From your mayor - 'People's Palace' hub of public transport

Our new Central City Bus Exchange puts public transport centre stage in our city.

At the end of October I took part in the official opening. It's magnificent and well worth a look even if you are not planning to catch a bus! At the opening I said that the finished product amounted to a cultural revolution - Christchurch style.

I used the words "cultural revolution" as a way of trying to sum up the implications of what has been done here. If it looks like a deliberate, blatant attempt to put public transport centre stage in Christchurch, that's because it is.

We now have a base for public transport that is at the hub of the City Centre, offering a level of quality the more affluent are used to finding in international airports. It is "The Koru Club treatment for the average citizen".

The new complex is evidence that the days of poor relation status and treatment for people who use public transport are over. It is a big step forward and also, a salute to our more cohesive, collective past as a people. It is the "People's Palace" approach of the past applied to the public transport needs of today.

I also reminded people at the opening that previously the problems of public transport in this city were in danger of being "pecked to death".

Public transport was one of the areas staked out to be left to the tender mercies of the free market, while local councils were left to tinker with the margins without gathering the courage to address the core problem.

The core problem was that so long as public transport was treated as the second-best option, that was the way it would be seen.

I recognised and acknowledged the courage of my fellow councillors who backed this plan from concept to reality.

The opening marks a major step forward in solving that historic core problem by making it very obvious that public transport has now moved to a priority placing as we grapple with the growing pains of our city. As our private vehicle population continues to swell and expand, sooner or later we are going to face the unpleasant prospect of gridlock on our roads unless more of us embrace the use of public transport.

As I said earlier, this is a cultural revolution Christchurch-style. Where the Christchurch style comes into play is that this project is another example of how, in this city, the active partnerships between the private and public sectors now being promoted nationally as an ideal, are already a reality here.

It is a reflection on the cohesion of this community that the public and private sectors can be galvanised to work together for a common good project so easily and seamlessly.

When you compare Christchurch's track record of cohesion in partnerships with other metropolitans with their fragmented cultures it makes you very glad to live and work here.

Through this model of active partnership, we are also able to help put together the building blocks that will help fuel an active inner city revival that meets contemporary needs and realities.

This is a major move forward in helping meet that goal, but more importantly it makes public transport a quality choice in Christchurch.