Mr Williamson says statistics are important in informing decision making and measuring both the country’s progress, but the growth of global development [sic].

“Government uses official statistics to help make decisions around where and how to invest in public services. Statistics also help measure the success of those decisions.”

Really?

So how does he explain his colleague Steven Joyce’s determination to proceed with funding roading projects like the Puhoi–Wellsford Holiday Highway and Wellington’s Transmission Gully that economic statistics show have significantly greater costs than benefits and electoral statistics show the majority of Aucklanders and Wellingtonians don’t consider priorities; while continuing to give the thumbs down to funding Auckland’s CBD rail loop and Wellington’s light rail that will get those cities moving again?

Maybe the statistics help this Government a wee bit to make decisions around where and how to invest in public services, but perhaps not nearly as much as influential lobby groups making large political donations do.

The numbers are in. And they show that transit-oriented development really does get people out of their cars.

A new study of 17 different transit-oriented developments in four metropolitan areas showed that they generated only about half as many car trips as the standard planning reference guide predicts.

It’s research with potential for major impact on the way communities view transit-oriented development (TOD). The findings could drive changes to local building codes, lead to lower development impact fees, and make the numbers work better for communities and home buyers as well.

Shock-horror! Could this really be true? Cullen and his cronies at Transit will be shocked! Not. As Jeanette pointed out in parliament last year, Labour and Transit have been cooking the books for years in favour of more roads over more public transport.

Click here for the original article, and see why after decades of neglect, the US is building light rail at lightening speeds. After a decade of neglect under National and a further wasted decade under Labour, both of them relying on free market ideology to make things happen, isn’t it time we got off our bum and built the best possible public transport for our cities? This is No Country for Old Men, as today’s Dom Post cartoon declares.

‘I think there are some [things] we have to do,’ she told The Dominion Post.

…Ms Prendergast said a new Mt Victoria tunnel should be a high priority, regardless of what submitters to the study say.

Well, that will certainly encourage democratic participation.

Prendergast’s tunnel vision is odd given the Council’s long standing cost objections to building a cheaper ($140 million) light rail system to solve exactly the same transport concerns.

As Green Party Wellington City Councillor Celia Wade Brown notes ‘people can’t take their cars on a plane.’ So the real solution to transport to the airport should include extensive public transport, not more roads or holes in our landscape.  

‘The high speed corridor concept reduces the ability to make local trips by active modes – walking, running and cycling.’