The Star: June 06, 2019

The Star Thursday June 6 2019
OUR PEOPLE 21
Bid to make a difference at ECan
•From page 18
Just beyond the intersection
you would go over a railway line
and it was a bit bumpy so people
would slow down a little bit.
Immediately after the railway
line, there was a side street to the
left. At the time the rule was you
turn left and you give way to the
oncoming opposing right-tuners.
So there were people waiting to
turn right, people come along,
slow down for the railway line,
have their indicators going left
and they would carry on straight
through. Bang, they would be hit
by the right-turner – one a day.
We thought what did we do, how
do we fix this. We fixed it with
paint. We had a brainstorming
session and put some paint on the
ground after a week or so. We put
the people going straight right
hard against the flush median
so it was absolutely crystal clear,
they were going straight through.
That fixed it. That’s my biggest
professional stuff up we fixed
with $300 of paint. We were
sweating about it.
What intersection was it?
I’m too scared to say it.
Have you done much
travelling?
I have, we had a good time
in Vietnam. My mum used to
come over reasonably regularly.
She’s getting older, why don’t
the four of us meet half way
FAMILY FUN: Axel Wilke has travelled extensively around Vietnam with his mother.
and spend some time together.
That ended up being Vietnam.
We were spending two weeks
or so basically all our stuff in a
backpack and travelling by bus
and train from city to city to park
up somewhere and organise a
place to stay for a few days. It’s
really, really lovely when the
Vietnamese figure out that you’re
travelling with parents.
Any interesting hobbies?
I love mountain biking, to
be honest. The Port Hills is just
marvellous. We are blessed. One
thing that I really love about the
Adventure Park is you can go in
there and they don’t charge you
as long as you get yourself up the
hill with your own steam. I think
that’s a really, really nice gesture.
I don’t have a problem paying for
lift passes, but I’ve been biking
up Worsleys since 1998. Then
the Adventure Park opens so
many years later, why would I
stop going up Worsleys? It’s what
keeps me slim and fit.
Any plans for your next career
move?
One little big life event coming
up on October 12 – the local
body elections – I’m going
to stand for Environment
Canterbury as an independent. I
haven’t really been secret about
it, I’m telling everyone who
wants to hear, but I just haven’t
made a public announcement.
ECan sort public transport,
that’s their role in the transport
space and I am so frustrated
watching what’s happening or
what’s not happening. I know
how to sort this out and it really
needs a fundamental re-think
about how the regional council
goes about providing public
transport services. I have made
submissions and they certainly
all know me and know of my
opinions, but they don’t have the
in-house capability and capacity
to turn things around. For the
last five years, our passenger
numbers are going down. Since
2014, the central city is filling up
again – 35,000 new jobs and our
patronage numbers are going
down. It’s absolutely tragic.
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