Wellington transport options - paved with good intentions

Monday, 8 November 2021

Let's Get Wellington Moving has plans for light rail or bus rapid transit through Wellington. (Video first published in December 2021, consultation has now closed)

OPINION: If there’s one thing Wellington commuters are used to, it’s waiting. So, last week, after a long period, Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) provided the city with four future transport options to consider.

At the heart of the plans is mass transit – bendy bus or light rail – something many Wellingtonians have been wanting for years. Over a decade ago, Celia Wade-Brown was elected on a platform of introducing light rail. I suspect that there is even more support for it now.

Despite the massive flak LGWM attracts, the four options are paved with good intentions. Cyclists, pedestrians, and mass transit options are greatly encouraged, single-car commuters not so much. The future is more people and fewer cars. Parking will reduce, and public transport will increase. Climate considerations will be more important. As Wellington intensifies, mass transit will be built near areas of high population.

Which of the four options are best? That’s up to you, but unlike the last major – largely useless – round of consultation, the four options have similar budgets and scopes, although I’m guessing the first two options, involving a new tunnel through Mt Victoria, will cost the most and be the most popular with car users.

“The future is more people and fewer cars. Parking will reduce, and public transport will increase,” Dave Armstrong writes.

* Golden Mile or rocky road: Council approves car-free plan after heated debate

* Take a look at the plan for Wellington's cycle network

LGWM priority for mass transit has moved away from a route to the airport and instead to Island Bay. In the early part of this century, when our city largely measured success by how many planeloads of tourists we could attract, light rail to the airport seemed a good idea. And perhaps it still is, though a growing number of Wellingtonians, and planners, think we get a better bang for our buck by having light rail close to where large numbers of people live, or will live – and that’s the southern suburbs.

“Cyclists, pedestrians, and mass transit options are greatly encouraged, single-car commuters not so much,” writes Dave Armstrong.

As much as I love cities like Vancouver, London, Paris and San Francisco, where you can leave the airport and get straight onto a fast-moving train, far more Wellingtonians travel to the CBD every day for work than to the airport.

Whatever option Wellingtonians choose – and let’s remember these are not binding options – I suspect it will be good news for cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users. But the real elephant in the room is the timetable.

Dave Armstrong: “The hours spent redesigning our bus network would have been better spent working out how to retain drivers.”

According to LGWM, construction will begin in 2028 and may be completed as late as 2043. Really? For one light rail system, perhaps a tunnel and some cycleways and walkways? Let’s not forget that almost every local transport deadline set in the last decade has not been met.

By 2043, Chloe Swarbrick will be hitting fifty, Jacinda Ardern will be two years off receiving National Super, Beauden Barrett will have been eligible to play Golden Oldies rugby for 17 years, and Andy Foster will be enjoying his 18th term as a city councillor. I must thank LGWM for reminding us all of our mortality.

I know tunnels and tram tracks can’t be built overnight, but does it really have to take that long?

I’m a big fan of consultation and engagement, provided people are listened to, lessons are learned and then action is quickly taken. But all the engagement and consultation in the world is no use if the people making it happen aren’t being proactive. Until now it seems that some organisations involved in LGWM are too risk-averse and scared to make bold decisions. For example, where’s the bus priority that could happen in the next year or two. Where’s the long-term plan to extend light rail throughout the city?

LGWM itself seems to have been headed by a revolving door of bureaucrats with no-one owning the slow progress. I note that the current programme director, who has spoken a lot of sense lately, is only acting. And don’t forget that even though many want light rail and priority for cycling and pedestrians, there is still a sizeable pro-car, pro-parking minority. They will be furious if they don’t get their tunnel. You can’t please everyone, and some tough decisions will need to be made.

The other big factor, when planning something that may only be completed in 2043, is change. E-scooters have changed inner-city transport, e-bikes have transformed the biking demographic, and Covid has made suburbs busy, the inner-city empty, the convention centre outdated and the runway extension dead. The hours spent redesigning our bus network would have been better spent working out how to retain drivers.

LGWM needs to proceed quickly enough to build a big project but also be nimble enough to alter its course if technology or other factors change.

I encourage you all to check out the LGWM options and get involved. You have only until Christmas to submit but perhaps if we all get into the habit of working quickly, and effectively it will rub off on LGWM.