| Forum Home | ||||
| PC World Chat | ||||
| Thread ID: 57360 | 2005-04-30 08:34:00 | North Shore bus stations - good idea or waste of money? | BoboTheClown (5652) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 350767 | 2005-04-30 08:34:00 | Some 80 odd million is being spent on building bus stations (park and drive) to try and entice people to use the bus instead of driving into Auckland CBD. Personally I think it's a great waste of money and wasn't researched properly. Anyone sitting in the morning traffic will have noticed that around 75% of the traffic bypasses the city to go further south, and the buses only go into the city. What do you think? |
BoboTheClown (5652) | ||
| 350768 | 2005-04-30 09:41:00 | I wouldnt have a clue. I live in Manukau City and the only proper bus we get to downtown is the 471/472. And trains.. HA! good luck. |
bob_doe_nz (92) | ||
| 350769 | 2005-04-30 09:52:00 | Spiffing. Something else for the rest of the country to waste their money on to pay for Auckland's crappy roads :annoyed: | Edward (31) | ||
| 350770 | 2005-04-30 10:13:00 | As I live south of the Bombay hills I don't care. I do care having to pay a tax to fix Auckland roads when Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson actually had the answer back in the late 1960's or early 70's. I worked as a Traffic Cop for Auckland City Council back then. In the meantime I will just have to put up with the tax. You choose to live in Auckland do you not? Where I live there is not one traffic light. |
AMD1 (6552) | ||
| 350771 | 2005-04-30 20:23:00 | You choose to live in Auckland do you not? Where I live there is not one traffic light. The nature of my work forces me to live in big cities, that is the only places where my job roles are on offer. I would really love to live in the rural areas where there is no traffic and crowds, but I guess it will have to wait until retirement. As for taxes, NS got the biggest hike in ARC levies for the whole of the Auckland region, we are for example paying for the train services in Auckland, but we don't get to use it. So I guess we are all in the same boat. |
BoboTheClown (5652) | ||
| 350772 | 2005-05-01 12:05:00 | I do care having to pay a tax to fix Auckland roads when Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson actually had the answer back in the late 1960's or early 70's. Can you enlighten us? Nothing like looking into the past to see NZ's antiprogressive streak. Forethought and futureproofing are definately not our strengths... Back to the original question, I'd say it's a potential white elephant. The problem is changing the views of Aucklanders. North Shore residents would probably be more inclined than actual Aucklanders to take up public transport, simply by their nature. Generalising I know, but Birkenhead is like my second home so I have a distinct point of view. Down here in Wellington it's easy to justify public transport: It's cheaper than petrol, road costs and parking. And provided you're not a lazy slob, you can walk to your destination from just about any train station or bus stop. Or to use a Muttonbirds lyric: "and you can walk anywhere 'cause nowhere's very far" To give you an example, public transport via Train from my home to work would cost approx $7 a day cash for both trips (less than $3 a day for both trips when using month tickets averaged over a year - technically unlimited trips when using month tickets) and approx 40-50 minutes of walking each day. Alternatively I could take a bus, which would cost about $2 more per day, and would have me subject to rush hour delays and a less comfortable ride, but would reduce my total walking time to about 15 minutes a day. To park a car alone at the park nearest my work is $12 a day. A taxi is anywhere between $35 and $40 bucks one way. A little over $2.80 a day to sit on a train listening to music and catching up on work and other projects while bypassing all the "one person per car stuck in gridlock no carpooling is too logical and rational for us" idiots is just simply a preferable choice. But try talking sense into an Aucklander ;) You might have to have some Toll stations littered around Auckland to entice people into public transport and carpooling. I dont know how that would work out in modern Auckland though.. But hey, at least Auckland is trying. You want to see a truely terrible public transport system? Go to Hamilton |
whetu (237) | ||
| 350773 | 2005-05-01 22:49:00 | It takes me 15-20 mins to get to work in the city by car . It takes the same journey 50-60 mins by bus, including waiting, walking to/from the stops . That's an extra 1 . 5 hours a day of personal time wasted . As I value my personal time at twice the hourly rate . Assuming an hourly rate of $25 . 00, that's $75 . 00 worth of personal time wasted a day . Add to that the cost of travel tickets . It makes a carpark costing $30 per day seem cheap (they cost still $7 a day in places) . You still have to own a car in Auckland so you can exclude those costs . Even if buses were free they are too expensive . The best solution for Buses, is 1) More Frequent, 2) More Routes, 3) Use a lot of smaller buses Will it happen . No . Is the Bus Staions a white Elephant, Probably not . Once Oil becomes $5 . 00 a litre in a 10 years time or so, A lot of people will use them then . Me I will still be driving @ $200 per week, Still cheaper than the waste of time buses are . |
KiwiTT_NZ (233) | ||
| 350774 | 2005-05-04 07:44:00 | If the 6 day strike is the indication of the future things to come then the bus stations is def going to be a waste of money. I'll stick to driving thank you. Anyway, I am a consultant and need my private car to get around all over the wider Auckland area, so the bus service isn't suitable for me. No doubt there are many office bound people who could use the bus. Another point, wonder how long it will take them to start charging for parking at these bus stations. Another cow to milk... |
BoboTheClown (5652) | ||
| 350775 | 2005-05-04 08:02:00 | I'm at Auckland uni, living on the shore and getting to town by bus is a pain in the ass. Its expensive (i'm a poor uni student so most things seem expensive), and takes ages. Although the advantage about catching the bus is that you can do work on the way to and from. The park'n'ride that they're making will be a good idea because most of the time getting to the city (in mornings on the flyer anyway) is getting up the constellation road onramp. Literally it takes 10 minutes to get up the 100m on ramp, about the same time to get 16km into town. With a dedicated lane, things will actually (probably) be on time. Yay. I believe there was a levy placed on people a good many years ago that was to pay for the crappy roads in the south island to be fixed up. Maybe this is just equality :). - David |
DangerousDave (697) | ||
| 1 | |||||