Subscribe to RSSThe Next Transport Minister?
Steven Joyce’s well justified reward for creating yet another stunning victory for National will be a new Cabinet post - and he wants something to do with finance.
Bill English is not budging - but economic development is available. Gerry Brownlee had it until he became occuppied with Christchurch earthquake recovery.
There is no doubt Steven loves his motorways but now that he feels the Government has a mandate to build Puhoi and ignore the CBD Link, he can safely leave it if he wants to.
So who gets it?
Hekia Parata and Whips Chris Tremain and Jo Goodhew are among names mentioned as being high on the list for being in Cabinet in the first time. Joyce himself got a promotion first time around at the start of last term.
I hope it’s Chris Tremain, MP for his hometown of Napier, and a background of business that includes a successful real estate firm.
Chris won the Napier Electorate in 2005, the first National Party candidate to do so since 1951, and secured Napier with an increased majority of 9018 in 2008. His majority was 3383.
On his site he talks about a meeting he had with KiwiRail exploring how to keep the Gisborne to Napier line open and make it profitable.
“I raised the question of an additional hub in or close to Wairoa. This may be one way of helping to ensure the economic success of the Gisborne to Napier line.
I was told by Iain Hill, General Manager of Freight, that Kiwi Rail are in discussions to consider this very option with the matter being on the agenda at a HBRC meeting in Napier on the 23rd of August. Well done to those involved.
The majority of logs around Gisborne and from up the East Coast already go through the Port of Gisborne by truck. Iain Hill conveyed that the issue with hauling logs on rail from and around Wairoa is one of short haul distance. Iain said that it’s too expensive to put rail heads up into forest skid-sites so the best option was a collection point or hub, which still requires truck transport, therefore double handling and cost. He told me that once the logs are on a truck it’s a relatively short haul to either Panpac or either of the Ports so for a truck/rail option to be competitive it needs to be high volume high efficiency.
Despite these concerns this is a potential solution which may ensure that using rail is a real alternative to trucks. At the end of the day, however, the economics must stack up as forest owners will chose the transport option which gets their product to market at lowest cost.
This aside, it’s great to see Kiwi Rail taking positive steps to consider all the options.”
Chris Tremain in his 4WD
So here is a Nat saying, and I repeat: “This is a potential solution which may ensure that using rail is a real alternative to trucks. ”
Let’s make him Minister of Trucks & Rail!
19 Comments
Steven will probably be in charge of the asset sales program along with a few other things. He seems to be John’s go to guy for things.
As for the new transport minister, I have heard it said that it is always someone on their way up or on their way down.
Matt isn’t that everyone? We’re all on our way somewhere…. Anyway I doubt Joyce would allow any new minister to stray from his chosen path, so don’t get too excited.
The big things wouldn’t change, but a different minister, especially if he ends up someone with a spine, could stop some of the small-scale harrassment that is also taking it’s toll on PT and active modes.
Patrick - You could argue that the likes of Joyce, English, Brownlee etc are at the top and not yet on their way down.
Looks like an environmental vandal in that 4Wd in a river.
@Matt It’s part of a fundraiser for a local school.
So what? It still looks like environmental vandalism.
Environmental vandalism? Everyone does a bit of off-roading. After all, why live in NZ if your not going to enjoy it.
Don´t buy that 4×4!!!
@Jon that looks like fresh water to me plus utes are built a lot tougher and capable than the pretend 4wds preferred in cities.
Chris for Transport and Outdoor Fun Minister!
“Environmental vandalism? Everyone does a bit of off-roading. After all, why live in NZ if your not going to enjoy it.”
Yes, very much environmental vandalism. Only a moron would drive such a large 4WD ute on a road, and to do so up a river shows a complete lack of respect for the river and the riverbanks, and every plant and creature living in or near the river.
Enjoying the outdoors does not mean destroying it.
I don’t get the brmm-brmm set, and I certainly think motorised recreation should be curtailed as much as possible and not just because it pisses trampers and mountain bikers off.
I suppose the 4WD I saw churning up a creek and turning it into mud was just having fun. Or the ones that drive over the dotterel nests down near Pencarrow Head are having fun. Even driving on a beach will kill the small biota living in the sand meaning there is less food for birds to eat. And have you ever seen the track by the Mavora Lakes? It’s absolutely ruined for everyone else, but yeah I’m sure those 4WDers had a lot of fun.
So if that is the calibre of the man, which the picture would indicate, the people of Hawkes Bay made a huge mistake.
Kettle calling the pot black there?
4wd will disturb the earth for a wider contact area but mountain bikes disturb the earth deeper and the depth disturbed is related to pressure to the power of 1-4 depending on the soil properties. Why do you think car tyres are 25-35 psi and bikes 40-60 psi, they extert twice the ground pressure.
Or are you like most vegetarians and it’s all about perception rather than actually caring. The 4wds are damaging the environment but your doing the same thing, the only difference is yours looks better to a person. No difference in mentality to vegetarians who seem to prefer leaving a terminally ill/injured animal alone rather than taking the compassionate but messy approach.
Anyway, depending on the soil and environmental conditions either 4wds or mountain bikes tracks can take longer to for natural erosion or regrowth to repair the damage.
I’ve always found mountain bikers the most annoying and that includes the lot, horse, 4wds and dirt bikes. You hear the others coming and they tend not speed through tight blind walking tracks and expect people to get out the way for them. (Nothing quite as funny as seeing my 4 y/o nephew have a go at adult who almost run him over; Daddy then dealing with it was not so funny for the biker and his bike).
Neither horses or 4wds leave deep and narrow ankle snapping ruts in the middle of walking tracks, dirt bike do as well but they’re normally a foot-width wide.
I’m thinking your major reason for disliking 4wd is that when you’re expecting everybody to bow down in your presence you find you can’t bargain with 1-3 tonnes of vehicle.
I wish I could trade him in for any of candidates we had in Ellerslie, The Mazda Bountys were a good ute compared to most other makes and it shows he as some common sense.
“4wd will disturb the earth for a wider contact area but mountain bikes disturb the earth deeper and the depth disturbed is related to pressure to the power of 1-4 depending on the soil properties. Why do you think car tyres are 25-35 psi and bikes 40-60 psi, they extert twice the ground pressure. ”
I call bullshit on that and the rest of your post, Mike.
Very interesting to a watcher from the UK. But also what about the link to the new Port of Marsden up near Whangarei - wasn’t that to be a great development? And how could such a port manage without a rail link?
“”Why do you think car tyres are 25-35 psi and bikes 40-60 psi, they extert twice the ground pressure. ”
I call bullshit on that and the rest of your post, Mike.”
Are you that much of a simpleton you can’t even understand very basic third form level physics?
Force = Area * Pressure
Since you must have dropped out of school in your primary school years to get on the dope the following is probably well above your level comprehension.
You need to look up basic soil properties for reading(Unified soil classification should be the easiest to find for you) then there is more complex areas where you have differing seepage and hydrostatic behaviours(that is were the power to 1-4 comes from). Personally may I suggest you start with your times tables?
Mike, it seems your argument would say that my road bike, with tyres at 90-110psi of pressure, completely decimates the road surface every time I take it out on the road.
Did you take into account the combined mass (weight) of the vehicle and occupants exerting downward pressure?
I don’t think you did, so I second Matt’s bullshit call.
I remember in hospital once I needed my appendix removed. Now when they transfer you from operating theatre, there’s always a requirement for oxygen. So they had this full oxygen cylinder at 1900psi. On beginning our journey the orderly put the tank onto the bed. To this day you cannot imagine my horror. The tank crushed the foam mattress, fell through the bed, the floor in Recovery, and all the floors beneath it, the underground carpark, and even the deep concrete foundation of the large building. It finally came to rest on a layer of bedrock half a kilometer under the ground.
In all seriousness, Mike has a point that was missed. He’s not saying that my hospital story would come true, which is what Andrew is implying with his road bike.
Here it goes:
The force exerted by an 80kg man/bike is 800N, and this goes through the small area of tyre contact with the ground.
Rearranging Mike’s equation: Pressure=force/area. Small area, high amount of pressure. An SUV has a wider area over which the force (say 20000N) is distributed. We all know this.
Now, the point is that if you didn’t have enough pressure it your tyres, they’d be flat when you got on the bike from your weight pushing the wheel rim into the ground. The pressure in your tyres must be high enough to avoid this. The minimum pressure in the tyres is going to be proportional to the pressure exerted by that tyre on the ground. That suggests that bikes exert greater pressure on the ground than SUVs.
What Mike ignores is that pressure isn’t really just what causes the damage. It fact, downward pressure would only really compact the ground, rather than dig it up and fling it around.
For roads, the old formula (derived empirically and I’m not sure if there’s much scientific evidence about it) was damage is proportional to the weight of the vehicle to the power of 4. So the damage to a road from a bike that is 1/20th the mass of a car only does 1/160000th the damage (0.0006%).
@Mike - I just caught up with what you wrote.
Your personal attack is juvenile and insulting. It’s a complete disgrace.
You assume I am vegetarian, a downhill mountain biker, on dope, and ill-educated, all of which are inaccurate. The reason for calling me all that is that I think 4WDs do a lot of damage. You know what? They really do. They churn up tracks and get driven places where they shouldn’t (like rivers). They make a mess and do a lot more damage than bicycles.
Yes it is a bit of a judgement call to like those who like to drive 4WD morons, but you know what I’m yet to meet one who isn’t. And if your posts have been anything to go by I can stand by my comments all the more.