Stats Out Of Date Report & Ecans Poor Response

I could have told the Press myself but, as an article today announced, Christchurch has the fastest growing commuter belt in the country. Basically what this is alluding to is the growth of the Waimakariri and Selwyn Districts which are the two fastest growing areas in New Zealand behind the Queenstown-Lakes District. This piece of information has come about because of the recent release of a report by Statistics New Zealand on commuting patterns in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Unfortunately this information is for the period 1996-2006 and is thus three years out of date, which means that it does not take into account record fuel prices during 2007/08 and nor continued rapid population growth in the aforementioned areas.

Anyway, the article pointed out the obvious, that most people from these areas are commuting into Christchurch everyday (72 per cent of Rolleston workers for example) and that public transport usage amongst these people is low, actually just one per cent of all commuters (as opposed to just over four per cent from within the urban area). Before I slam what Environment Canterbury had to say about this I want to point out that last year I undertook a study on commuting patterns in the Waimakariri area and all up just over fifty per cent of workers commute to Christchurch everyday, and this is growing as fast as the population is.

So what did wise old Ecan have to say about this? Apparently commuter towns were difficult to serve with public transport and expensive to operate as they were long routes serving sparse populations. Ridiculous! Their response is that to meet growth (which must be met as continued traffic growth is unsustainable) they may undertake a targeted rate. Apparently the Northern Star service (which links Rangiora, Woodend and Kaiapoi with Christchurch) only recovers 35 per cent of its running costs compared to 50 per cent across the whole bus network. What foresight! Perhaps they could also let the public know that they have always provided a substandard service to these areas and have failed to develop a first-class public transport system.

For a start lets look at the sparse population. Of the commuting population from these areas to Christchurch, the vast majority are concentrated in particular areas (Rangiora, Woodend, Rolleston, Lincoln). Which means that the comment about the sparse population, while partly true, is also a bit misleading in my opinion. Most people reside in concentrated built up urban areas on main arteries (road and even rail) so I don't see how this argument can apply across the whole board. Its a sweeping generalisation as it only really applies to those living in the smaller towns of the main highways and those residing on lifestyle blocks which are, in my opinion, an entirely different issue.

Second, there are plenty of ways public transport can be made more accessible and made more attractive to commuters. Why have we yet to see park and ride? Park and ride would make public transport much more accessible to those living in these 'sparsely populated areas' and could potentially take hundreds of cars a day off our main arterial's into the city. Also, particularly as these are longer commuting routes, bus journeys can take some time and thus deter potential patrons as the pay off on taking public transport isn't that large. So where are our bus lanes? Bus lanes, and other bus priority measures, would greatly reduce journey times, coupled with park and ride public transport would be a much more attractive option for commuters. So why resign to moaning and stopping at a basic, limited and unsuitable bus route? Why have these simple ideas, used and proved worldwide (yes, even in New Zealand) not been implemented in these areas where they would not only be suitable but indeed are needed? While I'm at it Rangiora and Rolleston are both located smack on rail corridors. With their secured right of way, large capacity, higher speeds and natural attraction combined with park and ride and shuttle bus links rail could potentially make public transport an even more accessible option for these residents.

My point is that before we take this hook line and sinker (as in 'no one uses public transport, thus it's too expensive to get more to use it') people should know what we do and don't have and what could work. Public transport to the Waimakariri and Selwyn Districts is poor to say the least and I believe that I can make a valid argument that it's low usage is not entirely due to the long routes and sparse population. There are valid ways to deter these issues and they haven't been implemented. Its a shame because they should have, and still should be. We are a long way behind.

The article can be seen here and the report from Statistics NZ can be seen here.