Growing number of cars on Auckland's roads 'not safe or sustainable'

Monday, 2 November 2020

Watch: Residents from the four corners of the supercity have their say on whether things are better or worse under Auckland Council. Video first published October 28 2010.

A decade ago, Auckland was becoming internationally regarded as a business-friendly, innovation-oriented city, with a diverse and growing population – but its transport network was in dire straits and many predicted it would be a handbrake for future growth. Brad Flahive reports.

In 2010, Auckland, the city of sails, was as infamous for its snarl-ups as it was famed for nautical pastimes. Time-wasting traffic jams and hours-long commutes were forcing people to quit the city, and turning off potential recruits.

For Aucklanders who did not have a reliable ferry, train or bus going their way, there was no way they were getting out of their car any time soon.

In 2009, transport experts warned Auckland had the most unbalanced transport policies when compared to other cities.

Experts from around the globe warned the city’s top brass to stop spending money on roads and vastly improve public transport infrastructure.

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Greater Auckland editor Matt Lowrie feels amalgamation has had a big influence on shaping Auckland’s future transport aspirations.

In 2009, prominent Australian transport academic Paul Mees revealed Auckland had spent more on roads, per head, than any Australian city.

“If you live in Auckland you don't appreciate what an extreme case it is, but it's had the most unbalanced transport policies of just about anyone in the world,” Mees told Stuff in 2009.

“Even in Los Angeles they put a bit into public transport eventually. There's been very little road building going on in LA for the past 20-30 years.”

Without increased rail transport, ferry wharf upgrades, smart card integrated ticketing, and real-time passenger information, fewer people would use public transport, resulting in higher congestion costs and loss of fare revenue, experts warned.

Then-mayor Len Brown at the new Auckland Council’s inaugural meeting in November 2010.

As Auckland’s population grew, the eight local bodies that governed the region struggled to collaborate with each other and the government on growth projects, particularly when it came to transport.

But in 2010, after a Royal Commission, they were merged into Australasia’s biggest single council, and big projects, such as transport infrastructure, were expected to get a boost through the council-controlled organisation Auckland Transport (AT).

Without that merger, one of the city's biggest projects may never have got under way.

“… We wouldn't have the City Rail Link (CRL) and we wouldn't have had ATAP [Auckland Transport Alignment Project] which have been instrumental in how the city started to develop in the future,” said Matt Lowrie from transport lobby group Greater Auckland.

AT chair Lester Levy, then-mayor Len Brown, Prime Minister John Key and Transport Minister Simon Bridge in 2016 start construction of the City Rail Link.

“So I think at a high level, we would say, yes, [the council amalgamation] is a success.”

When Len Brown, the first Auckland mayor in charge of the new amalgamated council, outlined aspirations to rival Australia’s big cities, he said three key rail lines were needed if they were to meet the government's goal of replicating Australia's income levels in 25 years.

An inner-city loop to turn the dead-end Britomart station into a thoroughfare station, and lines to Auckland International Airport and the North Shore were vital to help get Auckland and New Zealand moving, he said.

One of those projects, the CRL, a 3.45km twin-tunnel underground rail link 42 metres below the ground, is well on its way.

In June 2019, Auckland reached an annual 100 million boardings across its bus, train and ferry network for the first time since 1951.

The $4.4 billion project is due to be completed in late 2024 in the form of a two-way through-station connecting Auckland’s rail network, while creating two new stations. It will also allow the network to at least double rail capacity.

Barry Potter has been the director of infrastructure and environmental services at Auckland Council for five years, after a career in the private sector.

From his perspective amalgamation unlocked the city’s potential to deliver on projects that could not get going before, such as the CRL.

“In one form or another, [the CRL] has been in gestation for decades, and now it’s being delivered,” Potter said.

“It’s the biggest transport project undertaken in New Zealand, and can only be delivered through amalgamation and partnership with central government.”

Artists impression of revised St Heliers village improvements.

Potter said on the whole “the level of collaboration between Auckland Council and central government, in particular, is something that is really driving [growth] and that is very positive”.

When asked about the status of the two other key rail projects, Potter said they had moved from a dream into a process of becoming reality.

“They are at different levels of planning and investigation, light rail is one of those, while more and more consideration is being given to a second [harbour] crossing to the links to the North Shore.”

That does not mean there haven’t problems with the relationship – recently the government took over the evolving light rail project, only for it to morph into a plan not yet revealed to the public.

In addition to the CRL, an E astern Busway will be completed in 2025 connecting commuters between Botany and Britomart in less than 40 minutes.

Potholes at the Matakawau War Memorial Community Centre have gone unrepaired for ten years.

Work has also begun on the airport to Botany rapid transit project which should improve travel choices and journey times for people in south and east Auckland.

Another success has been the AT HOP card which has provided a much-needed integrated ticketing system, encouraging multiple journeys in one commute.

Launched across public transport between 2012 and 2014, it is now used on more than 92 per cent of public transport journeys, according to council figures.

However, while the big projects are shaping the city’s future, AT is often heavily criticised at a local level.

For decades the old Pukekohe Train Station had been in need of an upgrade. One year after the merger, the newly formed AT pledged of the $7.9m of the $16.2m needed for the station’s upgrade which was completed in 2018.

Traffic chaos at Devonport’s Lake Rd and Northcote’s Onewa Rd continue to frustrate locals, and during the recent election campaign, National Party leader Judith Collins criticised AT for destroying the central city.

Lowrie said that while the majority of criticism was unfair, AT did have a habit of “creating fantastic plans and strategies, but not delivering on them”.

“And so because they pander to the loudest voices opposing them, projects become a bespoke thing that doesn't actually conform to their bigger vision; St Heliers is just one recent example of that.”

In St Heliers, an initial plan to remove car parks to improve road safety at the seaside suburb was met with community uproar. Eighteen months later, and as a result of a negative response from hundreds of locals”, AT is now seeking feedback on a new, scaled-down proposal.

Further south in Franklin, local Board chairman Andy Baker admitted joining the ‘super city’ had its advantages. Before then, it fell to the District Council to maintain the Franklin transport network. But with a limited budget of ratepayer funds, there was only so much that could be done.

But while the merger has spurred the development of large scale public transport projects, it has turned fixing some local issues into a 10-year ordeal, he said.

Forty minutes out of Pukekohe towards Manukau Heads, the community of Awitu Peninsula have been watching the potholes outside the Matakawau War Memorial Hall grow larger every year, worn away as logging trucks use the parking lot as a rest spot.

Single occupancy vehicles clog Auckland’s motorways during peak hours.

The issue was brought to the attention of the newly formed Franklin local Board in 2010, and under the Franklin District Council, it would have been an easy fix.

“You’d just wait until there was enough money in the budget,” Baker said.

“Potholes would pop up and you’d fix them.” But under the amalgamation, it’s not that simple.

“[Auckland Council] and Auckland Transport point the finger at each other and say ‘not us, not us’.”

Auckland Transport chief executive Shane Ellison admits there are challenges ahead to provide transport solutions that can cope with Auckland's projected growth.

The problem, Baker said, was that under the current legislation, AT is responsible for road maintenance but the hall is the property of the Auckland Council, making it responsible for any repairs.

So with the boundary line that separates the hall from the road unclear, the result has been an exhausting decade-long back and forth between two penny-pinching organisations determined not to foot the bill.

Auckland's Inner Link bus route has a new electric bus as part of its fleet (Video March 2019).

“It’s like ‘mate it’s rate-payer money’, it doesn’t matter who writes the cheque just fix the damn thing’” said Baker.

But AT’s chief executive Shane Ellison pointed out significant local projects in Rodney, Waiheke Island and the city’s outer suburbs where amalgamation had enabled targeted community funds to improve infrastructure.

These include hundreds of walking bus routes and putting 63,000 children on bike training courses aimed at getting people out of their cars.

City of the future

The numbers don’t lie and the improving infrastructure is having an effect: In June 2019, Auckland reached an annual 100 million boardings across its bus, train and ferry network for the first time since 1951.

The highest ever was in 1945 when 118 million boarded Auckland's now-defunct tram system at its peak.

A concept drawing of the City Rail Link's Aotea Station in downtown Auckland. The new line is due to open in 2024.

But despite the milestone, the city still has a low level of public transport usage, which Ellison admits needs addressing urgently.

“Auckland as a city has experienced faster than anticipated population growth and underlying demographical change against a backdrop of a transport infrastructure deficit and a way of moving across our region which is highly reliant on one mode – single-occupancy vehicles,” he said.

He said Auckland would only be successful in delivering on its Auckland Plan outcomes when, as a region, it is managing travel demand.

“Auckland’s vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) is growing at a slower rate than population, public transport usage is growing faster than both, and deaths and serious injuries (DSI) on our roads are trending towards zero,” he said.

In 2010, Auckland’s population was 1.4m, public transport passenger boardings were 64m and the number of DSI recorded on roads was 432.

“Fast forward a decade and Auckland is home to 1.64m people. Public transport passenger boardings reached 103.2 million in the year to December 2019 and in the 12 months to September 2019 local road DSI was 538.”

Estimates made before the coronavirus pandemic showed Auckland’s current population of 1.64m increasing by nearly half in the next 30 years.

Ellison said that meant an additional 313,000 houses and 263,000 jobs will be required, and “without action, this will increase travel demand and congestion”.

“In addition, Auckland has a low level of public transport usage. Members of the community who utilise our public transport network for their transport needs are typically positive on their experience, but they are much lower in number than private vehicle users,” he said.

In 2019, Ellison said an additional 16,600 cars – 330 per week – were registered in Auckland, adding to congestion, contributing to increased carbon emissions, clogging freight movements and costing time and money.

He said the unprecedented population growth in the context of the region’s inherited transport infrastructure deficit and continued growth in the number of vehicles on our roads was “not sustainable or safe, nor is it good for our environment”.

“The need for sustained investment in transport infrastructure, built as soon as possible, is a top priority.”

Lowrie agreed and said the biggest problems facing the city had a common theme when looking for solutions.

“We've got a safety crisis, climate change to address, and we've got congestion issues to accommodate all this growth,” he said.

“We need to focus more on delivering good quality public transport so that people get out of their cars and use it. We need to make it safe for walking and cycling that addresses congestion that addresses safety it also helps improve our own health and improve the city overall,” he said.

Lowrie said the past decade's travel achievements in the city – the Northern Busway, electrified trains, integrated ticketing, an impressive new bus network – proved what could be done in the future, if there was a will to do it.

He said: “Bill Gates often says we overestimate what we can we achieve in one year, and underestimate what we can achieve in 10 years.

“We need to remember that and start with a vision for what the city needs, and work back from there.”