"Bike numbers do not make any case anywhere for taking over our motor vehicle roads and parking."
This isn’t the way to drive change
The Herald on Sunday editorial (Sept 15) was selectively pro-bikes.
So what are the facts? Stats NZ say 69% of Aucklanders drive to work. Commuters spent 6 hours and 30 minutes a week travelling 200km at an average of 30km/h. They made seven return journeys away from home, each visiting two to three destinations before the return home.
Ministry of Transport mode share data shows over half of people’s time spent travelling is as a driver in a private car/van (57%). Nearly a quarter (24%) is as a car/van passenger, followed by walking (11%). Public transport is just 4.6%, cycling is 2.1% and motorcycling 0.1% of total travel time.
For most people, the distance between home and work is too far to comfortably bike. Also, Auckland’s topography and weather are both very challenging.
Auckland Transport reports only 1.2% of commuters to work and education use a bike. But AT would like to “transition” 30% of car users to bikes. You can’t believe this bike fantasy planning.
In Germany, 68% of the German workforce travel to their place of work by car. In Melbourne, which has excellent public transport, 49.7% of people travelled to work in a private car, 5.3% took public transport, 2.7% rode a bike or walked and 28.8% worked at home.
So if Auckland had the same excellent public transport as Melbourne (another fantasy), half of all commutes and two-thirds of all transport modes would still be by motor vehicles. Bike numbers do not make any case anywhere for taking over our motor vehicle roads and parking.
Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.
Rugby vs league
The Herald on Sunday gave us 10 reasons why rugby league will take over from rugby union (Sept 15). The writer had to be tongue-in-cheek, especially after watching the Black Ferns versus England.
Despite the loss, our girls showed great skills against a home team at the top of their game. My message would be don’t change anything – you are on the right track.
But it doesn’t stop there as there was one exciting game after another over the weekend, culminating in the Ranfurly Shield match on Sunday. It’s a matter of whether you prefer bash and crash or the opportunity of being part of an exhilarating, skilful spectacle.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Rugby is boring
I totally agree with Gregor Paul on rugby being under threat from league and 10 reasons to kill it. I can easily add a couple more reasons.
I watch every NRL game and wonder if Penrith will win it again in a couple of weeks. Rugby is so boring.
I record every NRL game where I fast-forward and watch a 40-minute half in 35 minutes. In rugby, I only record and watch tests and watch a 40-minute half in only 20 minutes, with so much ball kicked out and often three scrum resets (never seen in league).
So just follow his advice please and stop teaching rugby in schools and playing it, as is the case in most states of Australia. Way to go as rugby is a dead game even now. Just teach, play and watch league from now on.
Murray Hunter, Titirangi.
Relieving teachers
Education Minister Erica Stanford is correct in believing the Post Primary Teachers’ Association is a dinosaur resisting change.
When we cannot put teachers in front of classes, requiring students to stay home, her temporary innovation to allow relievers without current certification to work shows common sense. Short-term relieving is babysitting but adequate support and retraining should be provided if longer-term relief is necessary. Ultimately the model “paying peanuts gets monkeys” needs remodelling.
I’ll be listening for an equal dose of common sense at the next pay round. That’s extremely unlikely given every minister in the last 40 years has refused to pay even the inflation rate, relying on “delay, strikes, frustration” and primary teachers accepting degrading deals knowing full well that they get topped up to any settlement secondary negotiators achieve without needing to delay or strike losing pay.
Future science teachers specialising in almost impossibly difficult-to-fill subjects like physics and chemistry need a signal that they will be valued more than a primary teacher struggling with basic structural maths.
The model needs to change. The PPTA believes that all subjects should be paid the same. This dinosaur attitude has led to the current state of affairs where trained physics teachers are rare.
A demoralised, stressed out, understaffed, undervalued workforce with principals accepting monkeys being paid peanuts must change. Stanford could just be playing with plasticine, plugging gaps. Hopefully, she’ll remodel teaching, bringing dinosaur unions out of the Cretaceous era.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Out of step
All long-suffering Auckland ratepayers should join Mayor Wayne Brown in expressing disgust at the replacement cost of $263,000 for the Milford Beach stairs.
While currently on holiday on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, I have noted little or no use of concrete stairs from boardwalks to beaches, but rather more attractive modular systems of predominantly wood or galvanised steel. A quick Google search of this approach suggests multiple providers at a mere fraction of the cost.
We could set up a commission of inquiry into just another example of wasteful public spending, or alternatively send the Auckland Council employees responsible to a financial probity seminar on how to guarantee value for money for ratepayers.
Despite repeated adverse publicity and criticism, as they say, “the beat goes on”.
Bruce Eliott, St Heliers.
Super Swiftie
It might surprise correspondent Bernie Walker (HoS, Sept 15) but at 76 years old I am a Taylor Swift fan.
No, I don’t know any of her songs or their lyrics, only that I saw her on YouTube performing at a pop-up impromptu concert before a room full of people on a stage not much larger than a table tennis table. She had me with her self-deprecating humour, not only about herself but her songs. And coming across not as a superstar but just a genuine and nice person.
And I think at my age I can spot a phoney. Be careful how you describe her partner, that description could apply to any number of different sportspeople.
So yes, she is a case worthy of study, from marketing to the management of a large entourage because she is, to all intents and purposes, an international business.
Lastly, what sealed the deal for me was Swift endorsing Kamala Harris in the US presidential elections and, again, the self-mocking humour and having a dig at the “hillbilly” (his words) Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance by calling herself “a childless cat lady”.
John Capener, Kawerau.
Powerball has now rolled over to $10 million for Wednesday night's draw.