He makes it sound as though he and his very busy important guests are about to dumped at Base Camp on Everest, handed a map and compass, and pushed out into the wilderness. But the walk uphill from the visitor carpark is about 200m - much less than the route-march his foreign visitors took through Auckland airports customs and border controls. Even an unfit geriatric like myself could pause for several views and still make it in less than 10 minutes.
Mr Seymour's desire to zip up Mt Eden for a quick orientation reflects how out of touch he is with modern thinking on Auckland's unique field of volcanoes.
Both the government, of which he is a token part, and the Auckland Council see Maungawhau, not as an elevated car park, but as a key part of the proposed Unesco World Heritage Park based on the unique cultural and geological treasure that Auckland is built on.
To persuade Unesco that our volcanoes warrant world heritage status, with all the kudos this carries, Auckland first has to convince the world body that we believe what we're trying to sell to the rest of the world. And treating the highest maunga as no more than a convenient highrise parking lot, as Mr Seymour does, is not very helpful to that cause.
You can't drive around the monuments at Stonehenge or through the middle of the Colosseum, leaning out the window to take a quick snap, so why should you expect to do it at Mt Eden.
Mr Seymour misses the point in arguing there are eight other "vehicle free" cones for those seeking "the contemplative quality". We should be aiming to add to that total, starting with the most iconic of all.
In 2011, after years of dithering, a ban on heavy buses was imposed in a bid to protect the ageing roads from further damage and reduce the traffic congestion.
For the halt and the lame among the tourists, a free shuttle service was introduced. It's costing ratepayers about $200,000 a year to run, even though much of the time the contracted drivers are left twiddling their thumbs while the tourists choose to walk.
Before introducing the proposed car ban, the Maunga Authority and the Auckland Council are weighing up the costs of an electronic gate system, which would allow disabled and elderly drivers through, but not Mr Seymour. This would cost around $100,000, plus ongoing maintenance charges.
The shuttle - which is not adapted for the disabled - would remain for tourists. Apparently giving the disabled a secret code to operate the electronic barriers was considered more economical than laying on a purpose-built van for the disabled.
What surprised me in all this was that the main users of the maunga, the foreign tourists, get a free ride. The heavy buses that break up the roads pay no concession on entering the gates of Mt Eden. The tourists who take a shuttle ride get it for free. Who pays? The Auckland ratepayer. This is what Mr Seymour and his government mates should be addressing.
In creating the Maunga Authority and handing over to it the control of several Crown-owned reserves, the government has once again saddled ratepayers with ongoing additional costs.
If the Crown refuses to contribute to the costs of the proposed World Heritage volcanic reserve, the tourists seem an obvious alternative.
