Future of Auckland: Is a car-free city centre possible?

Thursday, 27 January 2022

An artist’s impression of how the lower end of Queen St will look following a proposed council upgrade.

Auckland’s Queen St upgrade is now underway, and the hum of cars could soon be a thing of the past in Aotearoa’s largest CBD. Karanama Ruru reports.

Auckland Council is pushing ahead with a strategic plan that will restrict the movement of private cars through busy city streets.

Launched in 2020, the council’s City Centre Masterplan (CCMP) sets out a strategic plan for the city centre over the next 20 years. The drive is part of a bid to make the CBD more people-friendly and to cut air pollution, while improving cycling and walking routes.

Oslo, the capital of Norway, has moved away from private vehicle access in the city centre.

Car-free zones are nothing new – many cities around the world have already banned, or are planning to ban, vehicles from their city centres. Urban areas such as Oslo in Norway, Venice in Italy and Fes El Bali in Morocco are examples of the system in action, with the latter two being UNESCO world heritage sites.

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But people still need to get places, so for it to work effectively a number of things need to be in place first, says University of Auckland Lecturer and Urban Planner Dr Mohsen Mohammedzadeh. For Aucklanders, that means reducing reliability on car journeys and making public transport a more attractive option.

“People choose cars over public transport because it’s more accessible, and at times even cheaper,” he said.

Mohammedzadeh said the unreliability of Auckland’s public transport services and routes around the city was a major cause of people not using them as much as they could.

Auckland councillor Chris Darby told Stuff the council’s ‘Access for Everyone’ plan aimed to tackle that.

The Dame Whina Cooper City Rail Link tunnel boring machine breaks through at Aotea station site

Darby said the implementation of new buses, bus links, widened pathways and new cycle lanes would allow for a smooth transition away from cars and an increase in public transport accessibility around the CBD.

“We have seen through cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam that this is a possibility that works,” Darby said.

The two European cities were originally designed around car-based infrastructure, but have since restricted private vehicle access in the CBD.

While Darby acknowledged the two cities were geographically different to Tāmaki Makaurau, he said the changes being made overseas, such as prioritising public transport routes, widening paths and building more cycle lanes, could be implemented here, and designed around Auckland's unique geography.

Tony Mitchell, chairman of Bike Auckland, said much of the world was working towards car-free futures and New Zealand was “behind the curve”.

Heart of the City Chief Executive Viv Beck.

But a car-free future also comes with concerns, particularly for some members of the disabled community.

Auckland resident Amelia Jacobson, who lives with a chronic pain disorder, said while the idea of a car-free CBD was great, she hoped the council took into consideration the needs of people with disabilities.

Wheelchair user Lily Edmonds said she was worried the disabled community had been left out of the conversation. She hoped public transport issues would be fixed to provide better access for people with disabilities, such as more ramps and an increased number of public transport services.

Edmonds also said that some disabled people relied on private vehicles, and restricting those vehicles could put their independence at risk.

Some city centre businesses are also worried about the upcoming changes.

Boedi Tjandra, owner of Hana Floral Design on Queen St, said his business had been located in the CBD for 10 years, but he was considering moving to the suburbs once his current contract ended.

“I'm not sure about [keeping the business open] next year, the business is very hard to run,” he said.

“My customers always tell me it's very hard to bus into the city.”

Heart of the City Chief Executive Viv Beck said there was a “mix of views” from CBD operators over the Queen St changes.

“It’s been an extraordinarily difficult time for businesses in the city centre due to Covid-19 and ongoing construction,” she said.

“The Queen St project over the last few years has not come without its challenges too - so some people will understandably be feeling apprehensive about what the changes will mean for the area, while others are more positive.”

Beck said Heart of the City was continuing to consult with the council around some changes, and the group agreed with some of the council’s intentions.

“We’re pleased to see space allocated for goods and people pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as an intent for the project to be delivered in a way that will minimise impact to the street,” she said.

“We look forward to welcoming people to Queen St throughout 2022, with an improved street to show off at the end of it.”

Darby said the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns had given Auckland Council an opportunity to see what the city could be, without losing the “Queen St glamour” in the process.

The council is currently seeking public feedback on city centre parking.