Today’s Let’s Get Wellington Moving announcement is more evidence that fixing Wellington’s traffic congestion is going nowhere under Labour, National’s Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

“After almost five years in Government and spending almost $40 million on consultants, all the Government has come up with is a ‘preferred option’ regarding rapid transit in Wellington.

“There is still no commitment from NZTA towards completing a business case, no funding agreement, and no plan to start construction until at least 2028.

“Not only is this another failure to deliver by the Minister of Transport Michael Wood, the preferred option also fails to take into account the actual needs of Wellingtonians, which is for the route between Miramar and Wellington CBD to have four lanes for general traffic.

“Labour might have proposed a ‘four-lane tunnel’, but the reality is that two lanes will be for buses only, leaving only two lanes for general traffic – no different to the current situation, which is the cause of significant congestion and delays.

“Labour has put its ideological preference for light rail ahead of what Wellingtonians actually need with an un-costed plan which doesn’t stack up.

“This is Auckland light rail 2.0, which Labour promised it would deliver to Mt Roskill by 2022, yet we still haven’t seen a spade hit the dirt. It is clear Labour is still in denial about its inability to deliver light rail in Auckland.

“Labour has been excellent at organising working groups and talkfests for Wellington but haven’t been able to start any major new transport investment in the region.”