Spending the best part of a billion dollars building a “nice-to-have” cycle and walking track fixed to the Auckland harbour bridge, is surely the most mind-blowingly irresponsible government expenditure in this country’s history. It’s not just irresponsible but sheer insanity and reflects the current government sentiment of faith in the limitless power of the printing press to provide free money.
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Couldn’t agree more
With the $700+million, one could build 700 x $1 million houses in Auckland,if three people lived in each house that means 2100 happy people each day for the next 30-40 years, as opposed to 3000 happy cyclist/ pedestrians each day but only if it’s not raining or windy.
Sydney Harbour Bridge has around 2,000 cyclists a day. I would guess given everything a maximum of 750 a day for Auckland.
It’s hard to imagine a less suitable city for cycling than Auckland and I say that having biked all over Christchurch as a kid. Utterly bonkers.
Wellington is less suitable. It clings to the side of cliff faces and the average wind could blow the a cyclist into the harbour. Christchurch is flat and calm by comparison.
Though you can travel between town and Lower Hutt without much elevation. You can’t do that from Auckland except along the waterfront.
Agreed. There are numerous windy, rainy winter days when driving a car or travelling in a train into a howling southerly toward Wellington is unpleasant enough. Riding a push bike or (worse) having a flat tyre and trudging with said bike toward the Hutt Road service station must be a cruel and unusual punishment not to be wished on even the most unrepentant Green Party voter.
They should never have abolished the Harbour Bridge toll charges.
They cost more to collect than they were raking in.
All sane Kiwis agree with you Sir Bob. The scary thing is that this is just the start. For a real horror story go read the rest of the Climate Change Commissions plan. Jacinda and James will implement everything the looney CCC came up with. It is just nuts! All paid for with “free money” from the Reserve Bank. The end game from all this is economic madness and collapse.
Who reckons the CCC were following a directive in formulating ‘their’ recommendations?
Build it and they will come…is the belief. But look at Napier. Tame traffic, nice weather, some bike lanes, no relevant hills, short distances (it’s about 50k pop)…yet, when I went there to visit family a week ago, I did not see a single bike on the road. This model case should make the Julie-Anne Genter’s out there nervous. The vast majority just don’t dig 2 wheels.
You can cycle from Havelock North to Napier without going on a road – HB has beautiful cycle tracks along stopbanks, past (and through) vineyards, and along the coast. I’m not saying there were hundreds of cyclists on those at the time, just that it’s no surprise to not see them on the roads.
Fair enough, but I’m talking about everyday cycling in the central Napier area.
Thank heavens this lot are hopeless at implementation and the only money wasted will be in planing issues and keeping the brown nosing press onside before they reap the public discord they are embedding slowly but surely
SRJ mentioned “self correcting democracy” in an earlier post regarding DT and the USA. I suspect this might be the tipping point for the required anti-woke self correction in NZ.
There are so many good reasons to object to this madness and I sense (hope?) that the folk who are sitting on the fence regarding Jacinda & Labour might suddenly wake up to the reality of Labour’s version of the great leap forward social experiment.
By far the cheapest alternative to spending $700m which will turn out to be over $1B. Would be to provide a free Nothcote / Westhaven ferry. Even if it cost Tax payers $20,000/day. Let’s round up to say $15m/year. Barely the cost of financing the $1B loan to build a cycle bridge. We already have perfectly good pedestrian and cyclist ferries that cater for the demand and needs. Hell, bicycles could get free ferry? Even if we spend $100m on ferry’s and terminals, still cheaper. Consider the fact, the bridge was funded by tolls, road user charges, and motor vehicle registration fees. What if all the cyclist banded together and did some fund raising to pay for their desired bridge? Then pay a toll of say $10 every time they crossed it? Better still, introduce a cycle registration, number plate and all. Of course there will be the obligatory registration fee (tax). Though this fee will help pay for things that cyclist take as their entitlement, road use, accident injury treatment, and the likes. At least motor cycle organ transplant donors pay for their entitlement of that activity.
Without doubt this has to be the silliest Government we have ever had.
Mind blowing incompetence.
Failed to deliver almost everything they campaigned on.
Yet they remain popular with the NZ public?
Am I missing something?
The Ford Model T was produced from 1908, subsequent cars and brands have provided an affordable choice between cars or bikes to consumers. Although simplistic; it appears cars have won that debate and it’s unlikely cycling will increase significantly when 100 odd years of behavior shows the opposite.
… and , Ashburton can’t get $ 30 million to rebuild the Tinwald bridge on SH1 … the key road in the South Island which runs the length of the eastern coast …. is Julie Ann Genter back in power ? …. ‘cos , this government’s decisions are rapidly becoming more detached from reality than ever ….