Editorial: Taking a punt on the river

OPINION: If ever there was an example of the attraction of our greatest natural asset, it came recently in the form of the busy day had by a small boat.

As public spaces on both sides of the Waikato River in central Hamilton filled with people enjoying national Children's Day events, more than a thousand people queued to cross the river on a small punt.

The boat itself was a little more than a flat barge with a safety rail and outboard motor but the numbers who used it represented both the latent pull of the region's river on its residents and entrepreneur T K Taylor's canny knack for spotting a market.

Mr Taylor had already partially stepped into the gap left when the Waipa Delta sailed for Auckland. His 50-passenger Te Awa Kuini vessel now plies the river on sightseeing cruises.

But even the Cruise Waikato operator was surprised there was enough interest to keep his punt ferrying people between Memorial Park and the riverbank below Waikato Museum non-stop for six hours. He now plans to start weekend rides and a weekday commuter service if the demand continues. Admittedly, a free ride was likely part of the attraction for people with little other opportunity to see the river from its peaceful surface. But Mr Taylor is on to something here and deserves praise for trying to fill both a gap in the market and a woeful gap in the city's treatment of its often-touted but under-utilised main attraction. "We need to bring the Waikato River alive, " Mr Taylor told the Times last month. "There are so many opportunities, the river is like a blank canvas."But while Regional Transport Committee deputy chair Paula Southgate enjoyed a ride on the punt, she had her doubts.

Improving the jetties and river banks would be costly and the money better spent on bus services, she said.

And herein lies the problem. Why should improving infrastructure on the city's biggest physical and visual asset be one small and overlooked job for a body interested largely in getting roads built and buses flowing around the congested parts of town? The committee will review it as part of a wider passenger transport plan later this year. But what further could local government really add to the river issue it has largely ignored for so long when a private operator has already tested the waters and thinks it's worth doing? The best thing they could do is watch Mr Taylor's operation and, if it's a flier, ask what it needs to make it work better. Both Hamilton City Council and Environment Waikato were unwilling to come to the party over the Waipa Delta departure until too late and then not with their ratepayer-funded chequebooks open.

The numbers willing to use a punt service will tell whether Mr Taylor's money is well spent and if the service warrants support, or if he's paddling up the wrong creek.

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