Taking us for a ride

Letter to the editor of "The Aucklander" newspaper, in response to the paper's feature article on the city's inefficient public transport system.

22nd March 2010

Spot on! The major problems are ARTA and traffic.
Perhaps your reporter could mull over the following points:
1. Public transport should be free. There are a number of models for this in Europe.
2. Public transport should be owned and controlled by the town or city council. Again models in Europe support this.
3. Putting public transport in the hands of private enterprise does not work. The profit motive overrides all others. Again, Europe has models that support this.
4. Increasing use of public transport will not come about by widening roads, increasing car parks, or by making life easier for the motorist. If anything the reverse should be applied - make parking difficult, make the main routes bus friendly and car unfriendly, ban cars from the CBD.
In the case of Auckland, there are questions that could be raised about the role of ARTA in the departure of Stagecoach and the advent of Ritchies. These events arguably worsened an already detoriating transport system.
Jim