Greens support bus lane plan

The Wellington’s City Council radical plan to create bus lanes on most key bus routes the city has been welcomed by the Green Party. The Council will decide whether to go ahead with the plan next week.

“The plan will significantly increase road capacity for buses,” said Wellington City Spokesperson for the Green Party Iona Pannett. “Whilst a normal road might carry 26 buses per hour, a dedicated lane would carry 60-70 buses per hour. The Council rightly points out that the plan will decrease travel times for bus users whilst benefiting motorists by removing some private vehicles off the road,” said Ms. Pannett.

“Creating more bus lanes in the Central city, the growth spine southern and northern routes (Kilbirnie to the city and Hutt Road, Thorndon respectively), Karori, Island Bay and Brooklyn should be implemented as a matter of priority,” said Ms. Pannett.

“Environmentalists have been urging the Council to address climate change and to give priority to public transport users for years,” said Ms. Pannett. “We are pleased that they are finally listening.”

But Ms. Pannett warned that the innovative plan should not be tied to the grandiose plans to spend over a quarter of billion of dollars on a roading scheme in the Ngauranga to Airport corridor which could possibly include the building of two extra tunnels, one each at the Terrace and Mt. Vic Tunnels.

“We are concerned that the Council has rejected the possibility of light rail in the short-medium term to implement this plan,” Ms. Pannett said. “But there is an urgent need to implement this mode of transport. Money has been allocated for this corridor. Let’s see this money allocated to light rail, rather than more failed solutions like the Bypass,” said Ms. Pannett.

Ms. Pannett noted that the Council has raised the possibility of closing the Golden Mile off to private vehicles, an idea the Green Party has already mooted. The Greens supported the idea of a shopper bus also raised in the plan said Ms. Pannett.

“It is encouraging to see that Greater Wellington and Stagecoach support this plan,” said Ms. Pannett. “We hope the Council will have the courage to implement it when it meets next Thursday.”

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