Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Cities live or die by their transport systems. The effect a poor transport system has on a large city is clear for all to see in Auckland. Christchurch is a city which I think needs to grow into the millions, without endlessly sprawling. We now have the perfect opportunity, with the scale of destruction here, to plan for that. This is a crisis which can’t be wasted by thinking small.

The key to enabling this effectively is having a great transport system. To me, the perfect option, and the option we should absolutely be investing in above anything else, is a modern commuter tram system.

What Makes A Great Public Transport System?

Clean.
Reliable.
Predictable.
Simple to use.
Inexpensive.
Novel.

We already have an expansive bus network here in Christchurch, why abandon it? Well it fails to meet many of the above criteria that make for a great public transport system. In particular the last point, as I think that has a significant effect on patronage.

Why Buses Don’t Work

The perception many people have of buses is that they are just an oversized, unreliable, inconvenient, dirty car. Why would they choose to use it over their own personal car for commuting, given it’s guaranteed to be a worse experience? The novelty factor may sound superficial, but I genuinely believe it has an effect on the choices people make. Trams are novel. They’re an entirely different mode of transport to what most people ever experience in this part of the world. Put simplistically, they’re more fun than buses, and that matters.

Of course steel railed transport has numerous other advantages over buses:

40 to 70% more energy efficient (lower rolling resistance, regenerative breaking)
Cleaner running (no diesel pollution)
Lower maintenance (electric motors are very reliable)
Smaller physical footprint
Significantly quieter

The typical argument for buses over trams is that the capital cost of buses is lower, but if they don’t work, they don’t work. There desperately needs to be longer term, bigger picture view taken with public transport.

How Trams Could Work

Here’s how I think a tram based public transport system should be implemented here in Christchurch. Start small, but useful, with these key lines in order:

CBD <-> ChCh Airport
CBD <-> Sumner
CBD <-> Riccarton Mall
CBD <-> New Brighton
CBD <-> Cashmere

Without checking in depth, that’s some 120km or so of track. At least half of the roads on the above routes are in extremely bad condition after the quake, and in need of serious repair. You’ll not find a less expensive and more opportune time to lay this sort of infrastructure than now, when roads are in need of total reconstruction anyway.

Operate It In A Predictable, User Friendly Way

Complexity, perceived or real, is also a barrier to public transport patronage. Make the operating terms simple and understandable:

Guarantee that people will not wait more than 15 minutes for a tram to pass a stop.
Just pay $2 or $3 per day, and you can hop on any tram, anytime during that day. No distance based fairs. No time limits. Simple.

Given those two simple operating rules, people don’t need to worry about timetables or caring about how much it’s going to cost, all they know is that for a certain flat fee, they can use the tram system that day, and the most they’ll wait is 15 minutes between trams.

Right now Christchurch is getting a taste of our car based commute future, sitting and waiting on hopelessly congested roads. Journeys which once took 10 minutes, are stretching to over 40 minutes. Carving up the city by building bigger and wider roads isn’t a scalable solution to this. Now is the time to lay the foundation for the transport future of our city. The question isn’t can we affordable to build it? More, can we afford not to build it? It will never be less expensive than today to start.

Layton