New Plymouth District councillors have recently spent almost four days listening to impassioned, angry, learned, humorous and sometimes inspiring submissions from the New Plymouth community about cycleways. The debate has been intense and has raised as many questions as it answered.
But are we having the right debate? If we want safe, healthy, low emissions, congestion-reducing travel options, why are we not talking about the appalling state of our public transport?
It is patently obvious from the feedback we have heard that there is demand for frequent, convenient, affordable public bus services and that it will tick almost all the boxes for decreasing congestion, reducing emissions, increasing parking availability for people who need it, and better supporting the elderly, those on low incomes and the disabled.
And yet, for years, nothing much has happened. We seem resigned to our fate: low frequency services with meanderings routes that don’t operate past 6pm and barely on weekends.
