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Speaker 1: I don't know if you're going to believe this, but

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Speaker 1: Wykuttle Regional Council is asking for a one year extension

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Speaker 1: for the Huia train service. This is a slow train

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Speaker 1: that runs from Auckland to Hamilton. The funding rounds that

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Speaker 1: runs out in June next year, but they're asking n

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Speaker 1: ZTA to fund it through to June twenty twenty seven.

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Speaker 1: Warren mar is the way Kato Regional Council chair is

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Speaker 1: with us.

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Speaker 2: Morning Warren, Good morning, Heather.

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Speaker 1: Now I've fesced up already that we have a pre

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Speaker 1: existing relationship with each other. We know each other.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, excellent, Glad We've got that clarity out there so.

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Speaker 1: We can have a robust discussion without offending anyone on this.

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Speaker 1: I look forward to it, Okay, Warren, Now, so just

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Speaker 1: tell me so basically, what you guys want to do

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Speaker 1: is you want to test out whether the city rail

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Speaker 1: link under Auckland is going to make to Huia better.

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Speaker 1: Is that right?

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Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, that's correct. It's sort of one of three

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Speaker 2: reasons why we reached that decision yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Well, how would it make it better?

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Speaker 2: Well, potentially then there's more services running past the stations

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Speaker 2: that ceter So there's more opportunity for people to get

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Speaker 2: to different destinations once that central roll links.

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Speaker 1: Up and running, But it doesn't make the train any faster, doesn't.

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Speaker 1: It's still a slow like the underlying concept still sucks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, personally, potentially I agree with you. But what it

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Speaker 2: does do and it has proven to be slower than

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Speaker 2: a vehicle, so we're not arguing that point. But part

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Speaker 2: of the other two reasons behind the extension or the

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Speaker 2: asking for the extension, was that we had letters of

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Speaker 2: support and as well as a delegation from Hamilton City councilors,

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Speaker 2: we had letters support from wyke at A District and

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Speaker 2: also WYPA, And you've got to remember it's the Hamilton

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Speaker 2: rate payers and the wyk at A District rate payers

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Speaker 2: that are actually paying for this service, so you know

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Speaker 2: that we needed to listen to what they had to say.

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Speaker 2: But we made it very clear in our letter that

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Speaker 2: if we cannot get that fair assistance rate at sixty

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Speaker 2: percent as it sits now, if it drops back to

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Speaker 2: fifty one, we want the review of the trial to

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Speaker 2: go ahead at their April meeting of NZTA, and that

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Speaker 2: may be the death knell of Tahua. I'm not sure

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Speaker 2: that'll come down to a number of decisions and then

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Speaker 2: us going out to consultation in our long term.

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Speaker 1: Plan, because what is this thing still costing? Is it

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Speaker 1: still about ninety two dollars per passenger to run it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it means it is. And if you

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Speaker 2: look at a Hamilton rate player, say a million dollar property,

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Speaker 2: there's a twenty dollar flat rate, and then there's a

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Speaker 2: ten dollars eighty eight per one hundred thousand of CV.

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Speaker 2: So basically, if you've got a million dollar home in Hamilton,

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Speaker 2: you're paying one hundred and twenty eight dollars in your

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Speaker 2: white cat original council rate to subsidize that service.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and I mean I would think that if we're

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Speaker 1: getting the scalpel out, if we're putting a rates cap

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Speaker 1: on everybody and we're getting the scalpel out and we're

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Speaker 1: trying to get under that four percent, this has got

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Speaker 1: to be one of the first things that gets cut.

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Speaker 2: Potentially, It's something we'll definitely look at for sure.

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Speaker 1: Brilliant Okay, Warren, thank you. I still like you after that, actually,

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Speaker 1: so I'll see you for a beer, see you for

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Speaker 1: Abbia maybe at the weekend Mate, look after yourself as

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Speaker 1: we're in ma Whitecattle Regional Council Chair and incidentally fantastic electrician.

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