The Great Transport Debate
We are organizing a public meeting with the working title of “The Great Transport Debate” to coincide with the local body elections:
- Wednesday 11 September, 6:30 start
- Ellen Melville Hall, Freyberg Square, Auckland Central
Over the coming weeks we will be confirming the format of the evening, but keep this date in your diary.
CBT Annual General Meeting
Show your support for the CBT by coming along to the Annual General Meeting:
- Wednesday 17 July 2013
- Garden Room, Grey Lynn Community Centre
Nominations for committee positions are welcome. Beyond the monthly committee meetings, ideally candidates should have the time and energy to contribute to our on-going campaigns. If you don’t have the time but would like to support the cause, then please consider becoming a CBT financial member for the year by signing up here:
http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/join-us/
We are well into the new financial year and subscriptions for existing members are now due. Remember the CBT is purely voluntary so any money we raise goes on direct costs of campaigns. Our regular Committee meeting is scheduled for 11th June. As usual all members are welcome but please let me know in advance if you intend on coming.
News Roundup
The first of Auckland’s new electric trains is on its way from Spain right now. The introduction of these trains will be transformational for Auckland’s rail network. A number of cities overseas, such as Perth, experienced rapid patronage growth when electric trains were introduced, and no doubt Auckland Transport will be looking for the same “sparks” effect here in Auckland.
Transportblog.co.nz goes from strength to strength and is now the 4th ranked blog in New Zealand according to the Open Parachute survey methodology. It has become the “go to” site for in depth analysis on transport and Auckland planning issues – check it out if you haven’t already.
We continue to try and educate the public and politicians alike on the benefits of the City Rail Link. A recent effort was this letter to Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee where we correct a number of the Minister’s misunderstandings on the subject: http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/2013/05/city-rail-link-facts/
We think the letter to the Minister is a useful primer on the City Rail Link, and that it is unfortunate that the Minister has turned down our request to meet for the third time in a row.
We are at the beginning of a campaign to establish a rail service to Mt Roskill, achievable by extending the Western Line from Avondale. There is some discussion on this on our online forum but our intention is to launch a petition to raise awareness and to lobby local Government: http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3942
One issue we face with the petition is figuring out to whom to address the petition to. The passing of the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill in recent days apparently removes decision making responsibilities from Auckland Council in relation to transport objectives for Auckland and transport funding for Auckland.
It is a confusing state of affairs which we have highlighted in this Transport Blog post: http://transportblog.co.nz/2013/06/05/land-transport-management-bill/
Thanks for your support
