Nothing in Wellington seems to work properly
When you have been overseas for a while, the clean air and clear skies of Wellington can make for a welcome return. Unfortunately, when I arrived back, it was a cold, windy Sunday night with torrential rain. My plane from Australia arrived at Wellington International Airport at midnight.
So did two other planes. About 90 minutes later I emerged from a crowded customs area. The comfort of international travellers is low on my list of priorities, but I remember thinking during my long wait that we spend much time in Wellington arguing about the runway extension, yet little about other airport facilities.
The airport can’t be blamed for civil aviation regulations, but with only five e-passport gateways and three planeloads of people to process at times, I am surprised the airport company isn’t lobbying for some gateway extensions. Unlike the runway extension, I would happily have my taxes or rates pay for more efficient passport processing, handluggage and customs checks.
My frustration grew when I went outside and found no taxis available. Wellington may have one of the most deregulated taxi markets in the world, but the past-midnight queue was long.
As the heavens opened, I decided to Uber. I was immediately informed one was on its way – in 28 minutes and the same price as a cab! ‘‘What is wrong with this city?’’ I screamed, Lear-like, at the rain clouds. As I tracked the Uber driving through the alpine regions of Kelburn before turning around to pick me up, those conspiracy theorists who say that Uber is just waiting for taxi companies to collapse before it ratchets up its prices gained a sympathetic, and wet, ear from me.
Taking the Airport Flyer wasn’t an option because it was past midnight, but I wouldn’t have been able to use my Snapper card anyway as apparently the operator can’t afford to install new reading machines. That this happens when the machines and the bus operator are owned by the same squillion-dollar parent company baffles me.
I was awoken the next day to learn that an elderly relative had been rushed to hospital. I drove down and marvelled as the excellent staff performed a life-saving procedure in less than 24 hours. Three cheers for the public health system!
I’m afraid I can’t say the same about the hospital car park. I tried to pay with an eftpos card, but an improvised and weather-beaten plastic sheet over the keyboard made me realise it had been unofficially coin-only (but not the Australian coins I still had in my pocket) for some time. After doing the Aussie haka, I begged enough coins from family members to escape. It seems that life-saving surgery is easy, but a functioning eftpos machine is too difficult.
The next day I picked up a relative from the airport and went to pay for the parking. No luck with my card or my relative’s. The cards weren’t the problem, as I remembered the same thing happening at the same machine a few months back. I tried the other machine and no problem. Why in Wellington do we have to put up with such a constantly low level of technical competence? Is there no-one who checks and fixes these things?
The next day, I decided to give parking a miss and took a bus to the hospital. My bus arrived on time and the trip was pleasant. Coming home in the rain, however, was a different matter. Though I arrived at the bus stop five minutes early, and waited a good 10 minutes, it didn’t come. A bus that wasn’t on my route swung by, however, and I was informed that ‘‘all the buses are running late today because of the rain, mate’’. In fact, my bus had left very early, so I walked home.
It could have been worse, had I been a train commuter. In a wet week it seemed that every day there was a power failure, equipment shortage or some other fault caused by lack of investment in infrastructure. All this faffing around is frustrating when you’ve been in countries where the longest you’ve had to wait for a subway, train or tram is three minutes.
All these technological let-downs had a cumulative effect and, by the end of the week, I was asking myself: ‘‘Why is Wellington not working?’’ Chinese customers can use their phones to buy snapper at the local fish market, but I can’t use Snapper to take a train to the Hutt Valley.
Not to worry, perhaps with the rolling out of the 5G network, wonderful things may happen in our technological world. Though Huawei, which is more than 16 times faster than its nearest competitor, won’t be there to deliver it as our US-influenced spooks believe the Chinese might do something incredibly subversive, like make our buses and trains run on time, or ensure our car parking machines work. That would really threaten the Wellington way of life.
Chinese customers can use their phones to buy snapper at the fish market, but I can’t use Snapper to take a train to the Hutt.