Planning For Success A Dirty Word
June 26th, 2008
With record high petrol prices you would have thought there would never be a better time for public transport planners to be gung-ho about pushing ahead with more ambitious public transport projects. However, the latest revelations regarding the introduction of a commuter rail service between Helensville and Auckland indicates once again the famous creed of NZ public transport planners is to the fore – plan for failure never for success.
Mediocrity Supported. This lame service which will run once a day each way and take a yawning 1hr 35mins is not surprisingly only a trial so fairly obviously the people who dreamed it up are pretty confident it is probably going to have little public appeal. This is borne out by the projected patronage of just 65 passengers a day from several planned stops west of Waitakere City. Its support apparently extends to the very top of Regional Govt in Auckland with Auckland Regional Council Chairman Mike Lee incredibly claiming the service will help cut congestion on the city’s motorways despite the tiny expected patronage.
Wasting Money Better. This is another glaring example of the defeatest attitude of planners of such projects. Rather than committing sufficient funding to do the job properly so it will be successful, they meekly opt for some half baked scheme. Such people presumably figure it will be more politically acceptable for a smaller amount of money to be wasted than spending a larger amount of money on something which will actually be successful. A faster more frequent commuter rail service to Helensville using modern rolling stock on properly upgraded track could probably complete the journey in half the time and attract thousands of passengers a day. This is the approach which would be taken in Asia or Europe but alas not in NZ where failure is expected and planned for.
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