At 11.10 am on Wednesday 4 February, Wellington Water – the council-controlled organisation responsible for managing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services for the Greater Wellington region – announced a “significant incident” had occurred at the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The city’s primary facility for handling sewage for around 180,000 people had suffered a catastrophic failure and shut down. As a result, untreated sewerage was being discharged along the coastline.
It turned out that during heavy rainfall overnight, a blockage occurred in the 1.8 km outfall pipe used to discharge treated wastewater into Cook Strait. This caused sewage to back up into the plant itself – up to 3 metres deep in some areas – destroying critical equipment and treatment infrastructure. This forced the discharge of untreated sewage through the short emergency outfall pipe just 5 meters from the shore.
While the long outflow pipe and some screening facilities are now operational and discharging around 70 million litres a day of partially screened wastewater into the Cook Straight, full repairs will take months and cost millions.
The Local Government Minister Simon Watts announced an independent review to investigate the exact cause of the blockage and plant failure. What is known, however, is that as a result of decades of under-investment, Wellington’s ageing wastewater network is prone to stormwater infiltration, especially during heavy rain events. An exacerbating factor was that the plant was undergoing remedial work at the time, which reduced its treatment capacity and heightened its vulnerability.
Problems at the plant had been long-standing. Built in 1998 and run by the French multinational Veolia under contract to Wellington Water, the facility had a history of equipment failure and non-compliance with resource consents.
Ironically, a new state-of-the-art sludge treatment plant is in the final stages of construction at Moa Point. The $500 million facility, which will produce reusable biosolids from sludge through thermal hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and drying, is expected to be operational later this year.
However, repairing the main wastewater treatment plant is crucial, since the new facility relies on the existing plant to prepare the sewerage for processing.
The Moa Point failure has raised questions about the decisions taken by the Wellington City Council in 2021, when prioritising projects during their long-term 10-year planning process.
At the time, Councillors were presented with seven key infrastructure options. The first addressed “Investment in three waters infrastructure” and explained: “The network is ageing and deteriorating leading to increases in pipe breakages and leakage”.
It was estimated that up to 30 percent of the city’s drinking water was being lost through old leaky pipes, with 20 percent of the wastewater pipes beyond their life expectancy: “The age of our networks and a series of high-profile failures have resulted in Wellington Water recommending a significant increase in funding is required for the Long-term Plan cycle and going forward.”
Three options were provided to Councillors. Water Option 1 maintained the “existing” funding at $552 million over 10 years. Water Option 2 “enhanced” the capital investment to $678 million. Water Option 3 “accelerated” it to $1.5 billion to get on top of the problems – with the advice on wastewater stating: “After investigations and a $391m renewals programme, we would be able to invest to reduce sewage pollution, starting with catchments around the central city, Karori and Owhiro Bay, then widening into other catchments. We think the waterways and coastal environment would be close to where we would like them to be by the end of the work programme. Pipe breaks would be rare and if there was a discharge it would be swiftly managed.”
Officials claimed they were ‘uncertain’ about their ability to deliver Water Option 3, and recommended Water Option 2, acknowledging it would not fix the problems but would “reverse some of the trends and set us on a more favourable path.”
Another infrastructure decision related to cycleways. Officials recommended Cycleway Option 3, with $120 million of capital expenditure over 10 years, while the accelerated Cycleway Option 4 required $226 million.
When it came time to vote, the Minutes show a majority of Councillors supported the officials’ recommended Water Option 2 in clause 9, with ten voting in favour, four opposed, and Councillor Sean Rush absent.
With regards to the cycleway vote, Councillor Tamatha Paul – now a Green Party MP – moved an amendment in clause 10, to adopt Cycleway Option 4 against the recommendation of officials and in spite of their warning that, “There is substantial uncertainty regarding the affordability of this option and the ability of the sector to deliver such a large work programme.”
In an article outlining these events, the former Wellington Councillor Sean Rush explained how Tamatha Paul proposed financing the funding shortfall: “Tamatha had a solution for funding. Council officers had identified approximately $100 million of insurance‑related savings across the ten‑year period. This was recommended to be applied as additional debt headroom to maintain balance-sheet resilience. However, Tamatha with support from Labour/Green councillors… drafted an amendment to instead apply it to fund Option 4.”
Appropriating emergency funding for spending on discretionary cycleways sounds like a scandal in itself – but one that was clearly overlooked by the nine Councillors who supported her motion.
The Auditor General was highly critical of the council’s decisions, issuing a ‘qualified’ – and it turns out ‘prophetic’ – report on their long-term plan: “The Council does not use information about the condition of its three water assets to inform its investment in its three waters networks. Rather, the renewal of assets has been forecast based on the age of the assets, capped by what the Council considers is affordable. Given the challenges outlined we consider this approach to be unreasonable. This could result in more asset failures during the 10-year period of the long-term plan, reduced levels of service, and greater costs than forecast.”
The Moa Point crisis and the decision-making of the former council were matters of high public interest and an article first posted by Breaking Views – the blog established in 2010 by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research as a platform for debating politics and current events – attracted widespread coverage.
It was written by Peter Bassett, a new author with a background that more than adequately equips him to comment on the media and public institutions, who joined a long line of pseudonymous authors published by Breaking Views in January. From the world-renowned British prison psychologist Theodore Dalrymple to Thomas Cranmer (now known as Phil Crump), many authors choose a pen name to protect their identity and enable them to speak freely without fear of professional or personal repercussions.
Following an anonymous tip-off that he should examine the Minutes of the Council’s long-term plan decision-making, Peter Bassett wrote:
“On 27 May 2021, Wellington City Council’s Long-Term Plan Committee faced a clear fork in the road. Officers presented councillors with water investment options, including one — Water Option 3 — that contained a $391 million wastewater renewals programme. It was not vague. It was explicit. It was designed to reduce sewage pollution…
“At the same meeting, officers recommended Cycleways Option 3, a staged programme set out in the consultation document presented to councillors.
“Councillors were not choosing between water and nothing. They were choosing priority.
“What happened next is the hinge moment of Wellington’s current disgrace.
“An amendment was moved by then-councillor Tamatha Paul, seconded by Jill Day (now Labour Party President), to adopt Cycleways Option 4, expanding the programme to $226 million over ten years, compared with $120 million under Option 3, as set out in that consultation document.
“That amendment passed. Accelerated wastewater renewal did not.
“At the time, Wellington City Council comprised 15 members (the Mayor and 14 councillors). Paul’s amendment was passed by a vote of 9–5, with one member absent.”
Peter was not only critical of the council for failing to prioritise a much- needed upgrade of essential infrastructure, but also of the media for its reluctance to hold those in power to account.
And in the interest of balance, Breaking Views also published the commentary by the former Councillor Sean Rush – who took a different view of the events.
One of the Councillors who voted to prioritise a water infrastructure upgrade, Simon Woolf, explained on Facebook last month:
“In 2021, as a Wellington. City councillor, I deliberated on the long-term plan for Wellington. I voted against expanding cycleways and argued instead for prioritising sewerage and water infrastructure. I did so because pipes, pumps, and treatment plants aren’t optional. They are the backbone of a healthy city and a clean harbour.
“Fast-forward to today, and Wellington is dealing with an environmental mess that was entirely foreseeable. Overflows, leaks, and system failures don’t happen overnight. They are the result of years of underinvestment and misplaced priorities.
“Had my colleagues, Diane Calvert, Nicola Young, Malcolm Sparrow and I prevailed in 2021, we would have been further along in fixing the fundamentals. Fewer discharges, less damage to our harbour, and a more resilient city.
“This isn’t about being anti-cycleway. It’s about being pro-environment, pro-public health, and pro-infrastructure that actually keeps our city functioning.”
In fact, this case highlights the danger of electing politically affiliated candidates onto councils, who, all too often, appear unable to put the public interest ahead of their ideological bias.
Questions over the wisdom of prioritising cycleways when the city’s water infrastructure was failing, spilt over into Parliament when, during an exchange with Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter, the Minister of Finance stated, “sometimes those in glass houses should not be throwing stones or sitting next to Tamatha Paul, who built cycle ways instead of fixing the pipes.”
In a classic display of deflection journalism, some in the mainstream media then pivoted the focus away from the council’s misguided prioritisation of “nice‑to‑haves” over essential infrastructure, and instead sought to demonise the author who had the temerity to point it out.
Through two articles in The Post and a feature on Radio NZ’s Mediawatch, an attempt was made to hunt down Peter Bassett, and when that failed, they attacked Breaking Views for spreading “misinformation” and the NZCPR itself.
Former newspaper editor Karl du Fresne, who has long warned about the decline of the mainstream media, could have been writing about this situation when he penned his insightful article “Death Wish 2025” – now featured as this week’s NZCPR Guest Commentary – back in December:
“The model that prevailed for decades – that of balance and neutrality – has been trashed in favour of one that’s blatantly politicised and sees journalism as a moral crusade driven by left-wing fixations such as identity politics, hate speech (so called) and climate change.
“Under this new model, objectivity is disdainfully dismissed… Journalists are instead encouraged to choose, on the basis of their own often narrow and rigid world views, which issues should be covered and which should be ignored. Similarly, they are entitled under the new paradigm to decide which groups and individuals should be allowed to contribute to public debate. The rest can be marginalised, demonised or excluded.”
As Karl explains, when it comes to the mainstream media, the public wants balance – both sides of issues so they can make up their own mind. They do not want the current Orwellian world where truth is labelled as misinformation and those seeking to hold power to account are hunted down and cancelled.
The fact that the legacy media still appears to be in a state of denial over this – clinging to a fictitious world view where they are the righteous gatekeepers of truth – explains, at least in part, why they remain a dying industry.
The NZCPR will continue to publish commentary that raises important questions about public policy, governance, and accountability. We will continue to protect contributors who choose to write under pseudonyms. And we will continue to focus our efforts on the issues that matter.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*How would you rate the spending on cycleways by local and central government over recent years – about right, too high, or too low?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| If I look at the tracts around Te Awamutu and the Waipa very few people are using them. | Gregor |
| cycleways are a waste of money | Anthony |
| Ridiculous! | Mark |
| How long has Wellington water been responsible for the asset mgmt, of Moa? Who was responsible for asset up keep and replacement from 1998? | Jack |
| I was driving in Dunedin again today and was reminded by the road markings that I hardly ever see a cyclist in front of my car at the lights. There are no significant numbers of cyclists in my town, and I suspect the same is true of all NZ. | Ray |
| This week our shortish, rural road had 9 speed bumps built into it. The road is narrow with rough edges on the tar seal. In 30 years living here, I’ve never known one accident occurring. Was going to be a cycleway, now a walkway in places. What rubbish. | Monica |
| The spend and the planning for cycle ways was absolutely stupid, the did Thorndon quay, affair advice as the pipes needed doing, then had to redo most of the work when the pipes failed. | cam |
| Installing cycle lanes in places like Karori was a ridiculous thing to do. People in Karori don’t ride bikes to work and the lanes disappear in parts anyway. The residents hate them and everyone now drives down parallel streets making them super busy. In general no studies seem to have been done to see if areas have high cyclist injury/death rates warranting the need for them. Motorists and cyclists have always had to accommodate each other – trying to make us like Europe is never going to work | Helen |
| A large waste of money at the expense of core infrastructure | Keith |
| Money wasted on something that hardly anyone uses | John |
| Councilors are under pressure from many outside interest groups. They don’t have the experience to resist when they should. They need to be firm to invest with pragmatic wisdom to ensure that public funds goes to the most urgent projects before any spending on the nice to have things. | garry |
| Excessive spending on cycleways to cater for a tiny but vocal minority at the expense of ratepayers’ needs for secure water assets and services and ROADS full of potholes | Peter |
| Building cycleways in the absence of an agreed integrated transport plan is lunacy. | Neville |
| We pander too much to these lefty greens .Lets start spending money where it is needed the most, on upgrading infrastructure and much needed water pipes | Dianne |
| It so obvious, look at the mess at Moa Point as a prime example of lack of money for water infrastructure. | John M |
| Surely it is a matter of priorities first and sorry cycle lanes don’t meet the criteria | Greg |
| Cycle ways are a nice to have option. Safe drinking water and effective, functional drainage and sewage treatment are mandatories that should be at the top of the agenda. Given the possibility of a Labour, Green, Maori party government with Swarbrick as minister of finance, I will be leaving the country permanently! | Peter |
| People barely use it, because they like scooters maybe extend the foot paths for biking and walking. | Kylie |
| Appalling misuse of public funds. | Linda |
| Far too much taxpayer funds being spent,on wasteful GREEN PROJECTS, that require lots of upkeep, and are very costly,funding needs to be reduced! | David |
| A vanity project which swept the nation. Way too much spent on under utilized cycleways because they were fashionable. | Peter K |
| The results speak for themselves.wallowing in raw sewerage is not right. Wellington deserves all it gets for electing incomptent left wing councillors. | Peter |
| Funding needs to directed towards critical infrastructure projects not nice to have options | Randal |
| Infrastructure is more important. | Kevin |
| Far too high. When this expenditure is at the cost of maintaining existing services, then the Council is acting very irresponsibly and those who voted for this need to be sacked and removed from the Council as they are not fit for duty . | Don |
| They are fine, providing that the more critical projects are prioritized above them | Laurie |
| Infrastructure first and foremost, | Sarah |
| Cyclists pay nothing for the special lanes created for them. There is a need for councils in particular to get back to the basics. One can choose to ride a bicycle (or, more likely, an electric bike) but one must use a toilet. Similarly, the New Zealand Transport Agency needs to fix State highway potholes, rather than allocating stretches of road to cyclists. | Gavin |
| Much of it would certainly be seen by many, but still a minority, as nice to have. But we have got by with out it up till now, and could wait till we can afford it. | Trevor |
| Looking at the state of N.Z. infrastructure, any ‘nice to haves’ should be completely out of the question! Surely ESSENTIAL investment and infrastructure should be prioritised without question! | Sylvia |
| Under utilized, and does not warrant the spend even if future proofing. The new road design in our city is not fit for purpose and the cycle spend would have been better served on a better design team. | Hugh |
| it appears to be a failure of council local body laws set by the Government that have changed councils from being directly responsible to the voters and with the required expertise and skills. to the current system that appears to deliberately remove democratic accountability by creating a bureaucracy of non accountable unqualified self interested radicals. Who will fix it, no one of course. in the meantime we all go broke as money is sucked out of the economy to pay vast sums of interest into the never on a treadmill no one is will to stop. | Sam |
| Cycle ways are a stupid greenie ideology to get people out of their cars. YEAH RITE !!!! Wellington in the winter ?? put the kids on the back and the shopping???? | Brian |
| It is ridiculous that we are spending any money on cycle ways at all the ones in place already are scantily used | Stanley |
| Some that cost millions of dollars hardly get used. | Denis |
| Costs are way over usage and priority is too high | Bill |
| Simply stop spending our money on mainly unused cycleways — too much money is spent for the benefit of a few. | Alan |
| Wherever they are, mostly, they are so poorly utilised it is hard to justify them at all. | Steve |
| its money that would be better spent on busways and i hate busses but at least it would improve traffic flow | Evan |
| they are a ridiculous amount of money spent for far too few to use them. It is left wing virtue signaling. It has destroyed many businesses & made the daily commute a nightmare. | Nigel |
| Just ask most locals from Wellington, the cycle lanes are unwanted and a total nuisance to retailers, who are going broke due to reduced foot traffic. | Brent |
| Time to rein in spending until the water rates are under control and the sewerage plants are fit for purpose. | gaye |
| Extraordinary and at the expense of maintenance of core infrastructure. | Tony |
| Justs keep them off the roads | Warren |
| This more a question of priorities with respect to this question. There is currently a lack of cost and realisable benefits verse funds available not from reasonable rate collection. There is a systemic failure from local and centre government to find solutions that fit with an agreed limited budget. The solution is designed without limiting what is affordable as one of it critical design factors. Solution designers seem to design without cost and approach to costs being factored in. We need to decentralise and build smaller more diverse and resilient solutions which can be managed and maintained and expanded more simply and cost effectively. Current solutions are designed more for profit and control not delivery effectiveness reliability and flexibility in maintenance programmes | Malcolm |
| Hamilton’s also had ridiculous amounts spent on mostly empty cycleways | Dave |
| I have never seen such a waste of money. Very few people are using them. Takapuna to Devonport cycle lanes are mainly used in the weekends for recreational cyclists. | Gayle |
| WCC has become a basket case – driving around the city is a nightmare . Narrow streets compressed by bus lanes and cycleways has made drving unsafe. Feel for the retailers – reduced parking = reduced trade. WCC trumped common sense with ideology – it will take years, if ever, to fix. | Peter |
| Knights Rd Lower Hutt is one example of “Greenie” Councilors not listening to members of the public and going ahead spending our money on something that was not required. Thankfully it has been dismantled., | Grant |
| Spending by central govt has the advantage of boosting tourism. Local govt encourages the use of bicycles, which is a good thing (look at Holland), BUT you cannot do that instead of spending on infrastructure! Where is common sense? | Jan |
| If cyclists want cycle ways then they should pay for them | neil |
| An utter waste of money! And now Wellington is further in shambles! | Hilary |
| Too high by a long long way. | Cliff |
| A topical example is Wellington spending money on the golden mile cycle ways instead of the sewage plant, if you think about it a criminal misuse of the publics money by the Greens. Yeah right they are about protecting the environment. | John |
| And no attempt to toll cycleways | Eric |
| Cycleways in my opinion are not important when placed beside infrastructures that prevent sewage spills. Council money from ratepayers should be used first for failing pipes to prevent health hazards. It’s a disgrace it wasn’t. It’s a no brainer! | Dianne |
| Cycle ways in many places are so bad that even the cyclists don’t use them’. Auckland Transport should be ashamed that their designs are completely incorrect , and all they do is hold up traffic and cyclists ride on the road. What a waste of money that could be used on infrastructure or other needs. Previous Wellington councillors should be held to account especially Tamatha Paul. Mainstream media, especially TV1 and RNZ, should lose taxpayer funding -they are so corrupt. | Mary |
| Cycleways cater for a small percentage of the population and are very expensive. | Derek |
| It is a relative thing. Cars are the main mode of transport . | bruce |
| a waste of money | frank |
| Excessive to the extreme | Richard |
| We need to get essentials and basic services robust and maintained. | Donald |
| As a cyclist and motorist I can say we are spending massive amounts on these Rolls Royce cycleways. I find it hard to believe the infrastructure that is poured into them | Lawrie |
| Disgusting waste of rates $$ | mike |
| How come motorists have to pay the full cost of roads, while cyclists pay nothing as users?? | Noel |
| Where I come from, hardly anyone uses them. They’re just an expensive nuisance and a total waste of ratepayers money. | Heather |
| I’m sick of wellington and there stupid people and counsels who would vote for someone out of aderns tribe for mayor | Des |
| A no-brainer; the balance sheet dictates and there was simply not enough funding to support both critical infastructure AND ‘nice-to-have’ projects. The ratepayers pick up the problem yet again. | Deb |
| Cycling limited to a few people, water/drains/essential services affect every New Zealander | Sheryl |
| We need counters on the cycleways to see how much they are used and if the expense is justified. | Ian |
| Never see the cycleways being used. Wate of money | Glenn |
| Spending was absolutely reckless and unwarranted. | Bruce |
| They are loosing the plot. What is more important a decent water system or a cycle way. Unbelievable they made that choice,. .It does make you wonder the calibre of these people as councillors | Rob |
| Tamatha Paul is a bloody disgrace, as are those councillors who voted with her for extra spending on wasteful cycleways. In fact the voting public should also take most of the blame for voting these people onto Council. As Winston Churchill quoted; “Democracy is the worst form of government except for those other forms that have been tried”. God help NZ if Labour and/or the Green Party get back into power. | Peter |
| Ideology rules over common sense!! | Ray |
| This is not the country for cyclists. It isn’t flat like Holland. | Roy |
| Most of the cycleways have a very low user rating | Neil |
| Extremely to high should have been there. These looney greens and followers could not organize a piss up in a brewery as the saying goes. Shame on voters who put these lunatics into wellington council. Shit sticks. Hopefully voters remember this at election time. As usuall the left leaning media are protecting their mates. NO ONE RESPONSIBLE HERE. ( YEAH RIGHT ) | Kevan |
| Wellington is a basket case with useless ideological councillors | David |
| Cycleways are “nice to have” but should be at the bottom of any list of priorities. | John |
| Madness pursuit by stupid people for self centred reasons with no regard for the good of the whole. | Rob |
| Not enough care is taken by councils in respect of the actual need for a cycleway as compared to it would be nice. There are heaps of cycleways where there are minimal cyclists regardless of the time of day | Malcolm |
| Bloody disgraceful | Ray |
| get rid of these blights on the environment | Jack |
| Spending on cycle ways is often at the expense of other important needs such as updating water and waste water and sewage upgrades. | Dorothy |
| Too any cyclists ignoring the rights of pedestrians. Mostly cycle lanes are empty. | Faye |
| City cycle ways have not reduced traffic or measurable emissions – rather they actually increased conjestion. | Trevor |
| Barmy, duplicitous, | murray |
| Pleased that cyclists remain off our motorways, bridge | Ken |
| They should be using the footpaths | Alan |
| In several areas I have never ever seen anyone cycling. It restricts traffic flow, and creates frustration. | Elaine |
| bikes should be using footpaths | alf |
| waste of money when count the usage | Ian |
| Not only has the spending been far too high, so many of these cycle ways have had a negative effect on traffic flow | Adele |
| Huge amounts of money has been spent on cycleways where very few people ride bicycles. There are other much higher priorities than cycle lanes. | Jan |
| Especially with the debacle in Wellington. | Brian |
| There should have been no spending allocated to a cycleway when it was well-known that there was a water issue that had a far higher priority. An example of decision making if the Green party is part of the next government. | Kerry |
| Get the basics right 1st,. A lot of these cycleways pass over old pipes (some 100 yrs) which will have to be dug up eventually should have been fixed already. | Stephen |
| INfrastructure,infrastructure and then infrastructure! | Merv |
| An absolute nonsense. The lefties appear to have a stranglehold on councils and council offices staff, who is bribing these lefties? It’s all part of the World Economic group who are pushing this one World Govt, New World Order. Cycle ways while we collapse, digital currency, Digital ID cards for all, 15 minute cities being built, we will own nothing, no cars in another decade, notice all the apartments being built without garages. Time for NZers to stand up and tell our leaders to STOP this crap and get NZ moving for the good of all of us and future generations. | Carly |
| Scandalous | Mark |
| Infrastructure is vital whereas cycleways are simply a rather expensive add-on truth be told. It’s about as simple as that. We have footpaths and we have road rules to protect cyclists in their daily commutes.. | John |
| A very difficult question, as it varies from region to region,obviously too high in Wellington. In other areas it may appear high, but the investment has other advantages, health and tourism. | Wayne |
| Ridiculously too high | Frank |
| It’s ridiculous. Few people actually use them. | Lee |
| We seem to be neglecting many more important services to build cycle ways which are either under utilized, far to dangerous, in the wrong place and just not necessary! | Stewart |
| Also, they have destroyed businesses in Thorndon. Scandalous | June |
| We are not The Netherlands, we are car loving New Zealanders, the majority will never ride bikes in the sun,let alone in the wet winter. Governments and Councils stop wasting money, if someone wants to ride a bike, ride it on the road. | Peter |
| At a time when every wage and salary earner is struggling to just purchase essentials, the squandering of tax and ratepayer monies on cycleways is simply not necessary | Rob |
| Nelson has spent so much on cycleways, used by only a few. | Daniel |
| I seldom see cyclists use our local cycle ways, they mainly ignore them and cycle on footpaths. | Marilyn |
| Way too high, there’s better things to do with the money. Enough’s enough. | Janine |
| In Auckland the majority remain unused most of the day, a total waste of valuable money. | Meredith |
| In Nelson we have excellent cycle ways enabling us to cycle from most suburbs to the city off road | CHRIS |
| They’re not used. | Peter |
| Absolutely ridiculous | Greg |
| Councils need to focus on essentials, not nice to have vanity projects. Tamatha Paul should be ashamed. A so called Green ( Brown!) MP being largely responsible for a Harbour full of SEWAGE ( NB, not ” sewerage”- that’s the pipework that carries the sewage). | Alastair |
| Cycleways are an unbelievable waste of money . Hardly anyone uses them. Julianne Genter should be ashamed she pushed the motion through council !! | Vicki |
| Basic infrastructure needs to be taken care of, first. That’s one of the core principles that councils were designed to look after, not vanity projects like cycleways. The people of Wellington are now paying the price of their elected representatives ineptitude | Trevor |
| What do you expect from windy welly? | |
| Given that the users of these cycleways don’t contribute a cent to their installation or upkeep, the government’s expenditure is so ridiculously high that it verges on stupidity! | TOBY |
| Waste of money | Thomas |
| It’s an enormous disruption for anyone who, for any reason, does not or can not have, or does not want to ride a cycle into town and then back again to home or where ever with any purchased article or articles up hill – all the while gambling with Wellington’s many weather changes! | Stuart |
| Quite obvious really. | Bruce |
| Need to get away from imported oil as quick as we can | Michael |
| Blown water and waste water pipes are a case in point, for goodness sake, this woke cycleway crap has to be neutralised with haste. | Neville |
| Absolutely ridiculous | Gavin |
| New Plymouth is a prime example of this. | William |
| WCC has destroyed this city. The new mayor, ‘ do Little’ is a repeat of Whanau. He has the local talk-back host on his side, echoing his disinformation. | Ann |
| Infrastructure is a priority our news is too biased so cant comment as take no notice of it in main stream media | Mike |
| Fix the sewerage plant first, let those (very few) cyclists do it tough for the first time. Get rid of Tabatha. | Benjamin |
| There were a lot of things that needed to be fixed before cycleways. Huge waste of money. | Lily |
| Living in Auckland many are barely used and with our climate who would want to use them for travel to or from work, arriving at work wet through due to wind and rain events throughout a typical day. Used for leisure when weather can be considered first is ideal but not at the expense they have incurred. | sandy |
| per user, total waste of public money ! have one near tauranga, cost mega bucks, hardly any one on it!! waste of struglers hard earned money in my opinion !! can you prove otherwise ? what has happened to common sense in our lovely country, nz. | norman |
| By observation in Tauranga there is a total minority cycling. BUT minorities rule the world!! | hone |
| Too many overpaid idiots in councils | Mike |
| The relative handful of cyclists would be better served by joining thousands of others who swim in the sea (when it is free of pollution). | Hugh |
| Excessive | Richard |
| Spending is far, far too high even if they were fully utilized, which they are not. | Murray |
| Way too high to say the least; a waste of funding considering the extreme lack of use in our town. | Mike |
| The outcome of voting in politically alligned councillors | Pam |
| The Interesting Cycling Is a total demographic Young people Do not cycle Unless mountain biking Just check out whenever you see cyclists | Mike |
| Way, way too high | Ray |
| Far too high. Catering for a minority group of short stay residents who drain DCC coffers (unrecognised) in others ways also. | Valerie |
| not enough investigation in real beed areas as popped to hacking them in where a few people only reqest them, as they often seen empty | Elaine |
| Tauranga’ Cameron Rd and CBD – says it all. | Pam |
| They need to fix the roads | Meg |
| Cycle ways taking over. | Ann |
| They are a danger to humanity and used by lunatics. Close them all. | Chris |
| far too high. | judy |
| At the cost of? | Warren |
| the cycleway emphasis ignores pedestrian importance and roading infrastructure needs | GARRICK |
| high | Wiremu |
| Money should be spent on health or other more urgent social requirements | Phil |
| There seems to be endless money for these at the expense of many roads and footpaths. They are underused and will be as long as we are able to drive cars. | Bev |
| Essentials first | Leah |
| Infrastructure comes first second & third Sadly NZ has far to many Far Left Socialist Marxists within NZ Councils whom have No idea of the real world & its priorities. | Derek |
| Cycling is mainly leasure. Help needed for small businesses eg shops to have more access for parking etc and better roading more important. | David |
| So many roads have now been changed for the benefit of cyclists and the detriment of most people. What were four lane roads are now two lane roads with cycle lines on the sides. They have become a major cause of frustration for many people especially in Auckland with basically a single access route on the North Shore in and out of Devonport | Pauline |
| TOTAL waste of OUR hard-earned money | mike |
| We need more lanes on the roads for cars to get from A to B. The lost revenue from people sitting in stop-start traffic has been grossly understated. Many cycle lanes are empty while the roads beside jammed | FloJo |
| that septci jenter should be deport back to the states, shes as bad as trump and all the nz greens plus that usless new mayor, all councilors should be political neutral but unfortunately that will never happen so not only is this county screwed but local councils are so far up their own backside trying to get into the parliament pig trough to push out the so few decent MPs push bikes will always win over ratepayer funded important infrastructures like water/sewerage/power etc TAX THE BICYCLE | Richard |
| Drove through Hamilton,on freeways etc,for about about 10kms.There was a cycleway running adjacent to these roads and not 1 cycle was seen | Graham |
| Send the polies on a bike to deliver 3 kids to different areas to after school sporting fixtures and manage to get the weeks supermarket shopping home on a bike or bus while you get stabbed. Build houses with a garage or carport and stop cluttering the roads. People need car, nowhere to park but the road . Unsafe. for kids on bikes coming out of entrance ways with thousands of cars parked on the roads too close to entrances. | Jakz |
| Most cycleways are a waste of money | Lachlan |
| Pure insanity to prioritise cycleways in a hilly city where few people will use them instead of sorting the abysmally old infrastructure | Dianne |
| Excessive | Ruth |
| This spending has to stop. | Graeme |
| They do away with parking spots, they disrupt other traffic and hardly anybody uses them except on the weekends for recreation. | Ngaie |
| Should spend nothing, bubblegum for brains decision making. | Kathryn |
| Way too high. | George |
| Very good article. | Ann |
| An extravagant commitment to a minority of the population. | John |
| We need heaps of other things before cycleways. It’s stupid. | Andrew |
| Spending is far too high and cycle ways are causing major road blockages, besides only a few bikes on them. I was in Shanghai in late 1990’s with bikes and scooters blocking up roads as 8 lane highways were being finished. Now I envisage we in NZ with blocked highways making way for bikes. The truth is our topography, weather and distances from door to door will never get all of us on a bike! A pipe dream for our climate activists. | Pam |
| Just a total waste of taxpayer money | Heather |
| Misguided | peter |
| The prioritisation of unused nice to have cycleways over essential 3 waters infrastructure is criminal negligence! | Ihaia |
| Cycle-ways are still a real mess and require a lot of improvements. | Murray |
| Infrastructure should be priority NO 1.Cycleways are a huge waste of money and a major inconvenience wherever they are put and hardly ever used. | sandra |
| Most of them are hardly used! Such a terrible waste of money! | Mary |
| Too many cycleways | ken |
| Far too much ratepayers money spent to benefit far too few | Gareth |
| Simply not necessary | vaughan |
| Needs should always be prioritised over wants, especially by people spending other peoples money!!! | Brenda |
| Cycle ways should not take priority over important works like water and sewerage | Derek |
| sould be focusing on priorites | anthony |
| Water in its three forms should always be first followed by rubbish and access. I.e. roads. All the rest should be put aside until the above is in order. | Wayne |
| A far greater number of people use the toilet than use the nice to have cycle ways. It is all about priorities. DAH!! | Gary |
| However, must be qualified | Allan |
| The roads are being left to rot in spite of our levies being paid for them – charge cyclists a road tax if you want to continue on that road | tony |
| Way too much when there were far more important things to spend money on. It is simply a vanity project. | Kim |
| Cyclists need to pay road user charges, or they shouldn’t be allowed on public roads. | paul |
| Government & Central Government have taken this ideal to the extreme given our economic circumstances and priorities. | Barry |
| They need to pay road user charges. | paul |
| Absolutely ridiculous. For the number of cyclists you actually see using them, the cost was much too high. | Kelly |
| It more than obvious that spending priorities have been politically biased to the detriment of sound reasoning | Noel |
| Far too high with Wellington a classic example of cycleways given priority over essential infrastructure. | Don |
| Far too much is spent on cycleways | Pauline |
| In Napier, where I live, there are many wonderful cycling options available – from lengthy and interesting pathways on the beach front to to equally wonderful tracks across riverbanks, designated mountain biking tracks through forests, and biking lanes all over the city streets.I have no idea how much money has been spent on these assets for cyclists, and whilst whilst I applaud there being these facilities for us all to enjoy and benefit from, there must surly need to be, in the future, a means by which cyclists contribute to the cost of it all – as,of course, motor vehicle uses do to the roading nfrastructure . As with roads, ithe cost doesn’t stop with the construction; it’s on going with maintenance . Anyway, Napier and indeed the entire Hawkes Bay region, does not need any further money spent on developing any further Cycling amenities – certainly not for some time to come. If the explosion in Rates Demands is anything to go by, we have already over prioriyised what is a leisure activity, not an essential piece of infrastructure. | Heather |
| Cycle paths and bus lanes placed on existing roads that reduce the net capacity of the roading system is blatant theft which favours a minority of citizens over the majority. | Richard |
| Prioritise essentials first | John |
| Far too high | Ranald |
| Been spent on agendas not on need | Lindsay |
| This is a clear argument to never allow loony lefties anywhere near any local or national government function | chris |
| Nice to have but there are more important area needing urgent attention | Graeme |
| Way out of proportion to the rest of transport | Edward |
| When are councils going to prioritise the basics first, instead of wasting ratepayers money on grandiose ideology. | Dawson |
| Bread and butter first. Not pudding MUST be the priority for ALL elected decision makers. Far, far to much money has been misdirected at the whim of feckless elected decision makers at local and Parliament. | Philip |
| Lack of users highlights the waste this policy has been | David |
| A lot of money for the use they seem to get | Leon |
| A long way too high. The traffic engineering in Wellington has been appalling. We don’t need speed humps and water infrastructure needs replacement before road resurfacing | Donald |
| Far too much Council spending is based on Nice to Have instead of Definitely Needed. Seemingly too many ideologically driven, educationally misinformed university graduates controlling the spend. | Bruce |
| More important priorities | Martin |
| Way too high. There are many more deserving issues than allowing bike riders get free access to expensive and over constructed cycle paths | LAURA |
| Cycle ways are “nice to haves” but other infrastructure i.e. water and waste water must surely take precedent. Why doesn’t common sense exist in local councils in NZ exist? The enormous amount of money spent for relatively low use by cyclists’ cannot be justified over essential works. Common sense! | chris |
| Ideology gone mad. In Hamilton these cycleways are rarely used. Just a waste of ratepayer and taxpayer money. | Chris |
| Some of them are a waste of Ratepayers money. I have also observed cyclist on the road when there was a cycleway available. | Richard |
| There are far more economic and social issues that should get priority. | Dave |
| RED FOR DANGER…… GREENS for VERY DANGEROUS INDEED!!Think about that at the forthcoming Election. GOD DEFEND NEW ZEALAND. | Bruce |
| In my town it has destroyed any form of traffic management & parking – the aim was to take cars out of the town – traffic is now gridlocked and very low numbers of cyclists use the gold plated cycle ways | Peter |
| Fix the basics first. | Doug |
| Excessive and wasteful at the expense of much roadside parking outside business premises! | Brian |
| Miles too much spent on cycleways to the detriment of core business | Bill |
| Rate payer money should be spent on the basic needs of the population ie water roads public transport schooling Not things like cycle ways | john |
| cycle ways are a nice to have if you can afford it, which in Wellingtons case they could not. You have to wonder about the intelligence of some counsellors. | Allan |
| Low useage does not warrant the cost | Rod |
| The proportion of people who use the cycleways is way lower than the need for extra lanes for cars so traffic will flow better. | Rae |
| Based on the number of users expenditure is very wasteful | Peter |
| Councils spend far too much on cycleways that that are very seldom used by the majority of cyclists. Most greenies do not live up to the expectation that they will save the planet. they still drive cars,fly in planes. They are ideologists who do not live up their own expectations.. | Steve |
| Mind boggling idiocy to prioritise cycling over essential services. | Neville |
| what percentage of the population use cycleways and do they pay for them as motorists pay to use the roads, I think not | alastair |
| There are MORE IMPORTANT things that NEED money spent on them. | Cindy |
| Popularism re- climate action and associated cycle ways since Ardern and her green cronies came on the scene have wrecked NZs economy locally & nationally. Just look around NZ to see these glorified cycle ways mostly not used but there as symbols of our push for the green ideologies.Clinate activism is dead & this cycle ways are done with cars still proving the way to transport people | Murray |
| No need to waste any more money on this sort of thing, get the water pipes and systems working first before anything else. | COLIN |
| Ideological waste of money. | Paul |
| We are literally in the shit due to these idiot councillors. Brains of a knat. Labour and greens are blatantly idiots along with mainstream media. The country is stuffed if they ever get the reins of parliament… | Allan |
| We do not have same mind set as the Europeans and luxury of an efficient public transport system. Many of them do not own cars, hence the use of bikes. | Peter |
| All Wellington cyclists should be made to pay road-user fees – (I mean they ‘use the roads’, right?), wear Hi-Vis jackets for safety, that also have an ID number on the jackets’ backs so we can report the cyclists who jump red lights and who have no rear or front light. | Nick The Greek |
| An historical continuation of unrealistic Councillors. | Ian |
| How many times have you seen cyclists on the cycle ways? | Maurice |
| Add speed humps too! | john |
| Awful lot of money for very few people! | Michael |
| A complete waste of money. | Terry M |
| Especially in Wellingtons case where essential services were neglected in favour of a cycle way. | Mick |
| Excellent article!!!! | Helen |
| we have more important things to spend our money on | noel |
| A council should prioritise spending on its core services before anything else. There was a time when councils were the servants of the people, but today they are the lords of the manor and the people (rate payers) are the serfs. | Fred |
| You DON’T have to ride a bike but you DO have to sit on a toilet. | Mick |
| money wasted on nice to have things before priorities, they need to get heads out of the sand. | Chris |
| Infrastructure first. Always!! | David |
| The rush into cycleways is the result of ideological zealotrym | Julian |
| Stop the Superficial spending on Mythical Ideology that most Folk can live without and concentrate on the Main Practicle Day to Day Needs. Otherwise it will bite your Budget later on !! Too much Procrastination and not enough Practicality. | geoff |
| Insane – especially as electric bikes now rule the lanes – no walking or dog walking with these silent killers zooming front and back – even more insane that these users pay NOT A SINGLE CENT for their adventures – why are they not licensed to ride a motorised vehicle and why are these vehicles not registered too??? Everything else is registered including the dog and the trailer (no motor!),! | Jan |
| Inadequate thought and consultation before acting | Graham |
| Unnecessary rates increasing luxuries to appease and tody to a very small portion of the population. | charles |
| Charge Annual Cycle Registration fees, say $25 and pay for cycleways with this money. | Mark |
| Very much too high | David |
| No longer affordable to the tax payer. Need better housing and health care | Linda |
| we have more problems in life than cycleways | mike |
| Cycleways have turned into an ideological boondoggle and obsession that meets no cost benefit analysis whatsoever. Real problems go ignored (Wellington’s Moa Point anyone?) while environmental communists obsess over personal obsessions and nonsense. | John |
| A waste of tax/rate payer money. | Rod |
| In and around modern cities and towns, cycleways are totally inappropriate for safe and secure transportation of ratepayers, accessing essential services. | Jim |
| In many cases, an overkill of cycleways where now a large number of them are severely under used.A huge waste of funds that could have been put to better use on traffic control. | Robyn |
| In a city with the topography of Wellington cycleways are a complete nonsense. That stupidity lies with the Greens and until Wellingtonians wake up and elect people with a bit of nous, the nonsense will continue. | Sally |
| get priorities sorted first. | Gavin |
| Are more people riding bikes since cycleways have been installed? Some of these lanes cause inconvenience and some confusion to motorists | Laurence |
| Many cycle ways are monuments to ecosocialism that are not justified on a cost benefit analysis. | Kent |
| Not anti cycleways, but it’s a question of priorities. Especially in Wgtn’s case. | Marilyn |
| Lunatic leftist politicians should never be allowed to do anything or spend public money without adult supervision. | Hugh |
| It should be all about actual practical priorities – not “like to haves” such as rainbow crossings or cycleways.. | Roy |
| Far,far too high and in many cases it is money spent for the enjoyment of the few, at the cost to the majority. | William |
| Councils need to stick to the core infrastructure necessity’s such as roads water sewerage footpaths and not vanity feel good projects | Neil |
| Spending on cycle ways are not needed when Water pipes in Wellington need to be replaced straight away & the whole system needs replacing because it was not done when it became obvious! | Dominique Greenslade |
| Our population does not cycle, it’s such a tiny minority who do. | Sharon |
| The country faces $46b of borrowings for water assets under LWDW or 3 waters cycleways need to wait. | john |
| Ridiculous to prioritise cycleways over infrastructure! | Janette |
| In my area | Mike |
| Unnecessary | Rosemary |
| A TOTAL WASTE of our MONEY. | Simon |
| For years always too high | Hylton |
| Too many cycle ways are over engineered and costly when painted lines on roads are perfectly adequate as I can attest as a frequent user of the painted cycle ways on Papanui Road a very busy commuter route into ChCh | Terry |
| urban cycle ways are way over rated , too costly to build, and the ones i have seen have very little or intermittent use | john |
| Far Far to high mostly they are hardly used it would be interesting to put counters on them as I believe the numbers would be extremely low on many | Peter |
| didn’t need to be that flash. | Gerhard |
| A ridiculous over-spend of money. | Mark |
| Far, Far too High! | murray |
| The Councils have lost sight of the core needs of Councils responsibilities to rate payers and Values and instead are wasting money on vanity project’s and woke behavior,this is the price we are paying for left leaning majorities on Councils | Peter |
| This very benign question does not really hit matters at hand. The question should be this: Do you think the councillors who made the decisions causing the technical failures at the Moa Point facilities are to be sacked and put before the courts for criminal negligence and jailed. YES or NO. | Michael |
| Cycleways are nice to haves, fixing up roads are must haves | Alec |
| You needed excessive, over the top or just plain far too bloody high as options. | pdm |
| Not just too high, excessively so. | Graeme |
| Drunks in charge of the brewery | Bart |
| Back to basics of water, sewerage, roads. Nice to have airy fairy stuff serves no purpose other than inflate the ego of those who push for it. Mis-spending of rates is the route cause of ridiculous rate increases. | Gary |
| The cost of building all the cycleways compared with the number of cyclists using them must be about $1,000,000 to $1.00 | Bruce |
| Should be set aside completely until the basics are remediated. An urgently review of the LTP should be undertaken and infrastructure assets prioritized as A. Vanity projects set aside as per an Assumptions page and just get on with it. Only Councillors with demonstrated education, skills and expertise should be making the decisions on what goes forward into the LTP, not idiots wanting to run an Asylum. | Alexandra |
| Bloody Ridiculous in country areas. In the city bike lanes seam to more important than the car lanes. | Graeme |
| Cyclists pay nothing for their cycle privilege. | Brett |
| The jamming of cycleways into regions and areas where weather and topology is generally averse to cycling at great cost and to the detriment of traffic flows is plain stupid. | Tony |
| Forget the cycleways. Fix the water/sewerage problems! Of course. | Lee |
| The basics should have first priority, then the nice to haves. | Jan |
| Ridiculous amount spent on cycle ways | Carl |
| With central left government pushing cycleways instead of building and maintaining roads we now are in a catch up role thanks to the last Govt. | Margaret |
| This is another example of total incompetence from absolute morons. | Chris |
| World wide ideology to get people out of cars | Caroline |
| I have written to Chris Bishop regarding cycle ways and the funding of same, my bitch is this, cyclists, pay nothing towards the maintenance of these roads. Also where I live, we have dedicated cycleways but the lycra wearers refuse to use them, in favour of the 80km road. Yesterday some geriatric grey bearded cyclist, believed it was his right to cycle in the centre of the main road, then cut the corner into the oncoming lane, all this in an 80km highway. We consistently have to wait before we can pass cyclists who ride two abreast on the 80km highway, refusing to use the cycleways provided. Am I upset, annoyed, and peed off with cyclists, you bet I am. | Peter |
| So much money spent for so few! Far too many nice to haves instead of necessities | Dominic |
| Wrong priorities | Derek |
| Cyclists do not fund the infrastructure, or contribute to maintenance. Most cycleways stop no where and put the cyclist ar risk. Usage of cycleways is limited, if at all and initial usage estimates to justify the expense grossly over stated. There is no cost benefit, only mythe. I am a cyclist… | Raymond |
| We can’t afford it. | Evans |
| What about “FAR too high”? That should have been an option. | antoni |
| Cycle ways only when necessary, in complex motor traffic and pedestrian areas. No need just because there’s some road. | Lawrence |
| Another nice to have paid for by someone else | Francis |
| If councils had any brains they would use footpaths as cycle ways as not many use footpaths any longer | Colin |
| Most cycleways we observe are almost always empty; a complete waste of council funds. Look after the important things .. cyclists contribute zero to the funding of their cyclewsys. | Don |
| While Rome burns they are all still fiddling on their idealogical pet projects. | Mike |
| sewerage always trumps cycle ways by a country mile.It is an other example of a shortage of common sense. | galem |
| Bicycles should be registered so the tax pays for cycle ways. Bicycles should not be on the road as they are only glorified pedestrians. | Gavin |
| These cycleways are brilliant and a great way to encourage people to exercise and enjoy OFF THE ROADWAYS. | Brian |
| Every council across NZ needs to prioritise need to do above nice to do. If there isn’t any money nice to do doesn’t get done | Rod |
| Huge expense, cycleways under-utilized. Good, taxpayer/ratepayers’ money goes to waste, year in, year out. People are pissed off, change needs to come, and come fast. | Grahame |
| Cycling is a low priority enjoyed by a minority who prefer off road dirt tracks for their thrills | RICHard |
| Not essential, and a total waste of ratepayers’ money when the essentials are being neglected, | Rod |
| cycleways are strangling cities and city businesses by taking up space once used for carparks and by impeding traffic flows. They are a huge waste of money as they are only lightly used at best and most of the time they are empty while the roads are overflowing. | Francis |
| and now this government are going to allow cyclists under 12 years of age to ride on footpaths?What about the elderly who are already struggling to keep on their feet and now have further risk of being knocked over?Footpaths are exactly that.FOOT paths!!! | Linda |
| Over engineered Vanity projects funded while core infrastructure ignored. | John |
| Waste of time and money! | John |
| This ridiculous decision threw Wellington traffic into chaos, closed businesses down, and took needed funds away from wastewater infrastructure. I have yet to see anybody riding up Brooklyn hill with shopping bags full. Greens lunacy. | Andrew |
| And hardly a cyclist on them | Gail |
| It’s a waste of money ! We can%u2019t afford as a country this waste . It’s like a household you won’t go out and buy a new car when you have to borrow money to eat and pay the bills . It’s no different . | Dean |
| The majority of the populations needs should come first every time. | Barry |
| Have you seen our inland roads Gisborne: littered with potholds/sinkholes: GDC are not maintaing our metal rural roads anymore – absolutley dangerous hazards | Diane |
| Cycleways are a waste of space and a waste of MY rates money. All they do is create traffic conjestion. The idiots in councils that put them there should all go too. | Des |
| Prioritise the necessary. Save money on the nice-to-haves & encourage philanthropists to provide the extras, or not … | Tess |
| It is noticable when i spot a lone cyclist on a recently constructed cycle paths in my Province. Not a great prioritizing of expenditure when needs are passed over for wants by councils. | Bruno |
| Idealogy allowed to rule rather than employing a common sense approach guided by expert opinion. Rates payers becoming increasingly frustrated by inexperienced councilors block voting, resulting in diverting money to build cycle ways that in most cases are rarely used | Howard |
| Councils, like governments, are entities that are intended to provide and administer infrastructure and policies for the benefit of all stakeholders. The introduction of ideology should not be at the expense of their primary obligations and should only be considered when there is a surplus of resources that do not further tax the public.Shame on the media for not reporting on issues of concern or interest – they are no longer relevant. | Martin |
| NZ cities do not have the numbers for this transport policy of cycleways. Deficient policies by deficient political idealogues. | Graham |
| Disgraceful. | Graham |
| Hardly see anyone using them | Lou |
| Love thecycleways | Diana |
| I’ve recently been observing cycle ways and their use in Auckland. They are totally underused. In one day alone observing one busy road which has been now narrowed to allow for a cycle way in a four hour period I noted one cyclist. Total waste of taxpayers money. | Jacqueline |
| I cycle but there are more pressing priorities. We cant afford to buy low priority goodies. Voters are stupid. | Graham |
| Cyclists are indulged and contribute nothing to the costs of their sport, or if you like, mode of transport. | Toby |
| As much of an issue is the placement of cycleways and the dangerous disruption that they cause, not ot mention the cost ratio | Brent |
| Forget cycleways, they are a luxury we cant afford. Spend our money fixing the pipes. | Deborah |
| While cycleways have a part in our councils long term plans , they do not come as priorities over infrastructure projects which need urgent attention and funding, if councils continue to prioritise nice to have projects over critical broken public works – we face a move towards broken communities and third world standards | John |
| Infrastructure should always be prioritised. | AndyE |
| Nice to have works like cycleways are dooming many towns and cities in New Zealand. to frequent failures of aging infrastructure that is being asked to work long past its original design specifications. Time that priorities were reset in my view. to accept this issue as urgent – not left in a backroom cupboard. . | John |
| Better In chrischurch to get the trains running with existing tracks being utilised from south, east, west and north | Kay |
| Most cycleways are far too close to vehicle traffic; they should be part of the footpath and berm, behind the kerb. If available space is too limited, catch a subsidised bus, drive a car, catch a taxi or walk part of the way on the footpath. The costs to build cycleways are huge for the limited use that they receive. Put the money into better, safer roads and city infrastructure services. | DAVID |
| Cylists should have to be licensed & have insurance. Cycles hould have to have number plates. | Derek |
| no need for cycle ways because pretty soon most people will be too poor to have cars anyway. | Charles |
| I expect that very few motorists wish to deliberately harm a cyclist, or another vehicle. So why spend truckload on unnecessary and unwanted cycleways? 0nly things to fear in Wellington are dopey officials and those old retarded Councilors | Anthony |
| Ridiculous management by the councillors | Gordon |
| Waste, of spending on local looney, ‘GREEN PROJECTS’ which are a traffic hazard, in Wellington, with the giant mess, that the council have made, turning the roads into dangerous cycle lanes, such a hazard and waste of money! | David |
| Unbalanced spend on under-utilised assets. | Ian |
| There seems to be a complete lack of common sense among so many of our elected councilors. I blame so much of this on all the left leaning council members and with a media who seem to all think the same way and will stop at nothing to hide the truth from normal thinking commonsensical people. I have a friend who tells me it is white liberal woman who are the huge supporters of the left wing parties and politics. | Paul |
| Way too much money has been spent on cycleways – at a cost to the flow of general traffic. It wouldn’t be so bad if people used them, but most of the time they are empty! | Scott |
| Green candidates had to swear allegiance to the Green Party if they were elected – and they also have to pay a proportion of their council income to the Party. So they are unlikely to put the public interest first – ever! | Murray |
| In some parts of the country cycleways are ridiculous. Unfortunately, too many councillors do not understand the gravity of the choices they have to make, and too many council staff push left-wing agendas as well. It is a hopeless situation! | Pete |
| In our area the council built some great walking and cycleways, but the ones on busy roads that now constrict traffic flow are nuts! They are hardly used by cyclists but they delay traffic. And who was it that funded all those flash ebike charging stations? Our town has heaps, but there are never any bikes using them! | Fiona |
| The Moa Point crisis was so predictable in light of the spending priorities of the 2021 Wellington Council. Good on Peter Bassett for uncovering those responsible – and shame on the media for their witch hunt. | Sam |