Monorail proposal dismissed
An advocate calling for a suspended monorail to be built in Wellington says he was fobbed off during a meeting with Let’s Get Wellington Moving executives.
Stephen Moore, a government procurement specialist and Wellington commuter, has been seeking to pitch his idea to the programme for more than 11⁄2 years.
He presented a 49-page proposal to four executives from LGWM last Wednesday for a suspended monorail, but said he felt it wasn’t treated seriously.
He argued a bona-fide, electrified three-car monorail, with a capacity of 228 seated and 496 standing passengers, would be safer, cheaper and faster than the trackless trams or light rail currently being considered as options for mass rapid transit from central Wellington to the airport.
He said similar monorail projects had put small cities with similar populations to Wellington on the map, including Kamakura, Japan, Wuppertal, Germany, and Chengdu, China.
However, he was told in the meeting the project would be an eyesore and was unlikely to pass the Resource Management Act.
‘‘Due to the high visual impact and the requisite regulatory processes that need to be fulfilled to build such a structure [including under the Resource Management Act], we consider that it would be extremely unlikely that a suspended monorail would be approved for construction in Wellington,’’ LGWM adviser Seb Bishop told Moore in an email seen by Stuff.
Moore said it felt like he had been ‘‘stonewalled’’.
‘‘We’re not saying it’s necessarily the solution. All we’ve been asking for is to compare it on the same basis as light rail and trackless trams.’’