Samantha Motion: 2020 is the year the Bay of Plenty gets a modern transport plan

People are willing to change their mode of transport, if the alternatives are good. Photo / File

COMMENT

Let's start 2020 off on a positive, non-whingey note.

This is the year we get a plan in place to fix the bloody traffic - I'm calling it now, putting my faith in the Powers That Be.

Not just the bloody road, but our whole honking mess of a stubbornly car-centric transport system that seems stuck in the last decade.

I don't mean the decade we just bid goodbye to, but the one before that.

It was about then that the great convoy of growth started overtaking this region in a way our leaders were not prepared for.

We fell behind and now we have to play catch-up.

But 2020 is a fresh start.

I see the stars aligning for the Bay of Plenty, like a twinkling queue of headlights on Te Ngae Rd in the winter dusk, or Hewletts Rd at literally any time of the day.

The first thing in our favour is that it's an election year.

The Government has already signalled it will ramp up its infrastructure spending in the lead-up. About time.

Auckland and Wellington's transport needs got plenty of attention in the first years of this coalition Government, now's the time for the other growth regions to get a look in.

National made big highway promises in the last election, and I'm sure we'll see a wash-rinse-repeat of that strategy in the coming election, especially in the Bay of Plenty.

Why wouldn't they? Plenty of ammunition there. Not a lot of progress in this region in the transport funding area in this first term of the coalition.

This Government's big promises of pots of cash for cycleways and multi-modal transport seemed to peter out pretty fast.

The best way to neutralise National's rhetoric might be to get some good plans funded and in the pipeline.

It's no longer acceptable to put the "nine long years" chorus on repeat.

I'm hoping for big changes in buses, too. The Government has started a process that would allow city councils to take over network operations from regional councils.

Currently, we have the regional council doing half the job - the routes, the buses - and the city council doing the other half - bus lanes, bus stops.

Bringing it under one roof makes enormous sense. Sure, some services will cross territorial authority boundaries and neighbours will need to work together, but the trickiest issues are in our densely populated areas.

Following the local government elections in October, we have refreshed councils. Boldness has been promised in equal part with a steady hand on the tiller, so now's the time to prove it.

The planning is well under way in the Western Bay, with the Urban Form and Transport Initiative aiming to produce a funding pitch for the Government by April.

It will have implications for all the sub-region's neighbours, especially in how it handles freight.

There's a willingness from the population, as well to change our habits - if the alternatives are good.

We need a concentrated regional focus on transport this year - and equally, housing - other projects may need to take a back seat.