An article on the front page of today’s Dominion Post and online here says that an Horizons survey of 1500 people across the Wellington region shows that frustration with cars as a means of transport has resulted in increased use of buses and trains.

“When asked for their impressions of what it was like getting around the region by car, the number of people who considered the road network ‘reliable’ dropped significantly from 64 per cent to 40 per cent.”

“However, Paul Swain, the [regional] council’s Sustainable Transport Committee chairman, said that while the survey results were interesting, he did not think the age of the car was over just yet.

“Other measures, such as fuel consumption, suggested car use was flattening off rather than declining, and other reports suggested almost 12,000 more cars could be entering Wellington during the morning rush once new motorways north of the capital – including Transmission Gully –  were up and running, he said.”

Well, that is the present central government’s mindset, and in fact it’s traditional for the National Party — former National Party cabinet ministers Tony Friedlander and Ken Shirley went on to be vocal lobbyists for the trucking industry — and they want roads that will increase the dominance of trucks over trains.

But where are these 12,000 extra cars going to be parked in Wellington?  In more multi-story parking buildings?