Saturday, February 07, 2009
Northern Toll Road - We fucking toll you so.
Couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery.
All they would need is a lane that pulls off to the side, motorists slow down drop off 2 bucks and carry on their merry way. All vehicles that use the road weekly can sort all the automatic payment crap out and drive straight on past.
This is what a real tollgate looks like in Korea.
We don't fuck around in these. Car barely stops, money flies everywhere and the foot goes back on the gas. A vehicle gets processed about every 5-10 seconds.
Another Wellington resident, Jean Guthrie, said: "I just heard about it on the radio on the way up from Wellington. I was coming in here for a coffee anyway. It would be just easier if you could just drive through and then put the money in a funnel-like tin."What a steaming pile of shit this whole process is proving to be. All the highway has done is move the traffic jam further up the road but since fuck all cars will be getting off to go to Orewa and what ones there are will be replaced by more heading north with population growth and more people excited by the prospect of not having to drive through a town filled by wankers and old people. So essentially nothing has happened.
Raewyn Lum of Auckland said she knew a toll had to be paid but found alternatives to the cash kiosk "too hard". She added: "I don't know why we can't just have coin drops."
Anaru Te Maro of Auckland said he thought the road would have toll booths like the Auckland Harbour Bridge once had.
He wondered why people had only three days to pay, because other businesses gave clients 30 days.
All they would need is a lane that pulls off to the side, motorists slow down drop off 2 bucks and carry on their merry way. All vehicles that use the road weekly can sort all the automatic payment crap out and drive straight on past.
This is what a real tollgate looks like in Korea.
We don't fuck around in these. Car barely stops, money flies everywhere and the foot goes back on the gas. A vehicle gets processed about every 5-10 seconds.Labels: incompetence knows no bounds, northern toll road, traffic jams suck dogs balls
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Spending $6.25 to save $2.00
So WINZ and ARC staff are forbidden to use the new Northern Toll Road, unless of course they wish to pay for it out of their own post-tax incomes. (Which I'm guessing they probably don't).
Note that use of the toll road saves, on average, 10 minutes (each way) on a north-south journey in the Orewa/Waiwera area.
Some conservative assumptions suggest that these numbskull organizations are paying $6.25 in wages/salaries in order to save $2.
Given an average hourly rate of $25/employee and an average of 1.5 employees/vehicle, the "extra" 10 minute diversion costs $6.25 in wages. Each way.
So a return voyage in which using the toll road would save 20 minutes actually costs these organizations $12.50 in unnecessary labour costs, while saving them a mere $4 in tolls (and perhaps a little more in adminstration costs). So a net cost of about $8.50 then.
I'll not really consider the administration costs, as I'm not considering the extra fuel costs either. By cutting out 4km of driving - specifically over that break-neck hill around Waiwera, and through the interminable stop-start roads of Orewa - I'd wager the tunnel saves on average 0.5L/fuel per trip. Let's cost that at $0.75 ($1.50 for a return). And then there's the wear and tear, and depreciation of vehicles to consider too.
The break-even point (considering only 'lost' wages) is a single employee in the vehicle earning $12/hour (Calculation: $12*(1/6)=$2). In a curious coincidence, that's the minimum wage. And I don't think these organizations employ too many people at the minimum wage (despite the best intentions of, e.g., Rodney Hide).
It's one thing for private organizations to waste money and act like idiots, but WINZ and the ARC are funded by taxpayers and ratepayers respectively.
Smarten up, morons.
Note that use of the toll road saves, on average, 10 minutes (each way) on a north-south journey in the Orewa/Waiwera area.
Some conservative assumptions suggest that these numbskull organizations are paying $6.25 in wages/salaries in order to save $2.
Given an average hourly rate of $25/employee and an average of 1.5 employees/vehicle, the "extra" 10 minute diversion costs $6.25 in wages. Each way.
So a return voyage in which using the toll road would save 20 minutes actually costs these organizations $12.50 in unnecessary labour costs, while saving them a mere $4 in tolls (and perhaps a little more in adminstration costs). So a net cost of about $8.50 then.
I'll not really consider the administration costs, as I'm not considering the extra fuel costs either. By cutting out 4km of driving - specifically over that break-neck hill around Waiwera, and through the interminable stop-start roads of Orewa - I'd wager the tunnel saves on average 0.5L/fuel per trip. Let's cost that at $0.75 ($1.50 for a return). And then there's the wear and tear, and depreciation of vehicles to consider too.
The break-even point (considering only 'lost' wages) is a single employee in the vehicle earning $12/hour (Calculation: $12*(1/6)=$2). In a curious coincidence, that's the minimum wage. And I don't think these organizations employ too many people at the minimum wage (despite the best intentions of, e.g., Rodney Hide).
It's one thing for private organizations to waste money and act like idiots, but WINZ and the ARC are funded by taxpayers and ratepayers respectively.
Smarten up, morons.
Labels: $6.25, arc, auckland, money, motorways, northern toll road, winz
