Council cost cuts target drivers

Friday, 16 February 2024

Congestion charges and hiked parking fees mooted by a cash-strapped Wellington City Council appear to be a tax on residents without much-needed bus and train network improvements, a former public transport boss says.

The council voted on Thursday to look at the two options as a way to raise revenue and reduce traffic at rush hour.

Mayor Tory Whanau’s amendments, which all succeeded, included asking staff to assess feasibility of a congestion charge and lobbying the Government to allow it in Wellington. If successful, fees would be paid to drive at peak times in busy locations – last year Auckland Council voted to introduce a charge.

As part of its draft budget, councillors also voted to look into implementing paid parking in suburban centres across the city, expanded from the previously limited set of centres to encompass most shopping areas.

Included now are Tawa, Johnsonville, Newlands, Khandallah, Northland, Karori, Aro Valley, Kelburn, Newtown, Berhampore, Island Bay, Kilbirnie, Miramar and Rongotai.

Greg Pollock, a consultant who was the capital’s public transport boss in 2019 and 2020, said both options were legitimate tools for Wellington – but not without improving public transport and the network first.

“If the alternative hasn’t got any better, all you’re really doing is taking money out of people’s pockets at a time when Wellington’s really struggling.

“We need better bus priority, better bus lanes, and be able to move people faster before we do any of that congestion charging or parking charging.”

The council had to make “hard decisions, rather than hiking up fees”, he said.

In December, Pollock presented a transport plan to city councillors and Wellington’s two new Green MPs – promoted as a cheaper and faster than the doomed Let’s Get Wellington Moving.

It included parking charges that would make some short-term parking free but longer parking harder, with higher penalties for overstaying. More car parking buildings were also in the plan.

But he also proposed a circular central city public transport route, with more direct bus and rail services from regional hubs, and more services on weekends and between weekday peaks. There would be weekly fee caps on public transport, which would be free in the central city.

“What we need to do is give people better choices and then they can choose. At the moment, all it looks like is a tax,” Pollock said.

“We need to help get the city back on its feet, not make it harder.”

Councillor Ben McNulty said the amendment including more suburbs was more honest about where the council was heading with the policy and would make it more consistent across the city.

Councillor Tony Randle said if the council’s wish was for more suburban meters “all suburbs should be considered”.

As the council looks for possible savings several unpopular ideas were floated, like reducing hours for pool and libraries – which the Tawa Swim Club said would mean the end of its operations. After an amendment to the paper by Whanau, the proposal to reduce hours was dropped.

Simon Arcus, the chief executive of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, supported the congestion charge as it was a “choice tax”.

“They have come up with some ideas of sense.”

He felt the cuts were a case of “reality bites” and were “very late in the piece”, the challenges being faced by council long having been signalled.

The cuts had to be balanced with making sure the city was “attractive” though.

Arcus said Wellington’s ratepayer base was small at about 230,000, adding it raised the question of amalgamation with Porirua and the two Hutt councils, and maybe even Wairarapa.

What’s in the draft 2024-2034 plan:

• Khandallah Pool closed

• Wadestown Community Centre sold

• Arapaki Service Centre and Library closed

• Lambton Quay half of the Golden Mile upgrade pushed back

• No reductions to library or pool hours

• Possible parking charges in all suburban town centres

• New waste system including organics collection and council wheelie bins

• Increase to $1.7b of investment in water infrastructure

• Airport shares sold to create an investment fund (to diversify council assets)

• Funding cut for strengthening City to Sea bridge/Civic Square

• Graffiti budget reduced

• CCTV budget reduced

• Congestion charging to be investigated

• Rates on AirBnB to be investigated

The Long-Term Plan will go out for consultation in April and May, with public hearings ahead of its adoption at the end of June.