Too Many Mothertruckers, Truckin' with Our Commute
This post is ground zero for the Wellingtonista "live" blog of the attack of the truckers. Wellingtonistas will update as the drama progresses:
Hadyn - Wandering into my dairy this morning I hear an update on the impending menace. They've left their starting points but have yet to to join forces into the rolling maul of traffic delays.
The dairy owner blames the government and says "they have to go", I'm still half asleep and don't argue.
I get on my usual 7.15 bus to find it packed to the gunwales. The roads are fairly busy too, but not dramatically so. Who knew it would take truckers gunking up the roads to fill up public transport?
Despite all the people I still manage to get to work fairly smartly. Hadyn 1, Truckers 0.
Hadyn - Holy Shit! They're here! They're HERE! (sorry, don't have a camera, oh I know, check the webcam)
Tom - arrived at work at 8:30, and everyone was raving about how easy the commute was. Strangely, I noticed a couple of buses coming down Willis St that weren't packed out (a strange occurence) - maybe it's just a nice day for a walk?
James - #4 from Island Bay to CBD, route was probably quieter and quicker than average. Travelling time was 8:20 - 8:40am. Bus no more overcrowded than usual. Got to the Courtenay/Taranaki intersection where I suspected some grid-lock might be occuring (with Taranaki being on the truckers' route), but, nope, looked pretty deserted in both directions.
Llew - completely uneventful stroll down the hill from Kelburn. As usual. Most disappointed. My spies tell me that plumbers are revolting too - in their toyota vans. Not sure what that means.
From the Citylink webcam:
Kowhai - Dear lord the incessant honking on Moleswork is going to drive me to violence! My inner 4 year old boy is delighted but my outer Public Servant needs quiet to analyse some damn data.
Robyn - I went to the Everton Terrace overbridge and caught the arrival of the convoy. There were a lot of convoy supporters watching from there, including one excited woman who remarked of the trucks, "They're not even honking. That's just so polite of them." Only to have the convoy erupt in a cacophony of honking as they came closer.
Given that my morning commute involves walking and catching a train, I wasn't at all inconvenienced. If anything, the reduced traffic on the streets made things easier. And my inner 5-year-old boy secretly enjoyed all the trucks.
More of my photos from convoy morning.
Oh, and now you should watch the "I've Got a Big Truck" song from classic Australian comedy show Fast Forward. Honk! Honk!
stephen - I took advantage of the situation to sleep in 'til 10.30. Traffic was fine when I came in to work from Newtown at about midday.
Going across the Ngauranga viaduct on the train this morning (7.50ish), there was no traffic whatsoever.
And walking down Featherston St, it almost had a deserted ghost town feel to it.
The horns woke me up (just in time for work) and all the trucks were packed up Taranaki as I zipped past them on my bicycle. I'm at work right now near the beehive and everyone is watching them head back up to the motorway.
Mike
I walked along Boulcott, Willis, Lambton around 8.30--9. Traffic on the motorway was moving slowly (but nothing new there) and otherwise, not many cars around so traffic was moving smoothly.
Seems like trucker protest --> more people on public transport, fewer cars in central city --> less traffic, less pollution. The government should raise the RUC every week!
Best commute ever! 8:30 bus (number 18 from Newtown, only 5 minutes to Ghuznee Street. Fantastic. Perhaps we should have a daily blockade of Hutt & Porirua ????
When at the Taranaki/Vivian Lights I was a bit nervous as lots of people were looking up Vivian and taking photos, but we beat them.
"Moleswork", tee hee, I am going to leave that as is.
My second favourite comment from the excited lady on the overbridge:
Woman: Oh, look! Even the cops are in it!
Man: I think that's a police escort.
Woman: Yeah, but still...
Murray doesn't take kindly to the "Let me on, I want a free-ride too" posters.
Not that he takes kindly to much of anything, I suppose.
As we all know support for the truckers who were screwed over by a lying Annette King is massive. What was planned to be a thousand trucks in Auckland turned into an estimated 4,500 and other centres have likewise been paralysed in what is turning into more of a spontaneous day of national protest against a failed socialist government of breath taking arrogance.
Robyn, you run the risk of being too reasonable and thus, of being banned. More angry invective please.
How's this:
bloody helengrad kkklark is totally out of touch with what ordinary hardworking nz'ers want and has been in govt for too long!!!!!
I heard people were clapping them in the street. What a pathetic bunch of ignoramuses. Somebody's not using their head. etc.
I give you a Summize.com search that shows you the twitter reaction:
truck OR protest OR traffic near:NZ within:800km (http://is.gd/LEF)
(skip the Sydney traffic please)
-Jo.
twitter.com/JoMangee
It is a nice day for a walk. Saw quite a few making the stroll down Adelaide Rd towards town. Although, that's probably true for most nice days anyway.