Greens pledge $700 million on a 0.05 BCR

The Herald reports:

Light rail linking Wellington’s central train station to the airport would be built by 2027, under Green Party policy announced tonight.

A fully-electric bus fleet would also be introduced to Wellington by 2030 under the Green Party’s transport policy for the capital.

The light rail line would run separate from traffic, from the train station to Newtown by 2025 and to Kilbirnie and the airport by 2027.

The line would cost between $630-700 million, depending on the route, the party said.

This just shows how nuts the Greens are with light rail. No matter what the cost, or where the location is, or how much demand there is – the answer is light rail.

The Wellington Regional Council looked at light rail for Wellington. They found the benefit to cost ratio was 0.05. Not 0.5 but 0.05. That means for every $100 spent you get $5 of benefit.

Their policy is the equivalent of burning 33 million $20 bills.