Wellington mayoral hopeful – future is electric

The future is electric says mayoral candidate Jo Coughlan, and in alignment with that she intends to accelerate the roll out of a bus fleet that is significantly electric within her first term and on track to be fully electric within 10 years.

Coughan stresses that renewed talk about investment in light rail for Wellington comes as a surprise, would cost a huge amount of money and would be a white elephant within a few years.

“By 2030 or thereabouts we are likely to have a near fully electric vehicle fleet that is becoming increasingly driverless. And these vehicles are increasingly likely not going to be owned by individuals, but by what are today’s equivalent of rail, bus and taxi companies – public transport operators,” she says.

“It is certainly not clear that there is a place for light rail in this future and I will not be irresponsible as mayor in supporting what is obviously wasteful expenditure.”

She points out that light rail is electric but confined to expensive rails on a set route while electric cars, buses and bikes have far more flexibility on where they can travel, which people want.

She further points out that in the interest of practicality she is focused on improving the road network and removing obvious road choke points such as Mt Victoria and The Terrace tunnels.

“I want Wellington to be the most sustainable city in New Zealand. We are already essentially self-sufficient in renewable electricity generation. If we can reduce our petrol and diesel use as technology advances, our greenhouse gas emissions will be minimal. And long term our public transport usage will be much greater than would be the case than if we shortsightedly put all our eggs in the light rail basket,” says Coughlan. “And I will work to help facilitate the putting in place an infrastructure that will support the transition to electric vehicles. This is clearly accelerating and I want to ensure this trend continues.”

She concludes by saying she welcomes a part in government trials.