Colin Craig wants a monorail, as seen in this mocked-up graphic. Photo / Supplied
There's one issue that mobilises voters more than any other: getting roads and railways moving.
And third-polling Auckland mayoral candidate Colin Craig says he has the answer - personal monorail pods.
It may sound about as credible as the transport policy espoused by Wellington mayoral candidate, Al Mansell, who is
promising to make the roads safer by no longer driving intoxicated.
But Craig is serious: he believes many of Auckland's transport troubles could be solved by sleek pods cruising above the streets on rails.
"It's the way of the future," he explains.
"Public transport has to be as good as cars and people have to want to use it."
Craig claims pods, each with four or five seats, could help move Aucklanders round the city for less than the price of a rail loop to the airport.
His goal, if elected, is to have a monorail running from the city to the airport and back in three years.
Craig would start with a city circuit then extend it.
Critics have rubbished Craig's vision of the future. Frontrunning candidate Len Brown says: "The only successful monorail in the world is the one paid for by Disneyland."
Fellow mayoral candidate John Banks and Brown have similar transport policies - complete the motorway network, establish an inner-city rail loop and a rail-capable harbour crossing and improving the ferry network.
Of course, they claim their policies are a world apart.
Banks says: "My opponent is promising a $20 billion rail build from Albany to the airport. I share my opponent's vision but right now we can't afford it."
And Brown says: "John started out in total support of the three rail projects and in the last three to four months he's gone all jelly-knees on it."
