Mayoral Forum: Public transport is the new black

A report about the Green Party Mayoral Forum from Avondale-Roskill City Vision Council candidate Donna Wynd:

Transport activists who attended the Greens mayoral forum last night were probably surprised to find that all the mayoral candidates came out strongly in favour of improved passenger transport. What a difference three years makes - petrolhead and Eastern Motorway fanatic John Banks did his best to convince us he is a convert to public transport.

In fact, the strangest utterance of the night came from His Former Worship. Candidates were asked if they favoured turning Queen Street into a pedestrian mall, and he replied yes, if it was integrated with public transport and cars. Now, I'm not an urban designer, but isn't the point of pedestrian malls that they aren't integrated with cars?

Last but not least, this was a forum put on by the Green Party so the candidates were asked what they would do to make Auckland carbon-neutral by 2020. To help answer this question for yourselves, stop and think about which transport device is the most efficient machine ever invented, is versatile enough to be used by South Auckland school children and Rwandan coffee farmers, and emits no exhaust fumes?

Why, the bicycle, of course. Not a single candidate mentioned making Auckland more cycle-friendly. An oversight, surely?

Editors note: Donna has been known to cycle for New Zealand at the Olympics from time to time.