Letter of the week: Ditch road reliance and embrace rail
We are hardwired for short-term thinking. Therefore, when I recently made comparisons between road and rail travel it was based on the potential of both, but very quickly there were responses based on the here and now, which is precisely my point. John Strevens and Al Corkin base their views on a system of urban sprawl, whereby the nearest bus stop is 500 to 1000m away from one’s home and the same, or more, at the destination. A lot of lines in New Zealand are single track, but it is double track in the urban areas of Auckland and Wellington and as far south as Hamilton and as far north from Wellington to Waikanae. When I speak of capacity, I am speaking of urban use and pointing to the amount of arable land needed to build a railway compared to a road and, in an urban sense, what is the most efficient way of moving a lot of people around a city. Valerie Green-Moss says it all. She is a superannuitant who “must” rely on her car to go everywhere as there is no public transport for her. What I am talking about is investment, from now on, must be in the design of cities with more reliance on public transport. We believe that designing communities in ribbons, such as from Kumeu to Silverdale via Kaukapakapa, and from Silverdale to Albany, prevents urban sprawl and reduces the stresses of inner-city densification, which can promote social problems. Ribbon development will create communities with a mix of high rise, terraced housing and where no one is more than a five-minute bike ride to a train and no more than 10-minute train ride to a supermarket. In the Northwest, the flood plain could be returned to a wetland to deal with flooding. However, we also need good passenger rail throughout the country. My point is that rail has been neglected in favour of roads. This needs to change now.
Niall Robertson, Public Transport Users Association chair
Education only way to end cycle
Paul Cheshire (HoS, July 16) seems to draw a rather long bow in laying the blame for poverty and crime at the feet of big business and wilful disregard by the affluent. He correctly points out that children suffer disadvantage from being born into families with a history of deprivation and violence. Too often the focus goes on the short-term measures required to manage the present manifestations of poverty and crime. The long-term solution will hinge on recognition of the steady decline in educational achievement over recent decades and the steps required to reverse that. Instead of a growing cohort of poorly-served school leavers with few options, our youth need to be equipped with the fundamentals that provide aspiration and the tools to a better life. A system that shuns mediocrity, rewards excellence in its educators, inspires best effort and caters for all abilities will deliver the long-term solution to a perennial malaise.
