Andy Baird

This is from an 'insurance risk' perspective which is a lot to do with our high levels of insurance

If you think average income means there isn't enough money to support Taylor Swift concerts, I suggest you go travelling.

Ignoring the gross ignorance of your 3rd world comment, I wasn't making an analogy, that's literally a graph of Taylor Swift Facebook fans by country

There are 4.5billion people in Asia and she's only playing shows in Japan, Singapore and Oz. Philippines and Indo might be able to feel aggrieved but you're saying she should have gone to a country of 5million?! Ya dreaming

It's all about where you choose to spend money right? Waikato expressway cost $2.4b compared to $100m on Te Huia. The latter gets intense scrutiny and might even get canned by new govt

I think you'll find there are many examples around the world with similar population size as NZ where commuter/regional rail absolutely works. Look up the DART+ programme in Dublin as one example, €3b cost to expand their rail to regions with €6.8b in benefits

As a reference Te Huia costs $6m/y to run so $80/ticket is 205 passengers/day to break even. Te Huia has 320 pax/day. Cheaper tix but longer trip than driving. Business case aside, my point was that people do exist who would rather train than drive if the option existed

I'd pay the same as an airfare. My regional flight is $79 if booked at least a month in advance but then I still need to get from the airport to the city. The Dutch train example I gave is 30 euro each way, so $50

Did this commute in the Netherlands regularly over a month. Train departs and arrives right in the middle of the city, just as fast as driving, from a town of 200k to a city of 1m. Don't have to be a train nerd to appreciate that surely

I regularly commute between Auckland and the provinces and would love nothing more than the option of a train that could get me there in a time comparable to driving

Yeah I got that part :) but why is it devoid of seismicity? It looks like there are faults there

What's the reason?!

Have you tried Rembrandt? I found they fit my lanky frame much better than Barkers and such but still under $1k and a bit nicer fabric too

Less than 500ft separation?Kinda odd altitudes to be flying? Need a pilot to confirm but I thought there are certain altitudes you're meant to fly at in each compass direction to help avoid collision

There must be some gruesome CCTV footage to come out. Also re 'piers', this is standard naming used at all airports for the long skinny bits that stick out of the main terminal building