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Govt failing Auckland commuters

The Green Party is calling on the Government to urgently bring forward funding for the City Rail Link, following the announcement that rail passenger patronage grew 23 percent in the year to August 2015.

“Public transport patronage is up, cycling is up, road congestion is up, but the Government is letting Aucklanders down,” Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said.

“Every day, thousands of Aucklanders on packed trains are calling out for the Government to stop delaying the City Rail Link.

“National is out of touch with the reality for Auckland commuters who want nothing more than a better rail system to get them to and from work every day, and get traffic off the roads.

“Australia’s new conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that ‘roads are not better than mass transit or vice versa, each of them has their place. Infrastructure should be assessed objectively and rationally on its merits’ – but the New Zealand Government insists on applying one low standard for motorway funding while making rail jump through hoops to get funding.

“The Government is borrowing more than $2 billion to build low-value motorways that will only carry a small percentage of commuters, when it should be funding better rail that would carry thousands of commuters every day.

“The Government needs to start funding the City Rail Link immediately because it’ll be a game changer for Auckland’s transport system and for Aucklanders,” Ms Genter said.

ENDS

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