This is William S. Lind, he is the Director of the Center for Cultural Conservatism (sounds like someone I wouldn’t get along with usually) but he is one of the biggest conservative supporters of public transport in America and co-author of, Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation, here he is talking about some of the points made in the book. (3.20 mins)
So lets set up a meeting with him, Steven Joyce, John Key and Bill English. I’ll chip in for the plane ticket (and three copies of the book) if you will?
I think his points about road subsidies and the inaccuracy of quoting PT’s total percent of trips are especially relevant to NZ.
Hat tip: Streetfilms http://www.streetfilms.org/
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I reckon that graph which shows the balance of state investment in highways versus PT is also particularly relevant to NZ.
Yes I’d love to see one for NZ from 1950 to today…
Wow that’s a really good video. While I don’t know the rest of his policies, he is able to really clearly communicate his beliefs. I just hope his colleagues are listening and that some of our politicians (from all sides) take notice
Around 48% of trips into the Auckland CBD at peak times are via public transport – these are probably the most “transit competitive” trips you would find in Auckland, so unsurprisingly it actually does quite well.
“The most important thing that a liberal needs to know in talking to conservatives about public transportation is not to use liberal arguments. You can’t argue for transit on the basis that the poor need it. Conservatives aren’t particularly interested in that. On the other hand, when you start talking about things like promoting and shaping economic development and redevelopment, that’s a big interest to conservatives. When you talk about offering transit that is of a quality that conservatives would actually want to use–which usually means rail transportation–they’re interested, because conservatives are just as tired as everybody else of sitting stuck in traffic.”
As he points out, economic development and redevelopment should be the way we focus development. With the business case study into the CBD rail tunnel taking place at the moment, a strong economic outcome would be hard to reject. This will be the only way the current government will develop rail projects.
I would be interested to see how other projects you discuss would match up in terms of economic development and redevelopment. But I believe the development in the rail system has been an accidental part of keeping the nation running during the recession.