Monday, February 22, 2010

Govt bus funding shortcomings

Hamilton City Council has sent a letter to Transport Minister Stephen Joyce, expressing our concern at the effect the Government’s freeze on public transport funding will have in the near future on the development of Hamilton’s bus services, noting that we already receive a lower per capita rate of PT funding than Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The Government transport funding programme will jeopardise the implementation of our transport strategies - which they have previously agreed to!

On Govt Cycling funding con

The NZ Transport Authority has proposed that a handful of communities around the country will be awarded ’model walking and cycling community’ status and will receive increased cycleway & walkway funding – i.e. more than the current zero! We will be applying for this for Hamilton, but it should be noted that, at best, we will only end up with the sort of subsidy level that in the past would have automatically applied to every community in New Zealand anyway – so there will be no ability to advance beyond our normal programme. Beware, if you are not building a road, there is little transport support to be expected from the Government