Auckland light rail would be one of the 'slowest public transport airport links in the world'

Tuesday, 5 June 2018

An artist's rendition of the proposed light rail from downtown Auckland to the airport.

Light rail in Auckland will be one of the slowest public transport airport links in the world, a new lobby group says.

Paul Miller, of the Auckland Airport Smart Transport Group, said our biggest city has a 'horrendous history' of short sighted transport projects, and light rail was not a 'rapid' solution.

The newly formed group has calculated that at 45 minutes Auckland would have the fourth longest trip from the city centre to the airport out of 71 international cities.

'There are no airports with 40 million passengers [as Auckland aspires to be] that have a tram link to the airport as their primary connection,' he said.

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'When you get off from a 12-hour journey to the airport, do you really want to travel at 32kmh – or just jump in an Uber?'

Miller said few international cities have light rail as their primary airport link, and the Government should instead look to connect to heavy rail on the southern line.

The Government had been 'hijacked by a tram lobby', and although light rail down Dominion Rd was a good idea – it shouldn't be extended to the airport, he said.

'They've joined these two projects together, which we think is very shortsighted and not in the interests of Auckland's future.'

But Transport Minister Phil Twyford said the planned light rail was not about making an express service, but about building a rapid transit network across the city.

'It's not primarily about getting people to catch a plane, or for tourists,' he said.

'Most people who use that line will use it to get to and from work and education.

'It's rapid in that the light rail line is not competing with traffic most of the time.'

Twyford said a heavy rail link from the airport to the southern line would be more expensive due to cut-and-cover trench work in the airport precinct, and 'heavy engineering' at the Puhinui end.

The Government would though build bus rapid transit 'as a priority' from the airport to Puhinui in south Auckland, he said.

Miller, the founder of a tech company, said the group planned to speak out on other transport issues, but chose to start with the light rail issue due to concerns over Auckland's disappearing greenfields.

The Auckland Airport Smart Transport Group was a group of concerned citizens, local politicians and transport experts, from across the political spectrum, Miller said.

Auckland councillor Mike Lee helped the group come together, he said.