John Peters says the bus fare from Tawa to Wellington station should be $2, and from Johnsonville to Wellington station $1.
The fares are currently higher.
The candidate running for council from Takapu ward in Tawa, a North Wellington suburb, is ready to back his demand, and lead by example, by actually buying a new bus to prove it can be done.
Peters has placed an order for a new Rosa 2 WD 24-seater school bus costing around $150,000.
As the former owner of a fleet of mini buses, Peters knows a thing or two about buses. He believes that, given the government subsidy enjoyed by the big bus companies, the fares are too high.
Reducing the cost of public transportation is one of his key campaign themes.
As a migrant from the Anglo-Indian community who arrived in New Zealand from India in 2000, Peters looks back to a time when traffic congestion was not so severe.
“When I came to this country 22 years ago, I was held up in traffic on the way to work. But now, it has just compounded.”
He says the northern suburb contributes more than $ 60 million in rates to the Wellington City Council. Yet, there is no solution in sight.
“I look around and wonder why there is no migrant voice on the council. So, I decided that I must put up my hand,” Peters explains his motivation as a candidate.
Does Peters find his Anglo-Indian background a help or a hindrance in his mission?
“Basically, I’m an Indian. India has seen many great Anglo Indians like Leslie Claudius (hockey player) and singers Cliff Richard and Engelbart Humperdinck, and many more. Three generations of my family members have served in the British and Indian armies, which makes me more Indian,” Peters notes.
Peters says he comes across many Kiwis who “are interested to know how I got this English or biblical name.”
“Then I have to explain to them the history of India.”
Peters goes back to the beginnings of Christianity in India.
“In 52 AD, the apostle St. Thomas landed in Kerala. My mother’s ancestors, who were Namboothiri’s (Brahmins), converted to Christianity. Then we had the Portuguese and British coming to India. So, India has seen over 500 years of Portuguese and British rule.”
Peters owns a 20-acre lifestyle block in Tawa. Before he gave up his transport business, Peters owned 12 buses and employed 30 drivers. His buses plied across the greater Wellington region.
Peters looks back with pride at the time he spent as the CEO of an aboriginal corporation in Western Australia. He was tasked with managing a community of indigenous people located 1400 km from Perth.
This role was preceded by a stint as a housing officer under the department of housing in Western Australia, which opened his eyes to the harsh living conditions of the indigenous people in the area. “There was a lot of negativity against the aboriginal people,” Peters recalls. “I tried to build a bridge between the aboriginal and mainstream communities.”
Peters engaged actively with the aboriginal community and even got the elders to agree to a ban on alcohol within the community. The same drive and insights gained while interfacing with the aboriginal communities in Western Australia stood Peters in good stead while dealing with the Maori community in NZ.
“If you see the gang culture here, we must understand they are our home-grown boys and girls. They are not from Mexico or Columbia. So, we need to introspect and see why this is happening. We must take responsibility as elders of the community. We must bring these problems to the attention of the government,” Peters notes.
Peters recalls he employed many Maori and Samoans as drivers when he ran his transport business. “They are the best of people. I never had any issues with them,” he declares.
For the past three years, the Wellington City Council has consistently enforced higher rates than the Christchurch or Auckland councils. On top of that, there are the ongoing project cost overruns, such as the Town Hall project which went from an estimated cost of $ 43 million in 2013 and now stands at a whopping $ 400 million.
Peters attributes this to financial mismanagement stemming from inexperience. The council sees rate payers as cash cows, he says.
Peters’ poser to the councillors who represent the northern suburbs is: “Why are you not raising these questions in the Wellington City Council?"
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