Te Huia trains cancelled for two weeks
Wot I rote:
'Are you nuts? No Te Huia service in the holidays? Who thought that one up? Someone with no children, no holidays, no life.
We use Te Huia pretty much only IN the holidays.
You can tell me that AT have cancelled their services for maintenance of tracks, but we know Auckland is nuts. That's why we want a train service so we can get in, get out, without having to actually engage or deal with Aucklanders or their transport. What else would you expect of them? Somebody might actually rely on their services, give up their car and the cloggy commute if there was a reliable service, and we wouldn't want that, would we?
But I expected better of you guys .I thought we were aiming for a 'First World service', not an amateur hobby railway.
The whole London Transport network runs everyday. Repairs are done at night, and, granted, some parts of the network probably do need more maintenance, but it wouldn't occur to them to close the WHOLE NETWORK for two weeks because they fancy an amble and a poke on the rail tracks.
It might sound like I am angry but actually I am astonished, shocked and disappointed. This is not how you run an infrastructure, and you can tell AT from me, any opportunity you get because they are not interested in feedback from anyone outside their network who doesn't have an AT Hop card.
I have spent many conversations supporting a new rail line, how it is the way of the future for any modern country, singing your praises at the naysayers, asserting that a good rail service is one sign of three for me of a civilised country, and now you tell me, at the busiest tourist season in the country, in the largest city, that there are NO TRAINS at all running.
I will have to swallow my words now, suffer the humiliation of the crowing of the petrolheads and hang my head in shame.
Very disappointed, A Williams
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
What events have stood out for you this year?
It was another big year for the region’s number one news outlet the Waikato Times. From man-hunts to monarchs new and old, rates rises, international flights, hobbits, councillors behaving badly and almost everything in between, Matthew Martin's article takes you back through the news that captured the region during the first half of the year.
What events have stood out for you this year - either in your life or in the news? Tell us your reasons in the comments (adding NFP if you don't want your words used in print).
Hamilton's overburdened justice ecosystem
It desperately needs to be bigger, but they are going to make it stronger instead.
There are not enough courtrooms to cater for the glut of cases at the Hamilton District Court, and according to the Ministry of Justice there won’t be any additional space in the foreseeable future.