Seeking to one-up rival John Tamihere's double-decker bridge, Auckland mayoral candidate Craig Lord has called for the city to get a monorail.
On Sunday he said it is the "only fast transport system around the world that is financially self-sustaining, and has considerable bonuses over any other form of mass transportation".
Lord admits however he's "still doing the research".
"But firstly there are no rail crossings. The benefit of that goes without saying. Then there is the super advantage of being able to build it pretty much anywhere because it's just poles. This solves the major issue of construction across the unique Auckland geography...
"We could build across waterways and harbours, that's North Shore sorted. We can also transit the many ravines and hills that Auckland is made up of. Think about a high-speed monorail from the regions like Whangaparoa, Kumeu, and Pukekohe. We could even go to Wellsford. East, west, north, south, anywhere and everywhere."
He said if elected, he'll "work with experts immediately to work out routes and costs" and can the planned light rail for Dominion Rd, calling it "slow".
"I believe this is a total game-changer for the future of Auckland, and even better, monorail is environmentally sound."
Monorails have long been a source of mockery, particularly since an infamous 1993 episode of The Simpsons.
It appears Lord is aware of the episode, tweeting 'MONORAIL MONORAIL MONORAIL' on Sunday morning - echoing the famous song from the episode, led by con artist Lyle Lanley.
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Former Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee once compared the Auckland city rail link to Springfield's monorail.
"I would consider hiring Lyle Lanley and associates to do a scoping study for us on the city rail link," he said in 2012.
Tamihere earlier in the campaign promised to replace the aging Harbour Bridge with a double-decker one. Incumbent Mayor Phil Goff called that idea "dumb".
Newshub.
