The WWF have released a Colmar Brunton public opinion poll which shows seven out of ten New Zealanders want to see more Government money going to fund public transport improvements. The release goes on to say:
Only 1 percent of total land transport spending is allocated to new and improved public transport.
In Auckland the rate is even higher with 78 percent of people in agreement that the government should spend a greater percentage of its Land Transport Budget on improved public transport infrastructure in major urban areas or cities over the next decade.
“The Roads of National Significance and other roading projects are currently gobbling the lion’s share of government transport money, when what New Zealanders want is more investment to make public transport in cities better,” says WWF-New Zealand Climate and Energy Advocate Lee Barry.
“The futility of building more roads is not lost on Kiwis – they know fuel prices will rise and new roads will not help them.”
In the survey they point out that new or improved road infrastructure accounts for 59% of total government spending over the next decade, while new or improved public transport infrastructure accounts for 1.1%. The chart for the current year looks like this:
