Letters: Passenger rail is the way to go

A reader says passenger trains are the answer to our traffic problems. Photo / File

Many find it not too difficult to visualise future transport with rail.

In the Bay of Plenty, stations would dot the rail at Katikati, Aongatete, Omokoroa, Plummers, Te Puna, Otumoetai, Bureta, Tauranga Central, Matapihi, Bayfair, Mount Maunganui College, Blake Park, Mount Maunganui, eastwards to Sandhurst Drive, Domain Rd, Papamoa various, Te Puke, Paengaroa and even beyond Whakatāne.

In fact the rail corridor already passes parallel to, or through most of these centres.

From Tauranga Central along Cameron Rd to Kennedy Rd, Pyes Pa, light rail/trams are the answer evidenced by marvellous successful examples as close as Australia.

Just one train patronised on any defined route could carry the equivalent of 50 or more buses.

This vision, in my opinion, is far more progressive than motorways, multi-lane roads, interchange intersections and ugly concrete flyovers budgeted at more than $665 million.

Serious rail progress would involve nationalising the rail network back into the ownership of the NZ people so planning could occur for the public good.

Stiff opposition will be encountered from the mercenary rail privateers/road transport lobby with profits threatened, but do we wait until a destabilised planet Earth forces a direction?

It is almost too little, but before it is too late, let us for the common good move along with passenger rail.

Jos Nagels
Tauranga

Drivers the problem

Head-on collisions, crashes at intersections, people running off the road and hitting trees, poles and deep ditches.

How much more proof do we need that it's not the roads that are the problem, it's the drivers?

The NZ driving test leaves a lot to be desired.

A Wakefield
Bethlehem

Gambling machines

I hope the Tauranga City Council will not back away from the proposed sinking lid proposal on gambling machines.

It's time for us all to think about families and the damage caused by addictive gambling rather than our own gratification.

Robert Harvey
Matua

No response

I have written individual letters to every MP on three occasions, a total of 366 and also to several ministers.

I have received 19 "pro forma" acknowledgements but not a single reply or answer to my queries from any member.

I have also contacted 18 national newspapers on this lack of accountability by government with no results.

We appear to have become a voiceless society, censored. Are our Parliament and its members unapproachable, not answerable to their constituents?

Has the media completely renounced any responsibility in this matter, repudiated any need to keep the public informed? If so, what is their purpose? Where is their social responsibility?

Bryan Johnson
Omokoroa

The Rotorua Daily Post welcomes letters from readers. Please note the following:

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