My thanks
I was watching round one of the Budget Committee debate yesterday in which the Interim Transport Package and Levy was passed 17-5. The levy does allow the acceleration of many transport projects (private and public) for the next three years while the transport budget gets resorted. Some of the projects up for acceleration under the Levy are below and also includes the construction and completion of the Manukau, Otahuhu and Te Atatu Interchanges which are needed for their respective bus networks being rolled out.
The move on the levy and package was going to be controversial and anyone denying that aspect is truly under a rock. However, this comment from Deputy Mayor Hulse rings true:
Every day I hear someone say “if only we had listened to Robbie and dealt with the transport problems of Auckland.” We made a decision yesterday that progresses the real heart of transport needs in Auckland.
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Ironically it has been more National Government regimes than Labour (although they do not get away Scott-free either as they even dithered with Electrification until 2007) that thwarted Auckland marching into the 21st Century in regards to transport.
However, 15 Councillors and Independent Maori Statutory Board members from both the Left and Right bit the bullet, risk their electorate next year if they are standing for re-election next year and voted for the Levy.
To those 15 I offer my personal thanks for biting that bullet and passing an initiative that will finally accelerate various transport projects in Auckland for the benefit of the Region.
Public Transport like roads can be deemed a Public Good with near universal access to all as well as benefits to all. To those who many never use public transport for whatever reason still benefit from investment in public transport. For every bum on a train or bus, or an extra person walking or cycling is one extra car off the road. And every extra car off the road frees up one more road space for those who need the road including our freight. And freeing up that space means traffic and people move just that little bit faster while being a little bit less strung up by 9am in the morning.
Now we can rip out the public transport if those paying the levy are so aggrieved as they don’t use public transport for whatever reason. To which there goes about 30,000 cars straight back on the roads at the minimum and no one and no freight will be going anywhere fast.
Also this from Transport Blog:
From @TransportBlog Putting the councils $99 transport levy in perspective. Since 2008 changes to fuel taxes & GST added ~25c per litre to petrol. That’s an average of ~$470 per household per year. Another 3c per litre is coming in July too. #LTP2015
So again my personal thanks to the 15 who voted for the Levy. Again it is a risk for some but you put the Region ahead of yourselves and that earns my respect the most.
Recommended Reading:
Does Auckland have an effective transport programme?
Yesterday the Council made a fairly momentous decision to adopt the ‘Interim Transport Programme‘ that enables significant extra investment in public transport, cycling and safety over the next three years. While this decision means a good transport programme can be pursued in the short-term, it doesn’t yet solve the longer term transport funding issue that Auckland faces. I haven’t yet seen the ‘line by line’ budget detail, but I imagine that in years 4-10 of the LTP there are still some significant funding issues (although not as bad as under the Basic, which was particularly light in the first three years).
Many organisations are now saying the Council and government need to work together to agree on a long-term funding solution for transport in Auckland – be it a motorway user charge or something else. This has led to a number of questions for transport minister Simon Bridges in the past few days. Last night’s Radio NZ interview provides a pretty good summary of his response: [see link below]
Or listen here.
This mirrors comments the Minister made in the NZ Herald a few days ago:
Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the Government did not believe the council had an optimal transport plan for the medium and long term.
“We are not going to be putting in place funding tools where we don’t think there is a good plan and at the moment we just don’t see that in terms of congestion and public transport,” he said.
He would engage with Mr Brown over the next year or so to come up with a plan that would satisfy the Government.
We have long criticised the 30 year Integrated Transport Programme that Auckland Transport published in 2013, as both unaffordable and ineffective at achieving many of the Auckland Plan outcomes that were supposed to guide it. In fact that criticism led us to create theCongestion Free Network, a plan that would better deliver on the outcomes sought by the Auckland Plan at a far lower cost than what was in the first version of the ITP. To Auckland Transport’s credit, it seems like they’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple of years reconsidering the first ITP and trying to make it deliver more at a lower cost. Their rapid transit network (from here) looks remarkably similar to the CFN – for example. A full update to the ITP must be coming along at some point (presumably after the LTP is finalised), which will offer the opportunity to assess the 30 year programme in a bit more detail.
However, the final section of the draft Regional Land Transport Plan provides us with some initial information about the extent to which the transport programme might be considered effective or optimal over the next 30 years. Some modelling outputs of key performance measures are shown, looking at PT patronage, access to employment and freight travel speeds. Firstly in the area of PT patronage:
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Full post here: http://transportblog.co.nz/2015/05/08/does-auckland-have-an-optimal-transport-programme/
Talking Southern Auckland 