Government’s Wellington bus time-saving claims slammed

Wednesday, 27 November 2024

People travelling on the Number 1 bus between Island Bay and the Railway Station are forecast to save 9 minutes during morning peak times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown said.

The bus time savings trumpeted by Transport Minister Simeon Brown as he announced plans including two new Wellington tunnels are dependent on a project his government is no longer funding.

“Those travelling on the Number 1 bus between Island Bay and the Railway Station are forecast to save 9 minutes during morning peak times, while those on the number two bus between Miramar and the CBD will notice a saving of 11 minutes on their journeys,” Brown said when he released the preferred Waka Kotahi/NZTA options for Wellington traffic congestion in early November.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown, left, promised faster bus journeys with his Basin Reserve changes and new tunnels. But Green Transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter and Greater Wellington Regional Council transport committee chairperson Thomas Nash have pointed out a problem.

Those changes were duplicate Terrace and Mount Victoria tunnels plus changes around the Basin Reserve.

But Waka Kotahi/NZTA on Tuesday confirmed that those figures were modelled on the assumption that bus priority projects along the Wellington harbour quays were going ahead.

It also confirmed that, apart from possibly funding a couple of business cases, it was not spending any money in the current three-year funding period on the bus spine it based its modelling on.

Plans are afoot, but not necessarily funded, to put a bus spine down Wellington’s harbour quays.

Brown would not say whether he knew his time projections were based on a project with no central government funding.

Meanwhile, the Wellington City Council on Tuesday decided to retain some of its funding for the bus spine in its new draft long-term plan but this was just $5 million, with the regional council matching the funding. The project, when government funding was assumed, had a $51m price tag.

Greater Wellington Regional Council transport committee chairperson Thomas Nash said there was now “huge uncertainty” about whether a $10m bus spine would deliver the time savings promised by Brown.

It came after the Government, via national land transport funding, reduced expected transport funding to the council by $68.2m. That left the council having to slash $130m of transport funding and cut back what it could spend on the harbour quays.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau says the city needs an integrated transport plan.

Nash said he had been trying for weeks to get the bus time modelling that Brown was basing his assumption on.

“It's an absolute shocker for the Government to be highlighting bus time savings based on a project they have left up to councils to fund, whilst at the same time they continue to make it harder to run a public transport network,” Nash said.

Waka Kotahi had not specifically committed to funding the bus spine but it was a “long-standing” funding convention on these types of projects that the central government paid 51% with the rest paid by local councils, he said.

Nash confirmed nobody from Waka Kotahi had talked to his council, which is the capital’s public transport authority, about the time savings.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said the city needed an “integrated transport plan” worked out between the two councils and central government.

“That means investing in all modes of public transport, biking, walking and cars,” she said.

“I hope the minister continues funding these crucial Wellington projects so that all Wellingtonians can travel across the city effectively and efficiently no matter what mode they choose.”

Rongotai MP and Green Transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said the best way to improve public transport was to invest in it.

“The claim that tunnels are necessary to improve public transport is nonsense – and it always was. Even the claim about minutes saved for cars is nonsense.”

Waka Kotahi said the bus spine was not funded in the current three-year funding period but was seen as a priority and could get funding in later years.