Assumptions around light rail

‘‘Let’s not quarrel over details,’’ says Greater Wellington regional councillor Roger Blakeley, referring to a Wellington light rail system (Letters, Jan 22).

Very well. As an alternative, though, we could relook at basic assumptions.

Blakeley cited the importance of light rail as a ‘‘fast, congestion-free and efficient way of transporting large numbers of people between the CBD and the airport and southern/eastern suburbs’’.

According to the census, there are about 26,700 people living in Newtown, Kilbirnie, Rongotai, Miramar and Seatoun. Assume half of them would take two trips per work/school day, in round numbers, 53,000 trips. Add another 7000 trips per day to and from the airport. So, 60,000 trips. That is high, but for the sake of argument . . .

The last light rail ‘‘cost’’ figure I remember is Celia Wade-Brown’s $330 million. It will be much, much more when the costs of rights of way, demolition, tunnelling, and elevation are included. In other words, preposterously extravagant.

So, rather than quarrelling over details, could we please discuss instead: value for money; affordability; the extraordinary disruption that would be necessary to build even a not-very-good light rail system that would fit into Wellington’s topography; and the desirability of spending the next decade’s transportation funding on a small fraction of the city’s transportation demand.

Christopher Clayton, Northland