Analysis: Regional Fuel Tax cash poses the unanswerable question

Tuesday, 3 July 2018

It's only a matter of time before someone demands evidence that Auckland's new regional fuel tax is making a difference.

There is no real answer, but that's not because the tax won't.

Over a decade, the extra $1.5 billion will go into a $28 billion work programme.

Don't be alarmed that the city's transport agency Auckland Transport couldn't really say where the first tangible benefit will be seen.

It is juggling a wide range of projects, some of which wouldn't have happened, or would have taken longer without the 11.5 cent-a-litre tax.

Auckland Transport can point to the tax helping the later stages of the Panmure to Botany busway in the east, new Park and Rides, a third batch of new electric trains later in the decade.

The tax has taken courage, both by the current and previous councils and mayors.

Until the change of Government, Phil Goff and before him Len Brown, had gained little traction in the Beehive with hopes of new regional funding sources to help tackle the city's transport challenge.

But with the extra cash now flowing, politicians have a new challenge - reassuring Aucklanders that the fuel tax is making a difference, and finding examples spread right across Auckland.

Will south Aucklanders, struggling to find a bus or train for late-night shiftwork, be placated by progress on the Eastern busway?

Will those in the fast-growing northwest be happy that their biggest payday - a busway or light rail - might be a decade or more away? 

Not likely. Conspicuous Progress, however modest, will soon be demanded especially with the mayoralty, council and local board seats up for grabs next year.

Those who measure success only by the length of a queue at a motorway onramp, should read the Minister of Transport's assessment of the tax, and the breadth of Auckland's transport challenges.

* Poor travel choice beyond private vehicles, especially in lower income areas

* A near doubling of deaths and serious injuries on roads since 2012

* Growing recognition of the need to reduce the transport system's environmental impact

* Enabling and supporting a rapid acceleration in the rate of housing construction

* The need for streets to play a growing role in creating vibrant and inclusive places.

Just who suffers the most pain from the tax, and who will gain most is a significant political challenge.

Councillors from the poorest parts of Auckland, Efeso Collins in the Manukau Ward, and Daniel Newman in Manurewa-Papakura, voted against the tax because of the disproportionate impact they believed it would have on the most vulnerable.

They can be expected to keep the heat on for improvements in public transport in the south, to give their constituents a shot at becoming public transport users, equal to those living in the well-served central suburbs.

Aucklanders have begun doing their bit, the pressure is now on the politicians to show that it's helping.