So, this is the way we are going to end the year then, is it? Not talking about Jesus or Santa, but talking about whether Councils should just concentrate on Roads or Water or Fixing the Pipes or a Nice big convention centre down the road? I had the misfortune of listening to the dullard duo of Luxoff and Simian Brown natter on at the last post-cabinet meeting of the year, and together they said something along these lines:
Simian: “I’ve seen the millions of dollars that Councils – Greater Wellington Regional Council – like to spend on bus stops with gardens on top, plenty of examples, Greater Wellington Leadership Group on how they could improve healthy eating habits of Wellingtonians – makes a mockery of local councils when actually they should be focused on fixing the pipes.”
Luxoff: “I know that many of you feel that we are being a bit tough on councils, but I’m just saying we are being very clear. We expect them to do the basics brilliantly. Get back to the core job – fix the water pipes in Wellington would be a good start. Make sure that the roads and the footpaths are actually being sealed properly. Make sure that the rubbish is being collected, Get rid of the graffiti and clean the place up. I think that council’s have lost focus on outcomes and we need them to do the basics first.”
He’s clearly in a LuxOff moment, not a LuxOn….
So, where are these bus stops with gardens on top? Turns out that the little monkey boy is probably talking about :
The $2.2 million hub that opened in Paraparaumu on the Kāpiti Coast back in August of 2024, complete with two “living-roof” bus shelters with plants on the roof, a walkway, real-time information screens on bus services and charging infrastructure for electric bikes and e-scooters.
Speaking to media following an appearance at the fiery Local Government New Zealand conference, Brown said it was a “crazy bus stop with a garden on top… I mean that stuff is nuts,” Brown added, before asking: “Why on earth is money being spent on crazy things like that when all people want is a bus stop?”
NZ Herald reported it like this at the time: “The $2.2 million hub opened in Paraparaumu on the Kāpiti Coast in August, complete with two “living-roof” bus shelters with plants on the roof, a walkway, real-time information screens on bus services and charging infrastructure for electric bikes and e-scooters. The New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi funded 51% of the bus shelters and surrounding infrastructure, with Metlink picking up the remaining 49%. Metlink group manager Samantha Gain said the transport hub is designed to meet the demand of more than 440,000 bus and rail journeys a month. In an update on the project in 2022, she explained why they had opted for “living roofs” on the shelters. “In a first for Metlink, we will install distinctive living-roof bus shelters. As well as being very attractive, they will contribute to the overall sustainability theme and green credentials of the transport hub.” She said that coupled with new signage and Real Time Information displays the outcome should be “a great customer experience”.“
“Why on earth is money being spent on crazy things like that when all people want is a bus stop?” Clearly Simian was not listening when they explained the real time info screens, the charging for electric bikes and e-scooters, some semblance of wind-proofing, some seating, and oooh, a roof that involves gardens (and also effectively insulation). My guess would be that the $2.2million price tag would be for all the road-building activities as well – curbing, asphalt, heavy sub-base for the concrete below the bus parking, quite possibly the pedestrian tunnels under the road and rail tracks as well, not just $2.2million spent on some tussock on the roof. Come on Simpleton Brown, where’s your monkey brain at? Can anyone provide me with an ACTUAL real life cost breakdown of this project?
So guess where i am off to today? Yes, taking a train to Paraparumu, to see for myself. Incidentally, does anyone know of any other green roofed bus stops? Is this actually a thing? Or is it a one-off?
Post-script
Well, that was fun. I came, I saw, and I was intrigued. There are photos below – but there are some real questions about what they are up to, and why. I don’t object at all to the grassy roofs, although there were almost no people there in the bus stops – lots more people at the train stops, but the train facilities are all closed off. All a bit silly really, as a commenter says below, as they are owned by Greater Wellington Regional Council, although trains run on Kiwirail tracks – good grief – it is all so complicated !!! Just think of the commuters you bunch of plonkers! Train or bus – they are the SAME people ! Reopen the Train waiting room, or make the Bus waiting room part of the same complex.
Out of idle curiosity, do they mow the living roofs, or just hoist up a goat every so often to keep the dock plants down?
Low maintenance plants, like succulents and flaxes. No grass.
Definitely goats.
Low-flying drone mowers
Meanwhile in Poland. . . no goats but some architecture. . .
https://www.wired.com/story/warsaw-university-library-warsaw-poland-travel/
Am I imagining things or did they put one of these outside the Living Pa at Vic?
Yes! You’re right – there is indeed a large bus stop (triple bay) outside Victoria University, halfway down the hill. Not sure who paid for it though – Greater Wellington? Welly City Council? Vic Uni?
This is a Greater Wellington bus stop to replace the stop and shelters that were further up the street. Low maintenance plants. Modern RTI screen incorporated into the bus stop – can see your bus coming in a map.
Thanks Daran – and can I say a big thank you from some of the users? They seem to be very happy with it – well done.
So did you brave the train up the coast? What did you think of the gardens in the sky? Did they have the goats on duty?
I did indeed – I am a Fish of my Word – and Happy New Year to you as well Mister Henry Filth ! Glad you asked. I actually think that little Simeon Brown has got the wrong end of the stick – I doubt that the addition of gardens on the roof is the likely cause of much of the cost-blowout. There is a lot more of the scheme than meets the Eye – new planning for buses, revamped concrete underpass beneath the old SH1, and those earthworks to do all that are bound to be very expensive. But as I have no access to any definitive cost breakdown, I guess this is all just conjecture.
Gardens – very hard to see them – the birds will get more appreciation than the humans.
Goats – sure enough, there was a goat tethered to an airborne paddock that floated by, hovering near the be-wooded bus-stop.
But i could not ask anyone about the scheme, as the actual railway platform buildings were dead and looked like they had been dead for some time. Months maybe. Possibly even years. What on earth is going on here?
With the advent of Snapper on trains, the only station in the Wellington region with a ticket office is Wellington itself (owned by KiwiRail), so Metlink (GWRC owns all the other station buildings) has minimal off-train staffing requirements. What that means for station buildings like Paraparaumu’s I dunno – though some have waiting rooms or are tenanted (eg Plimmerton and Carterton), and there’s a nice hole-in-the-wall coffee place on Paraparaumu’s main Down (Wellington-bound) platform.
The work on the station is due to be completed this year. GWRC has funds allocated for this.
Cost of planted roofs only a small proportion of overall cost. This became a beat up after a community board member made public statements. Haven’t received any direct correspondence from Kapitonians about this.
Again, thanks Daran – great to see you here. Yes, I thought it was a beat up – there is a huge amount of work that has been done here, and I guessed that the planted roof was likely to be only a small amount of that.