Still too much in the Closed Agenda

 

 

Auckland Transport have recently released their agenda and subsequent documents for the April 29 Board of Directors meeting. Looking through the agendas and the public transport figures for March 2014 we see some mixed results or situations.

Starting with public transport it is pleasing to see rail patronage continues to increase before the electric trains start rolling out on April 28th starting with the Onehunga Line. Bus patronage also continues to increase while Ferry patronage is going through a dip at the moment. Further boosts to patronage should occur over the next few years as the electric train roll out is completed, the new bus networks are rolled out (starting with South Auckland next year), further upgrades to public transport infrastructure occurs, and integrated fares come on-stream hopefully next year.

You can see the public transport figures here:

March 2014 Public Transport Figures

 

As for the agendas you can see both the open and closed (meaning no public allowed) agendas for next week below:

Open Agenda – April 2014

 

Closed Agenda – April 2014

 

As Transport Blog and I noted last night on Twitter there is still far too much of the AT agenda material under the Closed Section usually under the auspices of “commercial sensitivity.” While some material would be deemed sensitive as such things like the Rail Strategy – Level Crossings item I thought would be best in the open agenda. The Rail Strategy is meant to contain and outline things like:

• Level Crossing Separation
• Glenora Road Station construction
• Closure of Te Mahia Station
• The Manukau South Rail Link

All are hot button topical issues that the community and main Auckland Council have a lot of interest and concern in. So why something like the Rail Strategy – Level Crossing Separation is under the Closed Agenda citing commercial sensitivity is something that does not sit well with me personally. If Auckland Transport would like to offer a public explanation I am all ears.

 

Also looking at the Forward Program (embedded at the bottom of the post) I see the Rail Strategy in general (apart from Level Crossings) has slipped off the RADAR compared to March’s version of the Forward Program while Papakura/Pukekohe Electrification discussions have been pushed back from this month to June. I wonder what the reasons are for both of these situations. If I get anything on Manukau I will post an update to the blog as soon as I know. As with Pukekohe we await to see what Auckland Transport has to say.

 

To be discussed (and understandably) in the Closed Agenda are the following in regards to public transport:

• Rail Operations Tender (who will be running the Auckland Metro Rail Network post 2016)
• Integrated Fares
• Annual Fare Review (which I believe we are in for an increase despite 0% inflation over the last year (when excises are not taken into account) and increasing patronage))

Typically the above three will become public often through the main Council later on in the year or through a press release in the case of the Fare movements.

 

All in all we are seeing progress with Auckland Transport on some things (so credit due where credit is due) but we are also seeing some set backs as well – hence the mix results I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

 

 

The April Forward Program

 

The March Forward Program