Trials and Data Correlations

Obviously nothing winds the car addicted defenders of status quo up more than then losing their perceived god given right to continue to dominate any potential alternative or more enlightened way of doing things. Yes, SOME people don't have options so do need their car. But not all. No, not everyone 'needs' their car EVERY day. 2 days a week using an alternative = a 40% reduction. Yes, eBikes (& good wet weather gear) can do your 15km commute very easily and normally quicker than cars can. Yes, we do need more public transport - so try voting for local politicians that actively support public transport. No, car drivers don't solely pay for roads. 50% of local roading funding comes from property rates - you know, the property rates that the bus riders and cyclists also pay.

Mark Hill-Rennie?yes, a survey is currently underway with local business. It will be interesting to see the results. I have received feedback personally from two businesses and one independent contractor who works in the area. The businesses have suffers a loss, and the contracted has had to cut her work hours, losing $450+ a week. She is a medical professional who works with booked clientele and was repeatedly missing bookings repeatedly due to congestion, forcing her hand. She is lucky as she could do that, many others cannot as their employers are not so understanding. I’ve also been doing research on other LTAs internationally, most are now removed, and considered unlawful.? The problem is, we really don’t know what the problem *was. As we weren’t and still haven’t yet been consulted, it has never been clear. Things were already safe (according to the data there were no actual incidents within the LTN prior to the trial), and traffic flowed rather well. Now, we’re seeing what I described above. One resident put it nicely, that the only problem in the area is the one this created. Another made a good point in asking that the team please stop referring to local children being safer, that’s not the case. Yes, children in the LTN are, but most local children are outside the LTN and are now no longer allowed to walk by themselves or ride bikes etc. To me that’s not a good trade off.? My personal opinion as to why these fail is that idealism isn’t being balanced with the reality of the situation. Much of what we’ve had in terms of response has been to “get out of your cars”. In Onehunga, a relatively low socioeconomic area, we work where the work is. Being told to work local (which is a comment we got) is just not going to cut it.

While I put together my content for Tuesday here’s some other interesting data, this time regarding the budget, details of which were provided in??the agenda for Tuesday.?The total budget of $580k awarded to this project was meant to cover the multiple stages of the Arthur/ Grey??project, and also the East View trial.?At this stage, $421k??has been used, yet it’s not progressed past stage one, with no changes, no visible extra spend, while East View has not been started. The project has requested another $300k to do this.?Note that when the community asked about budget to communicate the Have Your Say survey, we were told that there was no budget for this. So exactly where has this $421k gone?The community was also originally told there were no dependencies between the Onehunga and East View projects, only to see there is. In fact, it now seems if the Arthur / Grey trial fails the East Link trial cannot progress. It is poor management to hang a totally separate type of trial in a totally separate area, on the success of an LTA in Onehunga.? Just more food for thought.

Alec, it's ridiculous comparing traffic data during Apr21 when we have the 2-week school holidays and Anzac weekend, with Nov20. How scientific is that?

As a change manager of with over 17 years’ experience, including in analytics and data collection, and having reviewed all the available data, I am very comfortable in stating that the data collection for this trial is seriously flawed. Many roads haven’t been measured at all, speed counters are in areas where a driver is naturally forced to slow down, and don’t show the extension of the congestion period (up over 400%)... the vast majority of 80% are against the trial, and most feel less safe since it started. LTN streets are dead except for a tiny handful, and not being used for the intended purpose. Meanwhile the surrounding streets are now landlocked by all the cars. People are switching from alternatives back to driving, and the vulnerable are less safe than ever. Crime is also on the increase within the LTN. Some of that’s in the data, some hasn’t even been measured despite them supposedly being the success criteria.? This isn’t an issue of change resistance, it’s an issue of a poorly run project with absolutely NO consultation with the affected people, (60 out of the whole community is not a representative sample). It has no real concept, no real purpose. It’s poorly thought out, and poorly managed from a financial point of view. The team are idealistic, with no respect for the community despite them having close ties through yourself and others. ? Its saddening to see the continued spin coming from the project team and their ties, and total lack of respect shown to the community. I look forward to being able to have my say this coming Tuesday and demonstrating what a true representation of impact to the community looks like.?