Greater Wellington Regional Council has ignored the campaign for fairer fares for tertiary students as it drafted a new fare structure for all bus, rail and ferry trips.
We got a rare insight into Greater Wellington Regional Council-Wellington City Council dynamics when regional councillor Judith Aitken posted this odd statement on Celia Wade-Brown’s Facebook about her (last time I checked, fellow Labour Party) colleague Daran Ponter:
This prompted the following stinging rebuke from Daran Ponter and Wellington City councillor Paul Eagle:
Good on Ponter for calling her out. Oh, Baby Boomer with a 100% subsided Gold Card, please tell me more about how we can’t increase public transport subsidies.
This is staggering. If you’re a Regional Councillor, you would need to have been hiding under a rock for the past few years not to be aware of the issues around public transport. And you’d expect someone who has been on the GWRC since 2001 to already be discussing issues with their WCC colleagues and community stakeholders.
Aitken doesn’t even live in the constituency area she is elected to represent (Wellington City), enjoys fully subsidised public transport with her tax-payer funded Gold Card, and is one of those local government shapeshifters, like Helene Ritchie, who get elected to both a council and a health board purely on name recognition, then aren’t in a hurry to leave anytime soon.
She should retire and let a new, fresh, and forward thinking person take her seat and actually represent Wellington City. They deserve better.
Very interesting revelation in today’s Dom Post that the GWRC is missing out on about $9,000 in train fares every weekday because the trains are too crowded for ticket collectors to get to the patrons…
It was revealed today that Greater Wellington regional council has lost about $260,000 as overcrowding on trains prevents staff from collecting fares.
Our Reading Group takes place on the third and fourth Thursday of the month. Thursday 24 April: Whiti: Colossal Squid of the Deep – By Victoria Cleal, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te […]
Marble & Mud is a creative manifestation of my identify examined under the lens of my Greek whakapapa. Years of exploring my relationship with my heritage and upbringing have brought rise to the same core themes with an undeniable flow, be it in icons, colours, symbols or sound. This exhibition will be a collage of visual art, showing mixed media, textiles, writing, projection and performance art.
Above: action from Thursday’s night’s affair at Hataitai Park that saw Wainuiomata beat the Wellington Axemen 33-13. Photo: Peter McDonald. By Scott Maclean & Steven White SWINDALE SHIELD TEAMLISTS AND SCORING 2025 RD3 Teams For Round 3 Premier teamlists, click the line above (the link opens a Word Document). Sadly, we still don’t have access to our...
The Hurricanes and Crusaders in action last week in Wellington. This weekend the Hurricanes play the Western Force in Perth on Saturday night at 9.35pm – a club rugby friendly time with some clubrooms likely to be packed to the gunnels watching on their big screens. By Kevin McCarthy Nothing is more certain in life...
