This series will profile the people who make Christchurch tick, give a voice to the region’s diverse communities and debate how the city can best accommodate its growing number of residents while examining the issues facing the city. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION:
It's not often these days that I wake to news that is music to my ears, but last week produced one of those moments with Transport Minister, the Hon Michael Wood, announcing the Public Transport Operating Model would be replaced by a Sustainable Public Transport Framework.
I have been an outspoken critic of our splintered public transport system, (with the regional council responsible for tendering fixed bus routes and the council responsible for the infrastructure – shelters and bus priority measures), since becoming mayor. I could see first-hand what a complete and utter disaster it has been for the residents of Christchurch and our neighbouring councils. We still haven't even got back to pre-quake bus patronage levels.
I managed to persuade National and Labour to agree to change the law so Environment Canterbury could transfer its function to us, (something that was enabled in 2019), but that still left the competitive market model, where tenders would be called for fixed routes and competing bus companies would bid against each other. I don't know why anyone thinks competition is the way to create a fully integrated system that is flexible enough to meet changing needs. It's a stuck-in-the-past mentality that will not allow us to make the changes that need to be made.
The law still needs to be changed in order to bring this new Sustainable Public Transport Framework into play, so it will be up to the next council to follow this up with the regional council and our neighbours. I wish this had happened at the start of my first term, but as they say – better late than never.
Sadly, the news came three years too late for Red Bus, which we were forced to sell when it lost all the routes it tendered for, leaving only the one package they had been allowed to negotiate directly. We said that everything should be rolled over until the Public Transport Operating Model review was completed, however it was not to be.
As a council we have been working on updating the Christchurch Transport Plan, which is now 10 years old. Although it was developed in 2012, it was in this term that we ended up having to pay the price for the decision to connect the northern corridor to the city through Cranford and Sherborne Sts.
It is true that we have been able to trial a T2 lane on the Northern Corridor with the support of Park and Ride facilities in Waimakariri, but it was retrofitting a decision that should have been made in a fully integrated way at the front end of the planning phase. That way it could have been an express service that connected all the way into the city.
If we are to address carbon emissions in a way that will make a difference, then we have to face up to the reality that we simply cannot afford to continue to have so many people commuting to and from work in single-occupancy vehicles.
We need a public and active transport system that provides a real alternative to the car, with an immediate focus on those daily commutes.
I have deferred the discussions on the draft Christchurch Transport Plan 2023-2053 to the incoming council, because it requires further work before it is ready for community consultation.
That's because of the changes to our District Plan we are being required to notify, which remove all off-street, car-parking requirements across the city, and this new announcement about a Sustainable Public Transport Framework.
We simply cannot afford to continue to have so many people commuting to and from work in single occupancy vehicles, says the writer. Photo / Geoff Sloan
We need to consider transitional arrangements in terms of car parking in neighbourhoods, as well as charging infrastructure for e-vehicles.
Under the new model, I think we could be able to trial electric shuttles that could be waved down around the central city – something that has been sorely missed since the earthquakes - and along popular routes as well.
We could trial "Mobility-as-a-Service", with an app or a dial-up service connecting people to rapid transit routes, and we could introduce smart mechanisms to prioritise the movement of public transport as and when required.
Our streets have changed since the old system was introduced, with slower areas and room set aside for a network of separated cycleways on major routes. More communities are seeking slow neighbourhoods and schools are demanding them too.
We need to trial different types of public transport as well – the large buses are no longer suitable for some of our streets, especially in the inner city.
We need mass rapid transit utilising road and rail corridors in a way that supports urban growth patterns that suit the city and its neighbours.
And we need the true costs of where we live and how we travel to be allocated fairly. Christchurch residents should not have to meet the full share of the downstream effects of daily commutes that start outside our boundaries.
There is much to be done, but real hope has been offered by the decision to unshackle our city from the constraints of a public transport operating model that has held us back for years.
