National Monopoly

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 16th, 2008 - 14 comments
Categories: humour - Tags:

Just came across this on G.Blog. Pure gold:

ps. Is that Winston in the bottom left corner?

14 comments on “National Monopoly ”

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  1. Matthew Pilott 1
    16 September 2008 at 1:07 pm

    Guess that makes it Hide, top right!

  2. Gustavo Trellis 2
    16 September 2008 at 1:33 pm

    So the Waterview connection won’t be tolled then?

  3. bill brown 3
    16 September 2008 at 1:40 pm

    I’d be surprised if the Greens support the Waterview connection at all – so isn’t the question moot?

  4. toad 4
    16 September 2008 at 1:51 pm

    You’re right bill brown.

    Extend the Onehunga rail spur line that is being recommissioned both North-west to join the Western line at Avondale, and South to the airport and then East to join the Southern line at Puhinui and you’ll take so much traffic off the roads that there would be no demand for the Waterview connection either. Most people who drive that route do so only because it takes forever to do it by public transport.

  5. randal 5
    16 September 2008 at 1:52 pm

    you being surprised and a moot question is a non sequitur and completely meaningless isn’t it.

  6. Mike Collins 6
    16 September 2008 at 2:17 pm

    That’s actually quite funny.

  7. monkey-boy 7
    16 September 2008 at 3:15 pm

    I don’t own a pair, of sequiturs. I just saw them off, or snap them back by hand. But then, I don’t have a libido either. I just wash my ass in the sink like normal people.

  8. BeShakey 8
    16 September 2008 at 3:32 pm

    Toad – what about suppressed demand and/or the success of public transport making driving a more attractive option? Surely it would be necessary to introduce a system whereby transport users pay an amount that is a more accurate representation of the costs of their choices (with the appropriate checks and balances, and support (if appropriate) where hardship would be unavoidable etc)

  9. Daveski 9
    16 September 2008 at 3:38 pm

    I came, I saw, I laughed

  10. Phil 10
    16 September 2008 at 5:09 pm

    The marketing tagline should be “National Monopoly… because ‘Labour Monopoly’ was just too easy”

  11. G 11
    16 September 2008 at 5:42 pm

    Funniest thing about this is, people think traveling on the roads under Labour is free. 🙂

  12. toad 12
    16 September 2008 at 6:31 pm

    BeShakey said: …Surely it would be necessary to introduce a system whereby transport users pay an amount that is a more accurate representation of the costs of their choices…

    Indeed, BeShakey. But it is necessary to give people some real choices first. If their only realistic choice is to drive (because the trip takes 160m by public transport as opposed to 40m to drive) then there really isn’t any realistic choice anyway.

    Travel time is work and leisure time wasted – unless you are unemployed (but few are now), in which case you’ll be headed off to job prospects overseas.

    But for those of us who have to travel for work, there should be fast and cheap public transport into Auckland Airport. My own experince is that I have to leave home 90m before check-in time if I use public transport. By car I can do it in 30m.

    That is ridiculous, and sends all the wrong signals to people who have to commute inter-city or internationally in their employment.

  13. Phil 13
    17 September 2008 at 10:27 am

    Toad,

    There is an old saying that i think started in the construction industry, but applies to lots of other areas as well (especially public transport):

    Fast, Cheap, Good… pick any two.

  14. libertyscott 14
    17 September 2008 at 11:01 am

    Yes funny when Labour passed a law allowing tolling of new roads, had Transit do a major study into what projects could be tolled (oh yes it wasn’t publicly released, but the list comprises quite a few projects), undertook ARPES (Auckland Road Pricing Evaluation Study) and a follow up study.

    Yes – so apparently this blog thinks it is better for people to pay the same to use empty roads offpeak as to use congested roads at peak times. Tired old Soviet style road management, that even Ken Livingstone rejected in London, Stockholm has rejected, as has Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan and South Korea, all with thriving toll road networks.

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