By Chamber CEO, Don Good
The time has come to decide on the white elephant we call Te Huia. The data is clear: the number of passengers is not growing but the costs are. In a cost of living crisis, we have blown $100 million of taxpayer and ratepayer funds on a form of transport we knew was never going to be viable financially. With Councils increasing rates hugely and the country facing a big bill for fixing an infrastructure cliff, we simply cannot afford to fund an elitist commuter rail service for the small number of Waikatoites working in Auckland.
We have put together a short review, below, with the key points for you to digest. The hard part to swallow is that KiwiRail had no incentive to promote the service with their no risk cost plus deal. What were our councillors thinking?
