Okay, okay, the title is tongue in check (it’s refering to the last sentence of the story) but two days ago marked one year till the RWC and the NZ Herald wrote the following story about the transport plans yesterday. One year till we find out exactly what our PT network can cope with methinks.
World Cup 2011: Trains will be ready to take the strain
Rugby World Cup organisers are cautiously optimistic Auckland’s upgraded rail network will be up to the heavy lifting demanded of it.
Although some visitors, spoilt by superior public transport at home, may be disappointed not to be able to catch trains from the airport, the Kingsland railway station, within a two or three-minute walk of Eden Park, is ready for the hordes of fans on match nights.
Tournament chief Martin Snedden is thrilled it took him just 20 minutes to get from the stadium’s ASB Stand to Queen St by train after the All Blacks-South Africa Tri-Nations match in July. He acknowledges that only 25,000 fans were there that night, compared with the 60,000 who will pack into Eden Park for World Cup matches, but he calls it a promising start.
“The trains worked – that was a big step forward – the buses worked. I heard a lot about people driving to park-and-ride stations, particularly on the North Shore and Manukau as well.”
The Tri-Nations match was the first test of a $6 million upgrade of the Kingsland station, which has been expanded to allow 15,000 spectators to arrive on six-car trains and then be packed off back to Britomart after matches.
Rail is the backbone of a plan which needs 75 per cent of those expected at matches to travel to and from Eden Park by means other than cars. Buses will carry about 7000 spectators and chartered coaches another 15,000. Tournament organisers also hope many will get into the spirit of a 4.3km “walk up” to the stadium along a themed route from the Queens Wharf fan zone.
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A new Airport Bus service to the Onehunga Train Station is needed now to take the strain off the SH20 roading system during & after the RWC. This would add to the other Airport bus services, such as the Manukau 380 & Airbus Express as other options of travel for locals & tourists. ARTA Why not fund & trial a regular service now?
I think ARTA missed an opportunity by not having feeder bus services from Mangere to the new Rail station with integrated paper tickets, an Airport bus could fulfill this needed role if planned well…
What’s the theme of the theme walk up from the wharf? “concrete and inconvenience?”
Given the amount of amber liquid that may well have been consumed, it might be “concrete and incontinence”.
Best get Andy Williams out to advocate for some strategically located Lemon trees
The games are scheduled to finish at what time- 11.30pm. You wouldn’t want to be wandering over 4k in the darkness if it were cold and wet. No one mentions that Sept and Oct are two of Auckland’s wettest months.