who clearly ned o hear the sound of their own voice.

I'm sure the CBT raised a few hundred dollars from the event and it won't go amiss in supporting future events and activities.