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Ryan Bridge: The CRL has to hit the ground running and forget its transitional timetable · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As far as conditions go before a grand opening, you
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: couldn't do much better than a petrol spike or a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: fuel crisis for the city rail link in Auckland, could you.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Construction and testing due to be finished within three months,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: then it's a handover period to the operators. They need
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: another three months. So we'll be using this thing apparently September.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: And I'm told they will depart every four to five
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: minutes in the city underground in the CBD every four
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to five minutes, so you walk down and within a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: couple of minutes you'll be on a train. The cost
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: is five and a half billion dollars, half funded by
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the Crown, so Gore, you've pitched in. Thank you. What's more,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Wayne Brown reckons the operational cost mean that what would
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: have been a zero percent rate increase this year will
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: instead be something like seven So it's costing us pretty
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: bloody important we get it right. Given the size of
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the capital and the operational spend, and the size of
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the current petrol bills, that people are staring down the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: barrel of one quickly as possible, please two as conveniently
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: as possible. And on the latter transport people, train people,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: are sounding some alarm bells about this. That's because AT
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: is taking a transitional approach, a transitional timetable for the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: first six months of its operation, meaning fewer trains than
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: we were promised. On the Western Line, for example, the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: spacing of the trains means that commuters could end up
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: waiting longer for their service than they do right now.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: That would be a disaster. This thing needs to sing
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: in full voice from day dot, which is when people
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: will stress test it. That's what you do something new
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and shiny, you go check it out first. Impressions are everything.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: If you don't make a material difference from day one,
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  Speaker 1: people might just write you off. So the pressure is
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: on to get the CRL up and running sooner I think,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: and then operate quicker than the speed of sound. Frankly,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: achieving the goal of transforming drivers into train riders depends
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: on it, and conditions have never been better. For more
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: from Early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News
• 2:03
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• 2:06
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