Ask Phoebe: Guide dogs exception to public transport ban

Can you please clarify for me the law on dogs in public, especially on public transport? Increasingly I see dogs, small ones usually, in shops and recently on a train where I previously wouldn't have expected to see them. They were not being a problem but I wondered whether there are regulations. Janice Clark, Onehunga.

Currently the only animals permitted on Auckland's trains and buses are guide dogs and guide dogs in training, if under the supervision of their caregiver. Waiheke Island ferries and buses are the only exception to Auckland Transport's "no pets" policy.

There has in the past six months been some discussion about loosening these rules; the thinking is that if the animal is small enough to sit on your lap, it's small enough to go on public transport.

As far as shops go, council bylaws state that, with a few exceptions, including for guide dogs, dogs are prohibited in public places (for example, fenced sports stadiums, libraries, cafes, shopping malls, school grounds, non-council cemeteries and urupa) unless permission is obtained or signage indicates dogs are allowed from:
(i) council, in relation to places under control of the council; or
(ii) the person in charge of the place, in relation to places not under control of the council; and
(iii) provided the person whom the dog is accompanying complies with any reasonable conditions imposed in relation to the entry or presence of the dog.

Will the electromagnetic fields in and around the new electric trains affect my pacemaker? Bob Whitehead, Auckland.

A spokesman for Auckland Transport says that the electric trains will not affect pacemakers or pose any form of electromagnetic harm to passengers.

There are guidelines under European standards and the trains meet these.

I estimate that roughly 50 per cent of Auckland motorists appear not to know how to signal when approaching a roundabout. Could you please explain that when going straight at a roundabout one should not indicate right on approach. I find a simple way of remembering how to signal is to indicate the direction in which you intend to travel - straight on is not right so don't signal. Alan Ayres Auckland.

The Road Code says if you are travelling more than halfway round a roundabout, you should indicate right as you approach the roundabout, and indicate left as you pass the exit before the one you wish to take.

If you are going straight through a roundabout, do not signal as you approach, but indicate left as you pass the exit before the one you wish to take.

If you intend to take the first exit from the roundabout, you should indicate left as you approach the roundabout.

At some small roundabouts, a 3-second warning of your intention is not always possible, but it is courteous to give as much warning as possible.