Slow road to progress
The slow crawl into Wellington is getting slower, more people are getting seriously hurt on the region’s roads and transport emissions are increasing.
But the popularity of walking and cycling as a commute option is on the rise, and despite the capital’s recent teething problems when it comes to buses, the speed and reliability of public transport is on the improve.
The good, the bad, and the ugly of transport across the Wellington region has been laid bare in a Greater Wellington Regional Council report on the year to June 2018, which will be presented to the region’s mayors this week.
The report found that traffic entering Wellington during the morning peak was travelling at an average speed of 35.4kmh, while evening traffic heading out was hitting 39.7kmh. That is the slowest since 2014, signalling a continuing trend of increasing congestion on the main routes in and out of the capital.
The report blamed an increase in population and employment, as well as a growing economy for the congestion.
Regional councillor Daran Ponter said Greater Wellington was improving services on the Wairarapa and Palmerston North train lines, which would help to get more people onto public transport.
He would also be advocating to scrap a proposed public transport fare increase next year so it
would be a more affordable choice, he said.
Also of concern in the report was the number of people being hurt on the region’s roads. A total of 248 people were killed or seriously injured in 2017, including 14 fatalities.
That number was significantly more than the five-year rolling average of 179 deaths or serious injuries. The report pointed the finger at poor observation, failing to give way, speed, alcohol and poor handling, but added that national figures were tending in the same direction.
The report also found walking and cycling increasing in popularity with the average number of cyclists having increased by 12.7 per cent, or 250 cyclists, across the region over the past five years. This year, 2.8 per cent of all people entering Wellington’s CBD during the morning rush did so on a bike, while 18.5 per cent were on foot.
But along with that has come an increase in casualties. There were 29 cyclists seriously injured and one killed in 2017, while 30 pedestrians were seriously injured and six were killed.
Cycling Action Network spokesman Patrick Morgan said those numbers were relatively small, overall, but the trend was not encouraging.
Lowering speed limits was the key to keeping cyclists safe, he said.
‘‘Any street that mixes cyclists and traffic should be 30kmh unless it has a cycle path.’’
The report revealed a mixed bag when it came to environmental concerns. Overall, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from transport increased from 2.18 tonnes per-capita in 2013 to 2.28 tonnes per-capita in 2017-18.
The report pointed to fuel sales increasing on the back of ‘‘increased travel driven by a growing economy’’.
Diesel sales rose 28 per cent over the past five years, while petrol sales increased 1 per cent across the region. But emissions from public transport were holding steady.
The overall quality of public transport was also improving, according to the report, which said the number of users was increasing, public satisfaction was slightly up, and travel times on buses during peak periods was also getting better, having improved by three minutes in the morning and 2.8 minutes in the evening since 2014.
In 2018, approximately 38.5 million public transport trips were taken across the region, an increase of 1.2 per cent over the past five years.