The first sign of giving motorists a head-up about what's down the roads can be seen near some of Auckland's motorway on-ramps - providing estimated travel times and details of delays. Sensors along the motorway gauge traffic speed and gather estimated journey time data. "But you can go a lot further than this, and this is already being done overseas where drivers are told the estimated journey time by motorway, and then are presented with options for park and ride by train - it's being done in London," says Ensor.
"This gives people the ability to change their mode of travel en route and get to places faster.
"We are not too far away from vehicles letting the transport system know when there has been an incident on the road. Internationally, it is starting to happen that cars can send out signals via wifi or 3G phone that they are breaking hard or that an airbag has been deployed. "Then other drivers heading toward the incident would get a warning. "
Ensor says a lot of the data that would be useful to traffic managers and other drivers is already here - but pooling the information and sending it out to other drivers is the issue.
"Car computers store amazing information about the performance of the roading network.
"They know exactly how fast traffic is going, they know when it is raining - because the wipers will be on - and they may even know when there is ice on the road, because the stability control has come on," says Ensor.
He says the problem with New Zealand is that technology such as this will take a long time to surface. There are too many old imports to get through before cars featuring the latest technology hit the streets in enough numbers.
However, smart apps for mobile phones may prove to be part of the answer. Ensor says it won't be too long before smart phone apps will let people know the arrival time of buses and trains, as well as where waiting taxis are. But will this information be free?
"There is an emergence of smart phones with cheap applications hastening the arrival of this information," he says. "Getting it will depend on the organisations that hold this information and if they want to share it."
However, bus users are already benefiting from the technology, with displays telling waiting passengers how far away the next bus is. It is part of an Auckland Transport plan to help get people out of their cars.
"The 15 per cent reduction in traffic during school holidays loosens the traffic flow enormously and a combination of initiatives could achieve a [permanent] 15 per cent reduction," says Ensor.
"Integrated ticketing of public transport would allow monitoring of bus/train arrivals/departures, links and journey lengths."
Auckland council released details of its integrated ticketing system, a single standard smartcard for use on all public transport services, in April - the system will be up and running in June 2012. The system's capital cost is $60 million, with a 10-year operating cost of $80 million. The NZTA is providing $42.95 million of the capital funding, and Auckland Transport is providing a $15.3 million.
According to an Auckland Transport spokesperson, the city has less than 20 years to sort out its traffic issues before it becomes gridlocked.
Initiatives to reduce congestion on the roads have so far included the council raising its CBD parking charges and creating lanes where two or more people must be in a vehicle.
"If we don't encourage people to share the road, then by 2035 the city will come to a standstill," says the spokesperson. "We will have so many people clogging up the roads you just won't move - 57 per cent of the country's population will be in Auckland by then."
Auckland Transport is responsible for the city's roads, on-street parking, a handful of car parks, road maintenance, bridges and all public transport.
The spokesperson says congestion charges can't be introduced until a better public transport system is in place. It means systems such as that seen in London, where drivers pay to enter the heart of the city, won't appear here in the foreseeable future.
"Before we have congestion pricing we need effective public transport," says the spokesperson. "You have to get public transport right before you can introduce congestion charges. We do it to a small degree with our parking charges in the city, a small kind of mini-measure to discourage people from taking their cars in to the CBD."
The bottom line, she says, is that more people need to car share, hop on a bus or a train.
"What we need to do, because we can't widen the roads any more, is encourage more people to use public transport. We need to develop better public transport networks, and we need to encourage people to car-pool."
The spokesperson says Auckland can't be compared with places such as London, Hong Kong, Shanghai or Sydney. "I used to work in Sydney and you don't need a car, I just used public transport," she says. "It was cheap to use and was easy to get around. And it is the same with Melbourne, it has an excellent tram system. But in Auckland there is not much we can do. We live in a hugely sprawling city."
Public transport is subsidised by the council to the tune of $3 per person for buses and $5 per person for rail. Half of all money raised in rates by Auckland City is spent on transport. The current annual rates take by the city is just under $1.4 billion, according to its rates manager Grant Baddeley.
"Public transport is a loss leader, it is a social service," says the spokesperson. "Especially in Auckland and areas of social deprivation - down south, out west. It is more or less a social obligation to provide transport for people."
She believes rail and increased use of trams may well be a part of the answer, and that developers need to start building up, rather than out, when it comes to business premises.
"Let's say we get the central city rail link, which will bring tens of thousands of people into the city," she says. "What we would want to do then is encourage business to develop their buildings upwards and be based in the CBD - and bring people in and out through rail.
"Trams were used here until the 1950s but they are making a return along the waterfront, and who knows, perhaps they'll be up Queen St again one day. I'm sure that will happen. Buses will also be moved off Queen St too. That's the way it is going."
