Brian Rudman: On yer bike, Dr Cullen! Don't make transport tangle worse

Just a few weeks before the unveiling of the long-awaited business case on the future of Auckland rail, Finance Minister Michael Cullen blunders in with his own provincial views on how our transport woes should be solved.

Worse, Prime Minister Helen Clark, this month's Transport Minister, Annette King, and Auckland Issues Minister Judith Tizard sat by and let him lecture away to a delegation of Auckland civic leaders.

Why didn't one of them tell him to pull his head in, at least until the business plan was revealed and he had some facts on which to base his prejudices?

Of course, those of us of a suspicious disposition could be led to suspect that Dr Cullen already has a good idea of what's in the business case - his Treasury officials, after all, are part of the study group - doesn't approve of what it's going to say and has decided to make a pre-emptive strike on it.

The word is that it will come out in support of an electrified commuter rail service, something Dr Cullen and his Treasury officials relegated back in March to the "long-term" back-burner.

It makes you wonder why the Government went through the whole charade of setting up the independent Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) in the first place.

In December 2003, as a condition of a 10-year, $1.62 billion congestion-busting transport package for Auckland, the Government insisted on the establishment of an independent, non-political Auckland transport authority. While accountable to the regional council for delivering the plan, it was to be governed by a board of expert directors from which local body politicians and bureaucrats were banned.

While the Government was insistent on a firewall being established to keep local politicians from interfering, Dr Cullen carefully left the back door open so he could continue to stick his own oar in.

Just where he fits on the roads-versus-rail continuum is a bit hard to ascertain from the leaks dribbling out of last week's meeting with Auckland's mayors. But he certainly doesn't sound very sympathetic to the conclusions of the "independent" advisers from Arta - who include Labour president Mike Williams.

One conclusion Arta reached was that even with the 10-year accelerated road-building programme projected for Auckland, traffic congestion at the end of it will be worse than it is now.

Arta decided the only uncongested and under-used corridors available to move large numbers of commuters were the rail corridors.

Visits were made to Perth and Brisbane to study the experience of cities of similar size and nature.

Last August, Brian Roche, Arta's Government-appointed chairman, wrote a foreword to Arta's recommended plan of action advocating that "the region move ... to electrify the Auckland rail network no later than 2011".

Since then there's been a stand-off, with Dr Cullen and his Treasury boffins rejecting electrification except as an option that could be "revisited in the longer term".

If they already know it all, why did they set up the independent Arta to advise them?

Meanwhile, out on the congested streets, Stagecoach has been growled at by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board for misleadingly advertising the popular Link buses run every 10 minutes during the day and 15 minutes at night. Any regular user knows this is far-fetched and it was hilarious to read Stagecoach's lame defence.

It argued that during the month of February, of the almost 200,000 passengers who used it only 17 made complaints, of which eight related to running times.

"The fact that only 0.00004 per cent of passengers using the Link Bus service have raised issues with Stagecoach regarding the running times suggest that Stagecoach does an excellent job at meeting the timetabled requirements," the company said.

A mathematically literate reader points out that the correct percentage is in fact 0.004, but the real howler is Stagecoach expecting grumpy passengers to phone in every time a bus is late.

If disgruntled passengers did that, Telecom would soon be pleading for mercy as the whole phone system melted. But for those who are tempted, the number is (09) 366-6400.

I did it yesterday morning after I and six others were left waiting 30 minutes for a scheduled bus that didn't appear. It almost makes you think they care.