I read with interest the article about urban design in Manukau and how Manukau City Council say there is not much they can do to make improvements in existing suburbs.
There is one place they could make an improvement and that is with the Te Mahia railway station. The location of
this station is isolated and obscured from surrounding roads, hidden behind houses and car dealers yards.
The station is poorly lit at night and the only access to it is by way of two narrow alleyway footpaths. Not a place anyone would want to stand on their own, particularly as the station tends to attract undesirables who loiter in the station and graffiti the surrounding area. When the time comes for this station to be upgraded, Manukau City Council and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority should relocate this station 200m north of its current location to new, more visible location beside Great South Road next to where the car dealers yards begin. The busy Great South Road and Beaumounts bridge fully overlook this site and there is a bus stop adjacent.
A park and ride could be established on the vacant land between the road and the railway lines and the whole station site would be much more safer and attractive to use. Kathryn Arnold Papakura
