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Speaker 1: If you're listening to this and you're in Auckland, you're

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Speaker 1: probably stuck in traffic. I'm sorry about that. But I've

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Speaker 1: got a couple of things to update you on. One

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Speaker 1: is a report that's come out, Wayne Brown's congestion Report.

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Speaker 1: I'll have the numbers in a second. But Parliament has

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Speaker 1: this afternoon just passed the first reading of the Congestion

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Speaker 1: Charging Bill. This is the bill that would give the

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Speaker 1: councils the power to charge us for going through central

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Speaker 1: cities at peak times. Now, interestingly, all the parties voted

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Speaker 1: in favor of this, barring to Party Maori for some

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Speaker 1: reason they voted against it. Anyway, Wayne Brown's report back

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Speaker 1: to that. So he's come out today and he said

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Speaker 1: it's costing Auckland two point six billion dollars a year

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Speaker 1: by twenty twenty six. This is congestion. Michelle McCormick is

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Speaker 1: the Infrastructure in z Policy direct issues with me this evening. Hi, Michelle, Hi, Ron,

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Speaker 1: So how long are we do we know how long

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Speaker 1: we're each spending on average in traffic?

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Speaker 2: Well, I know that there's twenty nine million hours per

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Speaker 2: year being lost in Auckland, aligned which is a lot

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Speaker 2: amongst population, So I know everyone can relate to sitting

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Speaker 2: in traffic and being hugely frustrated and going nowhere.

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Speaker 1: How do we compare to other countries? Are the cities

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Speaker 1: even around the region.

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Speaker 2: Well, interestingly, the report has actually shown we're even worse

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Speaker 2: than Sydney and Melbourne, which is really concerning. Previously, you know,

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Speaker 2: we we have sort of on par but we have

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Speaker 2: actually got worse. As implemented other toll roads and improve

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Speaker 2: their public transport, we're still legging behind.

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Speaker 1: Okay. So one of the solutions that they talk about

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Speaker 1: is congestion charging. Do you support it?

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Speaker 2: Yes, we do, yep. We've advocated for this for a

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Speaker 2: long time. We think it's really needed in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: It's vital that this legislation is passed. It's great to

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Speaker 2: see that there's cross party support through the first reading

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Speaker 2: and we're looking forward to the select committee process. It's

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Speaker 2: really important that you know there is control over to

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Speaker 2: the local cities themselves to help design the scheme that's

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Speaker 2: right for their circumstances. But this will be a game changer,

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Speaker 2: just will really make a difference in people's lives.

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Speaker 1: So basically what because what it congestion charging is actually saying.

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Speaker 1: Is it's saying there's a whole bunch of people who

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Speaker 1: are going through the city or on our motorway is

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Speaker 1: a peak time who don't need to be, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: That's basically what it's says. Yep.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And we know that even in these school holidays

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Speaker 2: it's quite a difference in traffic levels that we're dealing with.

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Speaker 1: Who are these people? Do we know? Are they are

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Speaker 1: they parents? Are they parents who are picking up kids

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Speaker 1: from school who don't need to be? What is it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think we're quite often leaving we just jump

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Speaker 2: in the car without a thought about what alternatives. But

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Speaker 2: if you know there's a charge to it that we're

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Speaker 2: coming directly, it might make us stop and think, you know,

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Speaker 2: could we travel at a slightly different times, could be

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Speaker 2: carful with others, you know we use public transports or

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Speaker 2: turnasive for that particular trip. I think we'll actually make

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Speaker 2: us stop and think about our transport journeys.

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Speaker 1: All right, Michelle, thanks for coming on the show. Michelle McCormack,

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Speaker 1: the policy director at Infrastructure and Z. For more from

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Speaker 1: Heather Duplassy, Allen Drive Live to News Talks It be

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Speaker 1: from four pm weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio