Council votes to halt public transport study consultation

Wellington City Council’s Strategy and Policy Committee decided yesterday to halt any further consultation on the North Wellington Public Transport Study and support the continuation of the existing rail and bus services. The decision comes after two stages of consultation and a conclusion from the study’s technical report that none of the four possible scenarios have sufficient benefits to justify further investment. It also follows notification from the Government that they would not accept closing the Johnsonville rail line.

Mayor Kerry Prendergast says the decision not to continue consultation was not made lightly but taking all factors into consideration there really was no other option. “We entered into the study with the intention of using the results to guide future investment in public transport within the northern suburbs. Unfortunately the technical report showed that none of the scenarios justified further investment and combined with the Government’s feedback that they would not support closing the Johnsonville rail line there is no point in continuing the study. I would like to thank everyone who made a submission and attended public meetings. It’s encouraging to know that so many people are interested in public transport and keen to have their say.”

The study, undertaken in conjunction with Greater Wellington Regional Council, came about after a decision by Transfund NZ to provide $276m of funding to the region over 10 years in response to the Rail Business Case by Greater Wellington. One of the conditions of that decision was to review the passenger transport services to Johnsonville and it was decided to broaden out the review to include all public transport services in the northern suburbs.

The study area covered Churton Park and Grenada Village to the north, Woodridge and Newlands to the east, Johnsonville in the west and the Johnsonville rail line to the CBD as far as Kaiwharawhara, including Ngaio, Khandallah and Crofton Downs.

“The study has been a useful exercise in the run-up to decisions involving expenditure of nearly $70m of capital on the Johnsonville Line alone,” says Mayor Prendergast.

“It was important we tested proposals for substantially increasing investment in public transport and for utilising different technologies such as light rail and busway. The results confirm that the existing mix of bus and trains services is about right for serving the needs of the suburbs over the next 25 years.”

For further details please contact:

Sharon Williams, Mayor’s office, tel 801 3119 or mob 027 223 7133

Trina Saffioti, Council Communications, tel 801 3581 or mob 027 241 0570.

Wellington City Council news releases are also available daily as Web Alerts through the Council's website,www.Wellington.govt.nz. To subscribe, select the Web Alerts icon on the home page.

ends

© Scoop Media