Auckland Mayor Len Brown is confident that Auckland will deliver on public transport at
Saturday's clash between Australia and Ireland at Eden Park.Mr Brown told a media conference today that everyone was doing their level best to address the issues on Friday when at least 2000 people missed the opening ceremony at Eden Park because of train delays.
Not all those involved in ferrying RWC punters around share Len Brown's sense of confidence however; read on:
Mr Brown's confidence was not shared by Auckland Transport's Rugby World Cup transport director, Bruce Barnard, who refused to guarantee a safe passage by train to Eden Park.
Mr Barnard only went as far to say that everything was in place to deliver the train service.
More than 54,000 tickets have been sold for the game.
Auckland councillors will be briefed on the Rugby World Cup train shambles today and formalise the terms of a review called by Mr Brown on Saturday.
The review is being carried out by Auckland Transport chairman Mark Ford, who gave councillors an assurance on Thursday that every eventuality had been planned for and only an act of God would stop a smooth passage to the game.
Auckland Transport council chief executive David Warburton is assisting Mr Ford with the review, which will be completed tomorrow.
We guess that the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, which will be done next Saturday night when a near-capacity crowd will pack into the trains and on to Eden Park via the Kingsland railway station.
And we guess the other proof will be whether or not Len Brown puts his reputation where his mouth is and travels out to Eden Park on the trains he is so keen for everyone else to use (and pay for!), or whether he takes his car again. Watch this space...
18 comments:
The buck stops with McCully.
He's dodging all responsibility in
time-honoured Tory fashion.
Perhaps it does Robert. But Len Brown was the one urging everyone to take the train on Friday, then going by car to make sure he got there. It was hardly a vote of confidence from the man who wants more public transport in Auckland.
The buck stops with Brown. He was the one that led the Minister into believing all was in hand when it was clearly not. The council's two agencies were planning for two different numbers (ARTA 60K, Veolia 30K max). Like Len, not even on the same page.
I am going to the match from the Auckland International Boat Show and will probably leave the show early and head home and then walk to Eden Park, not my original plan. After 4 days of standing around at a boat show not ideal. Haven't figured out who I am going to support yet though.
A failure in the present rail system is a clarion call to improve it Inv2, not strangle it. You know as well as I do what McCully, Joyce, Key and their trucking industry mates are doing in Auckland. You're sniping at Brown is pretty low, in my opinion, but I can see that you need some Lefty or other to attack, given that the spotlight's off Goff, you're simply switching your criticisms to Brown.
It's McCully in particular you should be castigating, but you're honour bound to intone 'baaaaaaad Labour', so I'll not expect any change. As you know, I'm not a Labour fan or supporter, so Brown's 'business' doesn't interest me much, but from this distance Inv2, your criticism of him looks dodgy.
You're trolling again Robert...
I'm sure I heard Lennie say he would compensate anyone who missed the game due to unforeseen transport difficulties. I guess he means to use his council credit card. Anyway he might be able to sort out the difficulties before next week if he bangs his forehead repeatedly with his hands.
Funny though, eh!
Bet you laughed.
In one respect, much as it annoys me to say this, the issue could me an overly successful campaign to persuade people to take the train.
However, the early malfunctioning of the train system and ferry delays suggest systemic issues as well.
Plus why were so many activating the emergency stop cords on the trains?
60,000 turned up at Britmart to go home and to go to the rugby.
Britomart's capacity is 15,000 per hour.
Quite frankly it would have been easier to take the fan walk, and quicker too.
I'm happy I live 350 metres from EP so traffic is never an issue.
Robert, this cock up would have happened whether or not the super city had been established. Mike Lee as former head of the late unlamented ARC would have been the
one taking the heat rather than Len.
Finally I think the planners underestimated the buy in for the event, which was by the way superb. Even Martin Snedden wasn't too purdue Ed about Friday so I don't see that it is all that a big deal in the scheme of things
Gareth Hughes reckons;
"Everyone seems to be blaming everyone else for the mess and Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully passed the buck faster than a Sonny-Bill William’s off-load. The Transport Minister, Steven Joyce, has been invisible in the after-match and has been like a timid player standing deep in the outfield as far away from play as he can be. Joyce, who was on a yellow-card already for spending up large on motorways and cutting the rail infrastructure budget, needs to be subbed off immediately. Ultimately it’s time to call full-time on the National Government and boot them into touch."
You had better not be relying on Gareth Hughes' numbers, though, Robert.
McCully, Joyce, Key should man up. What pantywaisted cowards for running and ducking and hiding. Well done to the Mayor for fronting. Nice piece on Key in the Sunday paper. Confirms what a second rate govt. this outfit is and how his personal popularity is the only thing that matters. Incredibly poor form and dragging NZ into a dumbed down vacuous hole with it... Way to go National led government. Celebrity over smarts. False bonhomie, false hope.
Adam, the marketers invited the populace into town for the opening of the WRC. To the marketers surprise every man and his her or their dog turned up.
The overloaded the in bound transport lines with the inevitable consequence fo failure.
The problem with the ferrys was simple. The failure of the big screens meant the crowd moved to the ferry building where a screen was working. The crowd was such that ferry operators could not safely disembark passengers.
The rail system has had shed loads thrown at it.
The western line has been double tracked for this event. The problem is the Britomart which is a culdesac and can only cater for 15000 people per hour not 60000.
Adam, the marketers invited the populace into town for the opening of the WRC. To the marketers surprise every man and his her or their dog turned up.
The overloaded the in bound transport lines with the inevitable consequence fo failure.
The problem with the ferrys was simple. The failure of the big screens meant the crowd moved to the ferry building where a screen was working. The crowd was such that ferry operators could not safely disembark passengers.
The rail system has had shed loads thrown at it.
The western line has been double tracked for this event. The problem is the Britomart which is a culdesac and can only cater for 15000 people per hour not 60000.
"McCully, Joyce, Key should man up" .. I just made a tongue in cheek comment about these three taking the blame. Incredible people think it's true.
The Mayor was in da house .. Took his car of course.
I see bobby quotes broken nose Hughes. Get real bOb, the guys a light weight nobody (your fav political type it seems.
Quite so Jabba. Robert bases his argument on the words of Gareth 'Ronald McDonald' Hughes, self-confessed former bogan boy-racer. 'Nuff said really!
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