Auckland Transport and Mayor Len Brown continue to dither on the Transit Link linking Southern Auckland
Much as the Auckland Transit Link (City Rail Link) links the transit network across Auckland (Auckland Transit Link – What the City Rail Link Should Be Called), the South Auckland Transit Link (Manukau South Rail Link) links the transit network across the Southern Auckland sub region.
The $4.5m piece of rail infrastructure linking the Southern Line from the south (Homai to Pukekohe) to Manukau Station at Manukau City Centre would allow more rapid trips from the south to Manukau compared to bus or even car. Estimated rail trips time using the older diesel multiple unit ADL class from Papakura to Manukau via the South Auckland Transit Link (the South Link for short) is 14 minutes while Pukekohe to Manukau would be 20-23 minutes. Of course with Electric Trains (and once Pukekohe is electrified) the trips become even quicker with greater capacity available.
As a comparison with the car from Papakura motorway interchange to Manukau it is nine minutes in no traffic or upwards of 20 minutes when it packs a sad. Pukekohe is about 27 minutes by car and towards 50mins in peak traffic. The bus is 34 minutes from Papakura to Manukau via the Great South Road, double that from Pukekohe if the traffic is playing nice in the peak.
If you were to using existing Southern Line from Pukekohe to Manukau via a transfer and backtrack at Puhinui Station the trip is about an hour (with the possibility of two transfers if the Pukekohe-Papakura shuttles are running as they do in the weekend and will do post Electrification from Papakura north). For Papakura to Manukau via Puhinui and the backtrack you are looking at 40 minute trip with a transfer at Puhinui.
Already the South Auckland Transit Link would provide time savings on one’s travel from the southern population base to the South’s City Centre – Manukau City Centre. And given that it is the rail network you wont be prone to snarl ups that can happen on the road network affecting both car and bus (yes snarl ups happen on the rail network too although that should be reducing once the diesels are retired).
Capacity wise an ADL-2 moves around 184 passengers with a ADL-4 moving double. The EMU-3 car sets move 375 while the big 6 car sets move 750. Now we don’t need the 6 car sets yet for the South Link. I am inclined given the 50,000 houses and 35,000 jobs incoming to the South (the fastest growing sub region of Auckland), running the diesels (ADL2) at 30 minute frequencies from 6am til 10pm 7 days a week from Pukekohe to Manukau via the South Link would be a good start. Once Pukekohe is electrified (hopefully by 2018) then we switch to the EMU-3s and move to the 15 minute intervals as the South continues to grow and demand increases. I would not anticipate the need for 6 car sets on the South Link run for at least 10 years unless growth really took off (a possibility).
The South Auckland Transit Link would allow the South to be connected to its City Centre while Pukekohe (often at the butt end of the transport planning/services) gets a well deserved linked in boost to urban Auckland. Another benefit would be the South getting a rapid and efficient connection to the soon to be completed Manukau Transport Interchange. From there that Interchange would allow you to link up to East-West bus services (mainly to Botany Town Centre, Otara, Botany Metropolitan Centre, and the East Tamaki-Highbrook heavy industrial complex). For the airport you would continue to Papatoetoe Station and catch the 380 bus that goes to the airport.
So we can see the benefits of the South Auckland Transit Link from time savings, efficiency to linking up with other transit options to the other areas of urban Auckland. As Southern Auckland continues to grow especially between Papakura and Pukekohe along the rail corridor (with the incoming additions of three new stations as well), and Manukau City Centre (and its commercial/industrial surrounds that will also continue to grow) the benefits again of a small $4.5m piece of rail infrastructure investment enables the South to be connected to its City Centre. Benefits begin to pay off on day one!
And with Parramatta vaunted by the New South Wales State Government to become the second City Centre (CBD) of Sydney with a $2 billion urban development investment (see: Parramatta Evolving to Become Sydney’s Second CBD. Hint to Auckland Council on Manukau City Centre), pressure continues to build on Mayor Len Brown and Auckland Transport to pull finger, stop dithering, stop giving platitudes and excuses and just get the South Auckland Transit Link built by next year.
In the end it boils down to this: Do we want a transit system that links the South with its high unemployment to its main employment and leisure centre or is the Mayor and Auckland Transport not serious on public transport connectivity, employment and making Auckland ‘The World’s Most Liveable City’ for ALL of Auckland?!
Talking Southern Auckland 