Submission Results Published

Results of the submission process have just been published.

The Regional Council has published a summary, a more detailed overview, and a full report (350k PDF).

Submissions were received on two different forms, the Council's standard form, and one handed out by the Bus and Coach Association (representing bus companies). Submissions on the standard forms favoured rail, while submissions on the Bus and Coach form favoured the busway. When you add them all up, the overall majority favours the busway.

I'm sure some people will question the result, given the number of pro-busway submissions that were made on forms handed out by the bus company. However, we should bear the following points in mind:

• I have heard that the rail company also handed out material to their customers. But they didn't hand out a form to be completed, they merely handed out material that encouraged passengers to complete the standard form. So, it is fair to assume that a number of submissions made on the standard forms were encouraged by the rail company. (BTW: Does anyone have an example of the form they handed out? I never saw it myself.)



• It's not entirely suprising that a majority of rail customers support rail and a majority of bus customers support the busway. That's human nature - we feel comfortable with what we're accustomed to. The actions of the bus and rail companies only served to exaggerate that natural tendency, since each organisation campaigned amongst its own customer base. (By the way, as I've noted before, the busway is just as good as rail for existing rail users. It's a more frequent service, on the same route with the same stations, running right into the CBD - but the rail company was hardly likely to point that out!)

I think Councillor Glen Evans sums it up wisely: "We accept the sincerity of the views put forward on the [Bus and Coach] form, however the form does not include the information available on the standard consultation form. For example, the standard form allows you to comment on other scenarios, the Bus and Coach form does not."[emphasis added]

There's lots of information in the PDF report, and I'll post more about it soon...