11 August 2005

National wants public transport gone by lunchtime

Green Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says that a National-led government will herald the death of public transport.

"National is proposing to put all petrol tax into roads. Given that public transport subsidies are currently funded from petrol tax revenue, this policy means that all central government funding for public transport will have to be cut, effectively killing public transport.

"Under National's policy, public transport will be gone by lunchtime, and commuters won't get to work till lunchtime."

Ms Fitzsimons says National Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee's criticism of the Green/Labour partnership on transport illustrated how out-of-touch his party is with the needs of New Zealand's cities.

"It's National's approach to transport that will lead to worse and worse gridlock. All official projections show that if you build every motorway in Auckland that anyone has ever asked for, congestion will still get worse over the next ten years.

"If National is in power, Auckland and Wellington will grind to a halt and the public transport systems will wilt and die, and anyone who uses the bus or train to get to work needs to be told that," Ms Fitzsimons says.

"The only way to combat congestion is to give people the fast, convenient bus and rail services they are asking for so they can leave their cars at home. The Greens wish to improve public transport systems because international experience shows that an excellent public transport service is the only answer to congestion in big cities."

ENDS

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