Tasmania’s Transport Minister Eric Abetz says he has been met with a wave of support after announcing the withdrawal of funding for new cycle lanes in Hobart’s CBD.
The decision to pull the plug on bankrolling the $170,000 Collins Street project, which is part of a two-year trial, has been hailed by locals as the “most sensible” choice the state government has made to date.
“I’m in shock [that the] government has seen common sense,” one person said on the Pulse Tasmania Facebook page.
“Good decision by govt. The HCC will refuse to listen to the broader community and waste rate income so badly needed for worthwhile projects,” another wrote.
Abetz said the state government received a range of feedback from commuters, pedestrians, small business owners, property owners and bus drivers all expressing their opposition to the project.
“They all say reducing Collins Street by three metres … is not exactly going to make Hobart and the CBD into the sort of dynamic opportunity that we would wish it to be,” he said.
“The community feedback from day one has been negative. I have been pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming feedback which has come in.”
“The community feedback is exactly as it has been this morning, overwhelmingly in favour of the government’s decision to withdraw the funding.”
Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds, however, disagrees and says the council will instead look at ways to stump up the cash itself by moving money around or finding alternative grant sources.
She said priorities may change within the council’s other transport commitments which could make funding easily available.
These comments prompted Abetz to question why the council had requested any funding at all.
“When the feedback is such that you know that you got it wrong, there’s no shame in saying ‘we got it wrong and we’re going to change our mind’,” he said.
“And that is what the Hobart City Council ought to do, rather than now digging even further and getting money out of another pot to fund the whole project.”
“Which makes me think as a state government representative, why did you ask for the money in the first place if you had the money stashed away somewhere else to be able to be useful?”
