The next target in my campaign to prove that the newspapers are doing their utmost to make ordinary New Zealanders look and sound like whingers is this story in the Herald on Sunday.
In this marvellous work of journalism a commuter is complaining that because she lives in Muriwai Beach she has no choice but to pay the outrageous sum of $29 per day to park in Auckland city. And I agree, $29 a day is an astounding sum of money to park your car if you’re having to pay it every day. That adds up to what, $145 a week, or $580 a month? Or… SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR, to park.
Now, let’s ignore for a minute that parking prices are driven by demand. The story also indicates that prices in Waitakere and Manukau city are only $3 per day, or less for an entire week than Ms. Auckland Commuter pays daily. Sure, the parking buildings could be price gouging, but no-one is holding a gun to Ms. Commuters head and forcing her to use their service. In other words, the buildings are asking that kind of money because they can.
Let’s also ignore that she actually only pays $16 a day, because she normally aims for earlybird parking. $29 is the rate if she’s held up and misses the discount.
This situation would be compounded if Ms. Commuter was actually forced to pay this money. But she isn’t. Not even an iota. Even though the Herald article says she has no choice but to pay, this completely ignores “park and ride”, a venerable public transport tradition.
Let’s look at that price to park in Waitakere again. $3 a day. So, Ms. Commuter could drive to Waitakere, park, and catch a bus to her work. Checking prices at this handy Auckland website, it would cost her $5.40 in one direction. That’s a grand total of $13.80 per day. Which is still expensive. But, a ten-trip ticket for the bus would bring that down a by a staggering $1.10 per day, or approximately $260 a year (which is a little less that two weeks of her current parking costs…). It’s also $2.20 ($520 a year) cheaper than her earlybird parking.
But to be honest, this is a crappy scenario. Ms. Commuter is actually better off driving to the closest cheap parking, and then getting the bus in. She’ll likely pay more to park, but will save on time and bus fares. What she needs to do is not think “I’m forced to drive to the closest place to work possible”, and think out her options, of which she has many.
I can see that some people would think my having a go at Ms. Commuter and calling her a whinger a little mean. Some people have to live commute because they can’t afford to live close to work.
But… Ms. Commuter just moved to Muriwai on the West Coast. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Muriwai is a highly desirable beach location. So either she’s a low-income earner who’s found an absolute cracker of a property, a renter who’s made the crazy decision to live miles away from work, or the more likely scenario, she’s on decent money.
What this also says to me is that, if Ms. Commuter has purchased at Muriwai, then she could have taken that parking and petrol money and bought a nice place nearer work. After all, $7000 on parking, and likely an equal amount on petrol, would fund an additional $150,000 on a mortgage.
What we have then is a “human interest story” that makes the person involved look like a whinger. She’s making stupid choices that are costing her an arm and a leg, and the newspaper has told the whole world about it.
Good one.
5 May, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Why didn’t she do some research and figure out how much it was all going to cost *before* she moved to Muriwai?
I’m going through a similar process, figuring out where I’ll look for a flat in Wellington based on where I work, how I’ll get to work, how much it’ll cost, etc.
5 May, 2008 at 10:54 pm
UM Che
Did you notice that she said this
“but since I’ve moved there’s been no choice in the matter. I wouldn’t feel safe bussing home at night, and buses don’t run all the way to where I live.”
As a woman i respect her choices to put her safety before public transport. It’s all fine and well saying she should park and ride, but if she doesn’t feel safe as a woman on her own, well why does that make her a whinger
6 May, 2008 at 7:01 am
that’s assuming she actually would be bussing home at night though.
if she’s getting to work early enough to catch the discounted parking (normally before 8am or earlier), then she’d have to be working something like a 12 or 15 hour day to be bussing home “at night” (i.e. in the dark)
it’s far more likely that she’s wealthy enough to just not like the sort of people you see on public transport.
6 May, 2008 at 7:49 am
Che said, it’s far more likely that she’s wealthy enough to just not like the sort of people you see on public transport.
Che, I live 8 minutes from Her, why don’t you come visit and I can take you out to the beach and you can ask Her yo’self.
6 May, 2008 at 8:13 am
don’t joke merc, next time i’m in auckland i just might take you up on that.
“dear ms. commuter, are you happy with the newspapers making you look like a whinger?”
6 May, 2008 at 8:22 am
I never joke (hehe), be good to see ya, I live in paradise, work in the best mini-city in the world and I’m free to do whatever I want any old time, I am the anti-whinger.
I am dual
my own dark other
forever living
within another.
Che said, “dear ms. commuter, are you happy with the newspapers making you look like a whinger?”
I kinda love this, you could exercise your darker side more often.
6 May, 2008 at 8:35 am
That’s what you get for reading a Herald article about public transport.
As such…
But in her defense, and I really don’t want to defend her, it does make some sense that she would be bussing home at night. You’ve assumed she earns enough to live in Murawai, which means she must have a high paying job. That job is in the inner-city because that’s where she’s parking.
This could make her a lawyer or a financier or maybe something in banking*. All of which, as I am made aware, work incredibly long hours (due to some belief in the rat race, personally something I try to avoid).
I think though the most likely thing, as you say, is that the Herald have put all of their journalistic skill into making the woman sound like a whinger.
*as you can see my grasp of which professions make large sums of money is rather poor
6 May, 2008 at 8:43 am
The real paying jobs are them no-care Govt. contracts in Welliwood with taxi chits and all. Hehe this whinging is easy.
Hey we’re getting a daily train service out our way in August, just got to be careful no one robs it.
6 May, 2008 at 8:50 am
she’s an advertising account manager, which isn’t huge money, but is still well above the average wage.
but there are two points i need to reiterate.
1. she chose to move to a location over an hour away from where she works. if she does work 12 hour days, then thatcommute is a bad decision. why deliberately add hours to your day in travel, then complain about parking?
2. the point of the post, as i’ve stated a number of times, is to point out that the herald is taking people’s circumstances, and making them look like whingers.
6 May, 2008 at 9:11 am
Hell yeah, that is our media, our political blogs, our paid for bloggers. You must stay on the talking points, remember we were told,
1. we use our car too much
2. we borrow too much
3. we drink too much
4. blag blag too much
The spend on Social Marketing fro HQ is HUGE, and you Che know what Social Marketing is. We have supposedly a Calvanistic streak so with a good bit of whinger bashing we will all fall into line and fall amongst ourselves.
It’s guilt marketing with a tinge of divide to rule.
You know it’s funny here, most bloggers highest accolade is when their commenters praise them personally to the hilt.
The medium has gone mainstream and the funds? Where do the funds come from?
I personally don’t care if She chooses to live at Muriwai, good on Her, I just hope She got contra for the article from her mate at the Herald. Yes this place is that small, maybe even smaller.
6 May, 2008 at 9:30 am
“I wouldn’t feel safe bussing home at night,”
The issue is not safety on the bus or the kind of people who ride on it. Far more likely, it’s getting safely to the inner-city busstop and feeling secure while waiting. The Auckland CBD is depopulated on weeknights and full of dark areas. The biggest bus stop at the top of K Road/Symonds St is immediately next to a graveyard full of glue-sniffers and other dodgy types. A single woman at 9PM would be quite justified in feeling anxious as she hangs about waiting for a bus that may or may not come.
6 May, 2008 at 9:52 am
so the actual story is, “women unsafe using public transport”.
not, “well-off hosuebuyers complaining about parking”.
i think they call that, ‘burying the lead’. the former is a story i would have no beef with.
6 May, 2008 at 9:57 am
Clean and safe, how hard is it?
6 May, 2008 at 11:08 am
You certainly gave that article way more attention than it deserved.
a Herald on Sunday survey has found there is some sound statistical basis right there – not.
My favourite was the stuff online survey from 2006 which asked:
Do you believe in the results of online surveys?
If that wasn’t bad enough, over half the respondents had ticked no; which highlights the sort of intellectual powerhouses who respond to that kind of thing…
6 May, 2008 at 11:45 am
As you suggest, she could drive to Mt Eden, park for free, and catch the one section bus in from there. It’s what I do when I need to get into the centre of Auckland, and works out much cheaper than any alternative.
6 May, 2008 at 11:57 am
” A single woman at 9PM would be quite justified in feeling anxious as she hangs about waiting for a bus that may or may not come.
so the actual story is, “women unsafe using public transport”.
but you wrote
“I can see that some people would think my having a go at Ms. Commuter and calling her a whinger a little mean.”
So what does your having a go at her have to do with your pointing out “that the herald is taking people’s circumstances, and making them look like whingers.”
she said “wouldn’t feel safe”.
So why did you label her a whinger from the start. She has no control over how the herald reports her situation, which was the point of this post but you said “I can see that some people would think my having a go at Ms. Commuter and calling her a whinger a little mean.”
So as a reader i see 2 points to your post
one of them picking on a woman who doesn’t feel safe using public transport or waiting for it.
and hello for we know she could be a measly accounts person who moved home to live with her parents becuase she couldn’t afford rent.
As much as she could be an uber rick person.
we don’t know but people have made assumptions based on her postcode, much like the herald did.
6 May, 2008 at 12:22 pm
sue, that’s what ‘burying the lead’ means. the actual story was why she had to use a parking building.
but the story as written has a tiny line that is the actual story.
i think i can be forgiven for thinking that a story titled “seven times the cost to park” is focussed on cost, not the interviewee’s circumstances.
and @sam. it was page 3!! (or maybe 2. i forget.)
6 May, 2008 at 12:38 pm
It costs 50.00 to park at Auckland Domestic Airport for 2 days.
I’m kinda missing your point I think Che but I’m doing my best. It’s like I’ve got to be really clever to read anything these days, failed with the angle of this,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10508162
really i did, what is Fran saying? Help you media de-garblizing babel fish people!
Also George, I used to live in Mt Eden, now I work in Mt Eden, what are your views on recommending parking in the hood to travel stage 1 into the city and the locals and local workers need for parking?
6 May, 2008 at 12:52 pm
but Che
you buried the lead as well, and only after writing your post have you acknowledged that she has a valid reason for parking.
you never said that in your post
6 May, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Che, it seems to me that you’re oscillating between sneering at the putative stupid choices of this “whinger”, and sneering at the HoS. I don’t think you can have it both ways.
6 May, 2008 at 1:11 pm
i’d like to think i’m exposing both. the poor journalism at the herald, and the kinds of stupid choices people make.
like i said waaay back. based on the information i’ve been provided, this commuter has choices but prefers the expensive one, and is depicted complaining about the one she’s chosen.
so, examples of other choices:
maybe she could arrange with the boss to work from home more often during the winter when it gets darker earlier. then she has to drive and park less often.
maybe she should park in mt. eden and bus closer to her work (it’s a short ride and mt. eden is relatively safe).
maybe she should have done what robyn suggests and plan how much it’s going to cost to drive to the city and park, but before she moved to muriwai. perhaps she might not have chosen to live so damn far away.
maybe she could think about car-pooling?
i could go on.
but, the story states baldly that “she has no choice but to pay”, and that is patently false.
6 May, 2008 at 1:23 pm
but mate you covered non of this
you just went mean and ignored her safety concerns
again we have no idea why she moved to murwai so you can’t judge her on that,
6 May, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I drive from there every day with D in the morning dark and return home in the evening darkness (in Winter), she can come with me, but we have many stops on the way (children, school, hospital, vege stand, surf check, reckless SUV driving on the beach).
Pointing out where people are stupid is always a difficult stance to take, and I repeat, if this is simply for comment count, then…
6 May, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Merc, there still seem to be a large amount number of street space available in the inner suburbs, sufficient for me to feel no guilt about potentially depriving an Edenite of their streetside park.
Admittedly, if everybody did the same this would change. I’d have to park in Mt Albert.
6 May, 2008 at 4:59 pm
George, yes, you are right, there are sufficient spaces and it’s a canny way to go to the city centre, just a wee walk is all and if you’re early enough, not even that. Burleigh Street springs to mind