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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Tracks, Lies and Audiotape

I'm a great believer that debates should be about ideas not personalities. When you disagree, you should attack the message and not the messenger.

But, when Sue Kedgley bolsters her argument with half-truths, well, somebody has to hold her to account. Today, that somebody is me...

I left last night's "Save the Line" meeting with an uneasy feeling that the good people of Johnsonville had been conned.

Firstly, it's easy to drum up support for rail when the public is kept in the dark about the alternatives. I chatted with a number of people after the meeting and was one of the last to leave. I believe a majority of attendees arrived knowing little about the busway, and left knowing no more. During the meeting any mention of the busway was quickly stifled by Ms Kedgley saying, "That's not what this meeting is about. This meeting is about saving the rail." Which is true, it was about saving rail; it was not about choosing the most effective public transport.

Secondly, Ms Kedgley bolstered her argument with a number of misleading statements, which I feel someone has to point out.

  • She made a big deal of the recent growth in rail patronage; never mentioning that bus patronage has grown by by a similar percentage over the same period!

  • If the busway goes ahead, she said "the estimates are" for 30 to 40 extra buses per hour. She never mentioned who made that estimate. Did she make it herself? The real estimate, in the North Wellington Public Transport study, is 16-18 extra buses per hour (page E13 in the Technical Appendix). Even allowing for the recent 13% growth, that's still only 20 extra buses per hour. That's one bus every 3 minutes, which equals approximately two extra buses on Lambton Quay at any given time. (Does anyone seriously suggest that Lambton Quay is so congested it can't accomodate two more vehicles?!)

  • She said (I took notes) that electric trains "emit no carbon". That's like saying that Bill Clinton never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. It may be technically correct, but it's also misleading. The careful wording suggests deliberate deception. Yes, no carbon dioxide is emitted by the actual trains, but 25% of their electricity does come from fossil fuels (including coal, now that Huntly is coal-fired).

  • She said that the Johnsonville busway would be the only one-way busway in the world. That's another "Clinton-esque" statement. It's easy to find an example of a one-way busway: look no further than Auckland where the last 2.5 kms of the new busway will be one way. The difference is that the one-way portion will run in the mornings only. It won't reverse direction at lunchtime (and it's not a guided busway).


I was disapointed to see her last point make it into Radio New Zealand's piece this morning (listen). I guess I can't complain though, since they included a soundbite from me too ;-)

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