$100 million on the line for Wellington’s cycleways
‘Plans to spend almost $100 million on the capital’s cycleways have been revealed, but the brakes could go on that vision if several city councillors have their way.
Council staff have identified 150 kilometres of cycle lanes that could be built across 30 routes from the south coast right up to Tawa, at a total cost of $93m.
They believe they could fast-track the building of about half of them within the next three years, if they can get their hands on a slice of a special $100m fund for urban cycleways promised by the Government before the last election….’
In a tiny country with a population of just 4+million, with a relatively small number of them in real, productive work, this is insane.
How about they make it a tollway so those that use it pay for it.Sorry stupid comment,greenies need everyone else to pay for their whims.
Damn good idea, Tom.
The experience in Sydney, where the greenloonie Mayor Clover Moore has pushed for cycleways is instructive. They’re under-utilised and they’ve contributed to more traffic snarl-ups.
Speaking of Greentards:
‘UK journalist David Rose experiences climate activist compassion:
I’ve never supported the British National Party or the Ku Klux Klan. I’ve never belonged to the Paedophile Information Exchange, or denied the Holocaust, or made a penny from the banking crash.
But if you read The Guardian newspaper’s website, you might think otherwise. A commentator on it urged my own children to murder me.
He did so because of one of the many stories I’ve written for this newspaper about climate change. I first reported on the subject nearly six years ago: my article was about the ‘climategate’ scandal, where leaked emails showed university scientists were trying to cover up data that suggested their claim the world is hotter than at any time in the past 1,300 years may be wrong …
Last week on Twitter, someone else wrote that he knew where I lived, and posted my personal phone numbers.’
via Tim Blair
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/gaias_gangsters/
There may yet come a time when the productive decide to down tools and sit it out while the parasite class goes through some much needed convulsing and dying off.
Its a waste of money. I used to bike 60k’s into Wellington and back each day on SH2 on a road bike and a few years earlier about 35 to Porirua along SH1. All I wanted was a small patch on the left of the white line, maybe 750mm wide, but they fill that with reflectors, cobbles and drains or the path comes right to the edge of the usable road. Even new developments have this basic space requirement ignored. I don’t want separate lanes and lights etc… as I just want to go fast in a bit of clear space on a cleanish surface. I’ll play Russian roulette with cars – that’s just a hazard you live with. I used to run red lights and other naughty stuff as well believing it was safer to do so, if I had identified all the hazards, rather than join the rush off the line. You survive by being clever and focused. One courier driver nearly cleaned me up twice at the same intersection within a week or so. What’s the odds of that I wonder?
What it should take to ride a bike
$200 per bike for registration which must be carried on the bike at all times.
$50 annual safety inspection
$150 for a license
$50 for a learners permit which allows a new bike rider to only ride on the back of a tandem during the two year learning period.
Amen!
Pushbikers ought to be subject to similar levies and licensing as other road users. A licence, a licence fee and 6 monthly WoF’s would be a start. A regional bike tax to help fund these vanity projects would follow.
As things stand, a 5 year old in a Xmas/birthday bike can roll into rush hour traffic and some daffy loon with beer bottle glasses and banana box on a rusty wreck with no brakes…likewise. And the number of pushbiking a-holes who you see dressed in ninja-black with bugger-all lights…jeepers!
I recall participating in a road safety check scheme years ago on school bikes: about one in ten was without roadworthiness problems. Crap brakes, loose handle bars, bad lights/no lights etc.
NZ:
‘ Councils could resort to user-pays for rubbish, sewerage, library and water services.’
THEY ALREADY DO! What councils mean is, users will be forced to pay twice. If current exorbitant rates don’t already pay for those things then where is the money going?
“If current exorbitant rates don’t already pay for those things then where is the money going?”
Public sector pensions?Grandiose benefits packages?Pet contractors?
In…..SANE.
This is NZ to a ‘T’. Beer income + steal underpants = champagne aspirations.
Yep.
The money is going on their superfluous overseas junkets of course. We pay three times over for just basic services, and then they are really basic.
When we had a house in Mauriceville, Lara, we had no footpaths, no lighting, no mains water and no garbage collection. Yet still our rates were regularly increased.
I hate councils with a passion.
Same here. They just seem to be inherently evil, much like our leftie govts.
Tax and spend and bleed the people dry!!
No no , we are misunderstaders , they meant 9 million , not 93 million , because if we arnt’ missunderstanding them and they really mean 93 million then we the people , need to hang from high poles anyone who supports this kind of nonsense.
Damn right we do.