Free Trams, Free Bikes For Wellington?

Posted by Jon C in WellingtonNov 19th, 2009 | 4 responses

Fantastic to see the fight against the plan to bring buses back to Wellington’s present pedestrian-only Manners Mall has turned into a debate about making the city more pedestrian friendly.beehive

And Bob Jones has done a brilliant piece in Wellington’s Dominion Post today revealing a group will fight next year’s local body election for a more European-style inner city.

“Vibrant Wellington will outline its proposal in detail, including the economics of a free tram service and also free bicycles to be stacked at 100-metre intervals, which can be picked up and dropped off at any of these stands.

“In respect of cycles we will, if successful, seek an amendment to the helmet law from central government to apply to the central city. New Zealand is one of only a handful of countries with such a law. This proposal will make the capital the nation’s major ambience city and will attract tourists in droves, plus new businesses that will be drawn to the city as a desirable place to live.”

A recent survey by the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce has found over two thirds of Wellington businesses support the Wellington City Council’s proposal to reroute buses through Manners Mall.

But Jones says buses and pedestrians are a terrible mix. “The present council’s policy seems geared to making the city friendly towards buses rather than to its citizens and it’s both wrong and unnecessary. Dozens of other cities with the same transportation issues have managed central city pedestrianisation and so can we.”

This is the sort of thinking we so need in Auckland.



4 Responses to “Free Trams, Free Bikes For Wellington?”

  1. Joshua says:
    November 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    I like the idea of free use of bikes, but can see that going wrong very fast. Mabe in Auckland we can use our new intergrated transport card to unlock and lock the bikes? That way bikes can be found easier and traced down.

  2. Luke says:
    November 19, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    This would be a fantastic idea if it went ahead. However it would require truncating or rerouting most of the bus routes in the central city. Therefore you would need a very high frequency system to make it work, it would say every 2-3 mins. My biggest worry would be how to pay for this, I imagine it could easily chew through a few $100 million, and I really doubt that the govt would pay anything.
    Also seems to forget the GWRC control the PT
    and wouldn’t have much spare cash to give.

  3. Brent C says:
    November 19, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    This character has been reading out of the same book as me. Good on him! I look forward to seeing an end to Kerry and positive changes happening in Wellington

  4. Jeremy Harris says:
    November 21, 2009 at 2:07 am

    I’ve always said if I finally throw my hands up in total defeated disgust at Auckland, I’m glad I don’t have to move overseas to live in a city with reasonable PT…

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