6 June 97

Dave Watson
Wellington Regional Council
P.O. Box 11 646, Wellington

Public Transport Funding Submission

We feel strongly that the current public transport system must be maintained to at least its current standard, or preferably expanded and upgraded. It is absolutely vital to tens of thousands of Wellingtonians. The current excessive use of private motor vehicles is unsustainable - an increase in use (the inevitable result of public transport cuts) would be a big step in precisely the wrong direction. Local and central government must discourage motor vehicle use and encourage its alternatives for the good of the entire community.

It is only fair that motorists pay for the full cost of motoring, and it is in their best interests to subsidise public transport since the alternative is gridlock. Therefore we support any option to subsidise public transport at the expense of private motor vehicle users. As public transport benefits all Wellington Region residents environmentally, we would also support an increase in rates to fund an expansion in the public transport system.

In order to fund the existing public transport system we support a combination of the regional petrol tax (which we feel should be a national petrol tax) of 3 cents a litre and a carpark levy in the central city of $3 per day. In the long term electronic tolls do sound like the best option, but only if rebates are available for zero emission vehicles.

A regional petrol tax has the benefit over car park levies of discouraging motor vehicle use in general. After all, people who drive from the Hutt Valley to Porirua, or Karori to the airport, etc, should help with the extra funding of public transport.

At the same time, people who park in central Wellington city are the group for whom public transport is both most available as an alternative to driving, and most necessary as a means of reducing congestion. So we feel a central city carpark levy is also justified.

While implementing both a petrol tax and carpark levy will be more expensive to administrate, it will spread the cost more fairly and be more effective at discouraging motor vehicle use than one or other of the options by itself.

In summary, we feel that the existing public transport system is vital; motorists should subsidise it more than the ratepayer in general; and any combination of the new funding options is better than the proposed cuts to public transport.

Yours sincerely
Simon Kennett

For The Kennett Bros - ratepayers, public transport users, cycle commuters, and motorists.