The same street, but different charges for different sides

By CLAIRE TREVETT

Waitakere man Tony Waring thinks he may have finally cracked the old favourite about the chicken crossing the road.

In his neighbourhood, 5km out of Titirangi, he says it would be to escape Auckland Regional Council's public transport rates.

Mr Waring was bemused to find he had to pay an extra charge of $234 for public transport on his rates bill, when the nearest bus stop is 4km down a winding, narrow country road with no footpaths or street lighting.

He was even more puzzled when he found out his neighbour across the road did not have to pay the same charge.

Mr Waring refused to pay the ARC levy after further investigations revealed other neighbours living up to 1.5km closer to the bus station than he did also did not have to pay.

A map showed that a pocket of residents on one side of Scenic Drive and the small Shaw Rd extension where Mr Waring lives had been caught out by a boundary that went straight down the middle of the roads.

The rate was targeted at people in areas with reasonable access to public transport services, whether or not they used the services.

"I don't think anybody has a problem with seeing Auckland's transport needs fixed," he said.

"But it has to be done fairly, and when you see your neighbours who live closer to services than you not being charged it, then obviously you're going to protest it."

A spokesman for the council said the transport area boundaries were struck using Census mesh blocks.

"On occasions they do run down the centre-line of a road and in that case there could be some people paying who are further away than those who aren't paying."

He said it was the only method available at present to the council to set the limits. A full passenger transport funding review would take place in the 2003/2004 financial year.

"There is no way to relieve it this year, but those types of issues will be addressed in the review."

But Mr Waring said the council should not have charged a targeted rate without first drawing up boundaries specifically for that purpose.

"Other local government boundaries may be drawn on an arbitrary basis, with any complaints reasonably answered by saying, 'We had to draw it somewhere'.

"But this is a targeted charge that specifically relates to public transport, and therefore they should have adopted relevant criteria to determine who should pay for it."

He said it would be fairer to charge the levy on people within a certain distance of the services.

The boundary showed complete ignorance of the geographical realities of his area.

His street was 4km away from the nearest bus stop down a winding, narrow road with no footpaths or street lighting.

The nearest train station was 6km away and did not have park-and-ride facilities.

He doubted the bus run would ever be extended to his street, as heavy vehicles were banned on that stretch of Scenic Drive.

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