I have long supported the need for as many people as possible to get out of their cars and walk, cycle, or catch a train or bus.
Pippa Coom and others will be pleased to hear that I’ve got one last warrant of fitness for my car, and at nearly 83, I hope to give up driving by years’ end, but not if public transport doesn’t improve before then.
Let me explain. I rode a bike to secondary school for five years, but that was 65-70 years ago. My GP said if I was contemplating an e-bike, she would expect me to need a motorcycle escort around town, for my and others safety.
I can walk so far - not far enough my partner will tell you. But there are places around the innercity where I do go which are too far from home to walk to, and where no buses venture. I’ve asked why we don’t have small buses, maybe 10 or 12 seaters, crisscrossing town where current buses are completely absent. Our councillor Pippa Coom, a fervent cycle advocate, told me the most expensive cost in running a bus is the driver’s salary, whether the bus is 10 seater or a double decker.
I’ll give you a couple of examples where bus services don’t help me. I go to Grey Lynn shops regularly. I get my hair trimmed, buy some meat, visit the chemist, sometimes have a beer. Grey Lynn Butchery, Gopals Pharmacy, Grey Lynn Tavern, and Grey Lynn Tyreworx, who have shod my cars for years, are all out of reach. Slightly closer to home, but still quite a stretch to walk, are my Doctor’s and the Grey Lynn RSC where I am a life member. With Leys Institute closed for renovations, I also visit Grey Lynn library from time to time.
Just last week I was considerably heartened when I received an invitation to sign a Green Party petition calling for public ownership of buses to be allowed, so councils could buy and run their own fleet. I had not known that councils are not granted subsidies for the privately owned bus services that they contract to. For example, Auckland is mainly served by NZ Bus, owned by Australian private equity firm Next Capital. Their major concern is to return a profit to their shareholders. Routes travelled and driver pay, become problematic for Auckland citizens, as do fare costs.
As Green MP Hon Julie Anne Genter told me, “Public transport is a public good. It’s time to treat it that way.” Genter went on to tell me, “Greater public ownership of public transport is critical. The experiment of fragmenting bus and ferry services with competitive for-profit objectives has not been effective at delivering a public transport network that works for people.”
The Greens have a petition to change the law to allow public ownership of bus services, especially strategic assets like bus depots and vehicles.
Julie Anne Genter told Ponsonby News that, “public ownership will prevent firms like Next Capital from running bus services into the ground, eroding wages and conditions for drivers. It will also help as we look to transfer our bus fleets to zero emissions.”
Let’s hope it would also mean more flexible routes, sometimes in small buses, including circular routes across town from Herne Bay to West Lynn and Grey Lynn. These services need to be regular and reliable. The surest way to stop car drivers switching to public transport is if the buses are always late, or even sometimes late. As a friend of mine opined, “if my doctor’s appointment is for 10.30am, it’s no good being 10 minutes late or you’ve missed your slot. However, as I asked him, “how often is your doctor right on time?” He laughed and saw my point, but he replied, “if I drive I know I’ll be smack right on time.”
Privately owned companies will be looking for the best bang for their buck, and that may be fair private enterprise, but it won’t take enough cars off the roads. I hope Julie Anne Genter can garner enough petition signatures to persuade government to change the law, allowing councils to run their own show. (John Elliott)
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