Another week , another disastrous poll for Labour

[Lilith7]

Far left bunch of communists who believe in social equity and positive environmental action? So dangerous.

As for roads, if weight limits for heavy vehicles had been changed along with increased budgets for repairing the roads they destroyed we might not need drastic action. Or, we could just invest in better ways to transport ourselves and the stuff we need around this narrow elongated country.

Always so swift with the handy 'commie' label. I sometimes wonder how they'd react if those on the left were as quick to call anyone even slightly right a fascist.


And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

Perhaps light rail bears looking into; other countries use it & perhaps we could too.

[Wainuiguy]

Far left bunch of communists who believe in social equity and positive environmental action? So dangerous.

As for roads, if weight limits for heavy vehicles had been changed along with increased budgets for repairing the roads they destroyed we might not need drastic action. Or, we could just invest in better ways to transport ourselves and the stuff we need around this narrow elongated country.

Always so swift with the handy 'commie' label. I sometimes wonder how they'd react if those on the left were as quick to call anyone even slightly right a fascist.


And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

Perhaps light rail bears looking into; other countries use it & perhaps we could too.

Light rail is fine for transporting people in urban areas not for heavy goods.  Heavy rail or coastal shipping is good for moving large amounts of product but trucks still needed to get it from there to shops and other unlinked towns and cities.

[harm_less]

And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

The issue we now have with failing road surfaces can be directly attributed to the increased tonnages allowed by the Key government, assumedly to please their transport industry aligned associates. They now are all too prepared to blame the 'state of the roads' on a lack of maintenance by the current (and previous ) government rather than accept responsibility for their poorly thought through legislative changes on maximum HGV weight limits, and the previous National government's throttling off on social infrastructure spending. A clear example of the sort of short term decisions we are likely to again suffer if the electorate can't decipher NAct's electioneering BS.

In regard to moving freight away from roads and onto our railway network this is something we saw happening first hand over the past year or two as many rail units of logs passed on the railway line that runs along our front boundary. This has reduced markedly over the past few months apparently because the increasingly competitive log industry found road transport cheaper than rail. The number of log trucks and huge piles of logs at Port Taranaki would tend to indicate that log volumes are still substantial, as does the dire state of SH3 both north and south of New Plymouth. Perhaps the coming RUC system rejig which will bring EVs and hybrids into that taxation system will also see rates increase for these HGV sufficient to tip the economics back in favour of rail carriage.

[Lilith7]

Always so swift with the handy 'commie' label. I sometimes wonder how they'd react if those on the left were as quick to call anyone even slightly right a fascist.


And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

Perhaps light rail bears looking into; other countries use it & perhaps we could too.

Light rail is fine for transporting people in urban areas not for heavy goods.  Heavy rail or coastal shipping is good for moving large amounts of product but trucks still needed to get it from there to shops and other unlinked towns and cities.

And somehow I thought that would be so well known that it didn't need to be mentioned.

---

And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

The issue we now have with failing road surfaces can be directly attributed to the increased tonnages allowed by the Key government, assumedly to please their transport industry aligned associates. They now are all too prepared to blame the 'state of the roads' on a lack of maintenance by the current (and previous ) government rather than accept responsibility for their poorly thought through legislative changes on maximum HGV weight limits, and the previous National government's throttling off on social infrastructure spending. A clear example of the sort of short term decisions we are likely to again suffer if the electorate can't decipher NAct's electioneering BS.

In regard to moving freight away from roads and onto our railway network this is something we saw happening first hand over the past year or two as many rail units of logs passed on the railway line that runs along our front boundary. This has reduced markedly over the past few months apparently because the increasingly competitive log industry found road transport cheaper than rail. The number of log trucks and huge piles of logs at Port Taranaki would tend to indicate that log volumes are still substantial, as does the dire state of SH3 both north and south of New Plymouth. Perhaps the coming RUC system rejig which will bring EVs and hybrids into that taxation system will also see rates increase for these HGV sufficient to tip the economics back in favour of rail carriage.

Agreed; I think it shows the dangers of  business interests having the ear of some within various govts. They'll obviously be biased.

 Imo lobbying should be ended or at the very least, far more carefully scrutinised & considered before any action is taken.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Far left bunch of communists who believe in social equity and positive environmental action? So dangerous.

As for roads, if weight limits for heavy vehicles had been changed along with increased budgets for repairing the roads they destroyed we might not need drastic action. Or, we could just invest in better ways to transport ourselves and the stuff we need around this narrow elongated country.

Always so swift with the handy 'commie' label. I sometimes wonder how they'd react if those on the left were as quick to call anyone even slightly right a fascist.


And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

Perhaps light rail bears looking into; other countries use it & perhaps we could too.

It is a bit ignorant, I agree, to not be able to differentiate between communism and socialism. Especially seeing we all live in a socialist state. It is also ignorant to not be able to differentiate between communism the political ideology, and the reality of failed communist states, their evils being more the product of power hungry individuals prepared to sacrifice the welfare of the many for the enrichment of the very few.

Mind you, put under the microscope capitalism doesn't fare much better with its insistence on growth at all costs.

---

Always so swift with the handy 'commie' label. I sometimes wonder how they'd react if those on the left were as quick to call anyone even slightly right a fascist.


And yes, had more sense been used about weight limits we might not now have such problems with roading - which illustrates clearly the inability or unwillingness of most politicians to take a long term view & give rather more thought to the future.

Perhaps light rail bears looking into; other countries use it & perhaps we could too.

Light rail is fine for transporting people in urban areas not for heavy goods.  Heavy rail or coastal shipping is good for moving large amounts of product but trucks still needed to get it from there to shops and other unlinked towns and cities.

True, but not quite the size and weight of the massive vehicles wrecking havoc on our nationwide highways.

[nzoomed]

I would like to see a return to intercity rail between main centres like we once had, I would use it to go to Auckland if it was fast and efficient. Would require a significant upgrade, but would beat heading up in a car and mess around finding a park, etc.

[Wainuiguy]

I would like to see a return to intercity rail between main centres like we once had, I would use it to go to Auckland if it was fast and efficient. Would require a significant upgrade, but would beat heading up in a car and mess around finding a park, etc.

NZ Rail was never fast or efficient.

[Lilith7]

I would like to see a return to intercity rail between main centres like we once had, I would use it to go to Auckland if it was fast and efficient. Would require a significant upgrade, but would beat heading up in a car and mess around finding a park, etc.

And in the long term it makes more sense.

Unless of course, those flying taxis we hear about now & then eventuate.  

[nzoomed]

I would like to see a return to intercity rail between main centres like we once had, I would use it to go to Auckland if it was fast and efficient. Would require a significant upgrade, but would beat heading up in a car and mess around finding a park, etc.

NZ Rail was never fast or efficient.

Agreed, it was left in a poor state with little investment made into its later years prior to selling off.
Would require a significant amount of money to invest to get it up to any comparable standard such as Australia.
Over there their system was super efficient and fast to get around when i used it.
Would obviously require exploring different funding options, but historically rail has been a great way to move large volumes of people around.

[Wainuiguy]

Australia have wide gauge rails don't they? We went cheap initially so fast trains are an impossibility now.

[Kenj]

Australia have wide gauge rails don't they?  We went cheap initially so fast trains are an impossibility now.

No, we went narrow because of the terrain and tightness of corners. So my long-deceased father-in-law told me. And he was a steam locomotive, then railcar driver who retired in the mid 60's.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

One of our problems as I understand it is our old tunnels and the height of modern containers that might not scrape through...