HELEN WHITE: LABOUR LIST MP

HELEN WHITE: LABOUR LIST MP BASED IN AUCKLAND CENTRAL

I recently attended the final breakthrough of the City Rail Link tunnel which connects our new subway underneath Auckland.

It was at the new Aotea Station, which will be slap bang in the middle of a revitalised arts precinct. It’s easy now to imagine what it will be like when it’s finished and the trains are running. I am genuinely excited. I got the buzz I usually get when I go to a famous city and I go into a big beautiful train station which connects the subway and the trains to far flung places. It isn’t just evocative thoughts of Harry Potter which have done this to me; it’s the fact that busy undergrounds usually mean I am in a vitally important city. I have been fortunate enough to travel to some wonderful places.

My favourite subway location is New York Grand Central Station. I also love the subways in Budapest and Paris, which are so beautiful. I can’t wait to see what our artists bring to the design of these Auckland stations. Experiencing this change in our own city feels like a poignant moment in time.

When complete, the City Rail Link will carry up to 54,000 people per hour, an equivalent capacity to three harbour bridges or 16 extra traffic lanes at peak times. It is going to be critical that the CRL links with trains and buses (electric ones of course) and connects to as many homes as possible within walking distance of the stations. That is all coming.

I think about motorists stuck on Auckland’s Southern Motorway; the time they missed with their kids because they didn’t have this option and an affordable home got further and further away from the city. I was lucky enough to live close, which made it possible to get to my work in the city by using an electric scooter.

At the motorway overbridge at Upper Queen Street, I’d see all those cars crawling home to their whanau. I know just how much pressure I had been under trying to juggle work and childcare, without a long commute thrown in. So I am incredibly happy to see the city get a transport system it should have had decades ago. It isn’t just the excitement of joining London, Paris and Rome, it is the common sense of it. Once the work is finished it will leave the above ground area to transform into a beautiful place to live, shop, play and eat. I think we are moving towards a much nicer city. Good design and initiatives like the Streets for People programme will allow communities to upgrade existing streets and create safer more people friendly spaces.

These are essentially local street change projects which are funded centrally. Projects like these help address our current infrastructure deficit while also meeting future needs caused by population growth and climate change. The idea is to make it safer, quicker and more attractive for people to use public transport, walk, scoot and ride bikes in urban centres right across Aotearoa New Zealand.

The initiative will also help New Zealand meet its emissions reduction targets and improve health and wellbeing.

It’s actually quite hard for lots of people to imagine the city we are going to have in the next few decades because it will involve many steps and phases and see rapid change in housing design, transport and environmental consciousness. I’ll be holding a public meeting alongside Michael Wood, the Minister of Transport, at the Auckland Trades Hall at 5pm on November 2nd to discuss transport and its future in our city. This will be a great chance to kōrerorero with local residents on these issues. The good news is the venue is nice and close to public transport! (HELEN WHITE)  PN

www.labour.org.nz/helenwhite

HUBDRIVE VERSUS MID-DRIVE; A QUASI-RELIGIOUS ARGUMENT

Alan Dempsey, Ebo’s EbikE Guru.

The world laughs when two perfectly rational parties argue tribally, based purely on the fact that they own a certain brand, or breed, passport, prophet, or footie club scarf.

Bizarrely, E-Bike drive-preferences have entered this Colosseum. I recently sat in an ebike-strewn café listening to two unintentionally hilarious clutches of otherwise sane bicycle sophisticates, tribally debating the merits of “Hub-vs-Mid Drive.” I’m now wondering if I am not the only un-cemented E-bikeDrive opinion holder on the subject. Thus, risking the ire of both camps I’m going to discuss the snakes and ladders of each of these means to the same end. i.e. having a green/ cheap fun commute or adventure on an EbikE. So, if you’re even vaguely interested in EbikEs. (who isn’t?).

E-bikes are all driven by one of two motor/transmission systems. Both are pretty good systems.

Hub Drives are a much less complex arrangement whereby the electric motor integrated into the Hub of rear wheel. The usual modern Planetry Reduction drive (Smaller, usually bright alloy 150-160mm diameter) come in various qualities. Do your research. DON’T go to 250W. Auckland is simply too hilly. Hub Drives give excellent constant power, which for flat to undulating and constant gradient hill commute, and cruise trail is excellent. It is governed by being selected to a constant speed limit setting. That setting governs speed, by limiting the power delivered, so if you’re in Power2 for example, you’ll be getting 2/5ths of the grunt of Power5. You’ll cruise (flat, pedal assisted) at around 12-18km/hr depending on the software. When you hit a hill, to maintain speed , you merely click up to Power3 or 4 or 5, depending on gradient and/or your lust for feeling like a Climbing God. Most riders use the thumbthrottle to “kick off”. Always best to pedal-assist, ESPECIALLY UPHILL.

Mid-Drive; a more complex, groovier yet higher maintenance system. The motor is mounted adjacent to the pedalcranks, to drive the system via the pedal cranks. This gives the rider a dynamic sensation of very responsive pedal power. MidDrives enjoy greater cachet in the café-set, and that “cycling god” sensation of power delivery. Reality is, 350Watts is 350Watts, and in fact because the hub drive IS the wheel, it delivers the power a little more efficiently. So long as similar pedal assistance is applied. But NOTE; with Mid-Drive does pass its huge torque through all the system, requiring attention to lubrication and gearing selected. Over gearing WILL shorten the life of these moving parts to mere 100s of kms, where 1000s of kms is the design life. This is not discussed by many sellers, so just know this issue exists.

Mid-Drive really does excel in actual Mountain Biking, where torque is needed instantly, irregularly. In the real commuter and cycle trail world there isn’t a lot in it, in practical terms. For example College Hill is steep and long. It’s a typical Auckland commute climb, a constant gradient, so one power and gear setting will get you there. In pure practical terms HubDrive is just as good here. One Tree Hill on the other hand, is a mother-steep , variable gradient climb. A decent genuine 350W HeavyDuty hub motor will whip you up there, but you’ll feel like Eddy BloodyMerckx on the mid-drive. You put a little more effort in, but it corresponds with more effort. But with both systems you’ll “feel like” it’s you killing that climb.

COSTS: On the Mid-Drive is this “feeling” worth $2-8000 ( $2k minimum) price differential over the HubDrive?... your call. Also factor in the fact that if you don’t give substantial Pedal Assist on hills, both WILL need expensive maintenance; chain and possibly even motor/transmission. Dollar-wise It’s an “ego satisfaction for more money” but it comes with its caveats. And few sellers are tellers of this fact.

Summary: I love both. Purchase and Operational Costs is a plus factor in HubDrive favour. HubDrive will do virtually everything a Mid-Drive will, just differently. MidDrive has street cred if that stuff is important to you, and real punch, but it’s a (pricey) buzz, especially if you’re not prepared to ride it gear-wise/skilfully. The key to BOTH is substantial pedal assist your bike on hills. Even small effort unloads the torque from the mechanical systems. Throttle-only riding is for flatstreets only, even then, best you don’t. And select your gears down to match gradients (pedalling at ~ 60 RPM is easy , and ideal)… but while this is desirable on HubDrive.. it’s critical on CenterDrive. Either way… get out there and Do It ! Fun, fun, fahn on zee Autobahn!

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