THE PRESS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1978. Tunnel staff problems

Press, 30 November 1978, Page 16

THE PRESS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1978. Tunnel staff problems

Four months before the Lyttelton Road Tunnel Authority expires and the tunnel becomes free of tolls there seems to be no reason for the tunnel staff to panic about their jobs and no reason for some users of the tunnel to predict chaos unless the Minister of Works decides quickly how traffic through the tunnel will be controlled after April 1. The situation is confused at present in part because the employees of the present authority want something done quickly and because the Government departments which will take over the authority’s important responsibilities want time to mull over the various solutions to the problem of running the tunnel safely and efficiently. There may be no need for haste, but the Government could still acknowledge the advantages of keeping together as a distinct group a staff to run the tunnel. When he announced that tunnel tolls would be abolished, the Prime Minister was apparently expecting that, once the various local bodies and Government departments had taken over their separate responsibilities, there would be no need for a distinct tunnel staff. The tunnel clearly cannot run itself and probably cannot be run safely and efficiently by a fragmented staff. If the Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young) was suggesting otherwise when he described the tunnel as a two-way highway with a roof and when he said that the present high level of tunnel services could be scaled down, the road carriers were right to take him to task.

The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Works are studying the future management of the tunnel at the moment. An assurance from the Government that the present tunnel staff will be disbanded only if the present tunnel staff are guaranteed jobs and if the safety of those who use the tunnel is maintained would not preclude any scheme that the two Ministries will agree to put up. Such an assurance would go a long way towards relieving the tunnel staff of their worries and towards satisfying the users of the tunnel.

It appears certain that a free tunnel will require a considerably smaller staff than at present. The problem of bringing the tunnel staff down to the required new size is not difficult. Voluntary resignations and the provision of openings by local bodies have already gone some way towards solving this problem. The remaining question is whether there will still be a separate tunnel staff after April 1. Whichever department or departments take charge of the tasks of traffic control, engineering, and emergency services, the present team should be regarded as a tried and serviceable unit. It might be augmented, when necessary, from other departmental staff. This would probably be more economical than trying to maintain a wholly self-contained group at the tunnel. For all that, the efficiency of having an experienced team on the job should be respected.