Cars off the golden mile?

Michael Forbes at Dom Post reports:

Cars could be banished from more parts of the Golden Mile when Wellington gets its new public transport system.

The Wellington Public Transport Spine Study, which investigated the merits of light rail and a dedicated busway from the CBD to Newtown and Kilbirnie, did so on the basis that cars would be completely blocked from parts of Courtenay Place and Willis St during the day.

In Courtenay Place, this would happen between Taranaki St and Cambridge Terrace from 7am to 7pm on weekdays, with limited access possible between peak hours if necessary. Willis St would become bus or tram only between Manners St and Lambton Quay from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. Southbound cars are already banned from this section of the road.

A decision on the changes will not be made until next year, after local and central government have picked either a light rail system for $904 million, or a bus rapid transit system for $207m, as the long-term solution to public transport demand in Wellington.

But the forecast savings of between 6 and 11 minutes for both systems is modelled on the assumption the changes will occur.

I haven’t got a problem with this, as there are good alternatives running parallel to those roads.

But the idea I did like was from Bob Jones to ban all vehciles from Lampton Quay, and turn it into a huge pedestrian mall with more street cafes etc. That would be great.