Memo To: “Mana’s Minto for Mayor” Policy Team

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image001ASK AUCKLANDERS what they resent most about living in New Zealand’s largest city and the probability is high they’ll tell you it’s the time they waste in traffic. People spend hours every week just sitting in their cars: creeping forward a few metres at a time; waiting, waiting, waiting to lift their average speed above that of a brisk walk. Some commuters report taking 45 minutes to travel a distance of less than 500 metres.

Question these Aucklanders further and they’ll tell you that the only time the city’s traffic frees up even a little is during the school holidays. Traffic experts confirm this, noting that the volume of morning and mid-afternoon traffic reduces by as much as a third whenever the tens of thousands of mums and dads who regularly ferry their children to and from school take a break.

If that figure of one third less traffic on the roads is correct, then finding an alternative means of getting the city’s children safely to and from school could significantly shorten the travel time of Auckland’s frazzled commuters and commercial drivers and give the city a big boost in productivity.

The answer, then, would appear to lie in dramatically improving Auckland’s student transportation system. And the place to go to see efficient, effective and safe student transportation is the United States of America.

People tend to think of the USA as being extremely hostile to all forms of public – as opposed to private – enterprise. But, like so many things you hear about the United States, this ain’t necessarily so.

Every day in the USA more than 450,000 “Big Yellow” buses transport 25 million young Americans to and from school. The school bus system is by far the largest public transportation system in North America. It is federally regulated, locally funded and its young passengers generally ride for free (or at a cost very close to free).

The buses themselves are built to federally mandated and extremely exacting safety standards and are by far the safest form of vehicular transportation in the United States. Their standardised colour “National School Bus Chrome Yellow” makes them highly visible and instantly recognisable. Since 1939, when the design and livery of school buses were nationally standardised, they have become true American icons.

American school bus drivers are both highly trained and highly respected public sector workers. Before getting behind the wheel of their “Big Yellows” they are required to pass not only stringent police background checks, drug tests and advanced driving tests, but also courses in child psychology and behaviour management. American parents entrust their children’s’ lives to these men and women – so they have to be absolutely confident in the school-bus drivers’ ability to drive their vehicles safely and professionally while maintaining good order and discipline among their 50-70 passengers.

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The average cost per child of the American school-bus system is around $NZ500.00 per annum.

To run a Big Yellow Bus system for Auckland’s 538 schools and 267,000 students at a similar per capita cost would, therefore, require an annual expenditure of approximately $134 million.

The set-up costs of such a scheme would, of course be higher, because the city would have to purchase its new fleet of school buses from the United States. Given the discounts offered by the US manufacturers for multiple purchases, however, a reasonable guess at the cost of purchasing such a fleet would be somewhere in the vicinity of $250-$300 million.

On top of these (admittedly large) costs, the city would need to factor-in the cost of the bus-fleets’ maintenance and the annual wage and staff-training costs of its workforce.

Offsetting these costs, however, would be the expanded capacity of the city’s established public transportation system. With school-kids off the city’s bus fleet there would be additional seats for adult passengers. Taken together with the lower traffic density made possible by the introduction of the new school-bus system, this rise in capacity would make Auckland’s public transport system not only more attractive but more efficient. If the rise in the regions productivity is similarly factored into the cost-benefit equation, it is likely the new school-bus system would very quickly pay for itself.

The “Big Yellow” service would also, in and of itself, create hundreds of new jobs. Not only for drivers, but also for the skilled maintenance staff required to keep the fleet operational.

Whatever the cost of introducing and running such a system, it would almost certainly be considerably less than the vast sums already set aside for building new roads and motorways. If a public school-bus system could ease Auckland’s traffic congestion by a percentage figure equivalent to, or even greater than, that promised by the designers of these massive infrastructure projects, and at a fraction of the cost, then, surely, it is worth the serious consideration of her local government politicians?

Indeed, Auckland could offer itself up as the nation’s guinea-pig. If a public school-bus system on the American model was shown to work well in New Zealand’s largest city, what would there be to prevent it being rolled-out across the whole country? Economies of scale, alone, would guarantee huge reductions in its establishment costs.

The “Big Yellows” could also reduce New Zealand’s overall carbon footprint. Putting 50-70 children in a single motor vehicle not only keeps 50-70 cars off the road in the mornings and afternoons, but it also slashes the country’s overall fuel bill and CO2 emissions.

The arguments in favour of this proposal require considerable refinement before they’re ready to be placed before the Auckland City Council. But, hopefully, this brief outline is enough to spark some discussion. If the Mana’s Minto for Mayor campaign is to gain genuine political traction, it’s going to need plenty of bold new ideas.

The introduction of “Big Yellows” could be one of them.

16 COMMENTS

  1. What a fabulous idea. The number of cars taking kids to school is scandalous on so many levels. And it’s interesting to note the excellent training the drivers in the USA have to have. I think you’re onto something.

  2. I agree wholeheartedly with the main thrust of the topic being get kids on buses and ease the congestion on the roads. Something has to be done because at present, the parents of children who catch buses are consistently being thwarted by poor institutionalised systems. Anyway, cars will be removed from households because they’re not needed for school runs and the government loses acc levies etc etc. Do you honestly believe it in the best interest of local government to cut their nose to spite their face. No. They won’t make it easy to transition to public transport. They will seek the profit and you know it.

  3. Good idea. Fare free public transport is a great eco-left campaign that could get real political traction in the suburbs of Auckland. Check out this local website for free public transport initiatives happening around the world http://farefreenz.blogspot.co.nz/

  4. Such a scheme might well take some cars off Auckland roads and thus relieve inter-peak congestion. However the numbers of buses required would probably end up adding to the same congestion and additionally would add to the evening peak congestion as they returned from their runs to their depots. The problem with Auckland traffic is that it over the past 60 years all development has been focussed on one mode: the road. It’s about time this imbalance was corrected by: (a) by improving and fully utilising intelligent alternatives that do actually reduce congestion and pollution, logically, rail, cycling and walking; and (b) reducing the numbers of cars using these roads. Adding more vehicles to the roads isn’t the solution.

    • Possibly the reduction of traffic during the school holidays is also due to the number of people who take time off work to look after their children so adding buses may not be the answer to traffic congestion rather just add more traffic during the school term. Most people I know drop their kids off on the way to work so having them go by bus wouldn’t change the number of cars in that instance either.

  5. Yes!!
    Need to also include the school gate traffic safety issues that would reduce.
    And…..just imagine if city children grew up thinking (gasp!) that it was OK to share transport!
    What now for this inspired idea?

  6. i agree about the need for ‘bold’..

    two reasonably bold ideas would be promoting the concept of common-good ownership..

    ..a concept of those services essential to day-to-day life being charged at cost-to-produce + future cost/development..

    ..(in the council framework water charges would fit..and on the national level the power industry is ripe for reform such as this..

    ..we produce some of the cheapest power in the world..yet we pay the highest prices..

    ..this is utter madness..

    ..the winners from such a schema would be all new zealanders..(especially manufacturing/business)

    ..we should have those cheap power charges as a magnet to draw those data-centre/clean industries we want..

    ..the only losers will be the current suites of duplicating/profiteering-executives/shareholders..

    ..another bold idea worthy of promotion could be the concept of reverse-privatisation…

    ..this is where the people take a 51% share in previously fully-privatised entities..(the supermarket duopoly currently screwing us blind being low-hanging fruit for that..

    ..the sin-industries..booze/gambling being others ripe for reverse/privatisation..)

    ..the 49% is left for the current private owners..

    ..this way the people get the best of both worlds..

    ..food prices dropping/healthy-imperatives embedded into those industries..(salt/sugar/fat-content limits set etc..)

    ..and the expertise of the current operators retained to keep those efficiencies in place..

    ..what’s not to love about those plans for the food/booze/gambling-industries..?

    phillip ure..

    • Reverse privatisation is an excellent solution to NZ’s electricity situation and if the current government was interested in running a business that operated in a law abiding manner and transparent this would be on the table however they aren’t and it isn’t.

  7. I thought there was already quite a lot of school buses. I think spending money on making walking to school safer for children would be a good use of money, given that most Aucklanders live relatively close to their school.

  8. Minto for Mayor.
    1. Bold policy and fresh ideas. Yes. As per Hunter Thompsons “freak power” Aspen Colorado Sherrif office tilt in ’70 and rougue UK ex Labour MP George Galloway’s recent Bradford West by-election win (whatever you think of those two gentlemen), John Minto can afford to be unequivocal in representing the exploited and ‘average’ Aucklander. He does not need to suck up to the Cits and Rats like the captured Len Brown.

    2. How many dingbats will the right stand? If it is a few rather than not standing anyone and tacitly supporting ‘Lenslide’ that would help Minto for Mayor campaign.

  9. what about council-run dental clinics for those who cannot pay for/get dental care..?

    (as a precursor to a national roll-out after grns/lab come to power..?..)

    phillip ure..

  10. Great idea, for distances beyond walking to school. I rode to school every day of my school life after age 8, in the US, (1953-67). The buses took in extensive rural areas, as I lived in a fringe suburb of a large city, and every child arrived at school, safely on time. (the riot in the school bus interiors could approach a degree of mayhem, but it never lasted longer than 30 min.) Few parents drove children to school, wasting time, and petrol. If there was an after school event to attend, particularly in high school, a few buses ran a second delivery loop run of less thorough coverage, to partially deliver the late riders (say 5pm+) close to home. It worked efficiently. With the IT networking of today, it will work even better.

  11. We already had this. The old Department of Education used to run its own buses (good old sturdy British Bedfords). Then Roger and Richard decided to flog it off. And that was the end of that.

    Your idea has merit Chris, but it should be extended to the whole PT system.

  12. “…Some commuters report taking 45 minutes to travel a distance of less than 500 metres…” And moan about Auckland’s traffic problems. And moan about costs of new roading!

    If the idea were floated as a private enterprise where someone could make money, some people would see it as the best idea in the world.

  13. Inactivity is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, arterial disease etc.

    What is wrong with children leaving home a bit earlier and walking or cycling to school?

    Of course that is totally unacceptable in a society obsessed with the use of machines, using up rapidly depleting finite resources and messing up climate systems via CO2 emissions.

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