Photo / Michael Craig
At the time of writing Dean Kimpton was officially in his new job as Auckland Transport chief executive for one day. He has no time to waste on creating a new level of operating efficiency for the under-siege council-controlled organisation.
His initial arrangement is a fixed-term employment agreement for 18 months. “The board reflected on this and decided change needed to occur in a focused period of time,” says Kimpton.
“It’s the right thing to do and it’s the right amount of time for a chief executive to carry out change, both internally and externally.
“While I am here, everything I do will be focused on Auckland Transport’s long-term, fit-for-future state. The attention will be 10 to 15 years out.”
So, what happens after 18 months? Kimpton, the former chief operating officer for the Auckland Council and the managing director of infrastructure consulting firm AECOM NZ, says: “In 18 months I will finish the job given to me and created a role for a permanent chief executive. Do I want that role? I haven’t answered that question yet.”
Kimpton, who has a Master of Engineering degree from Auckland University, joined Auckland Transport from his own Tuhura Consulting firm, specialising in governance and advisory consultancy to the government, infrastructure and construction sectors.
He is a past president of Engineering New Zealand and board member of Infrastructure New Zealand, chair of the Construction Sector Accord’s transformation group, and independent chair of the Eastern Busway Alliance and Connected Communities.
He was also the independent chair of the Western Bay of Plenty transport investment programme; an independent board member of the Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency’s upgrade programme; completed a review of the Let’s Get Wellington Moving transport network; a member of the Resource Management Reform Panel, and independent chair of the 36th America’s Cup joint chief executive group, with oversight of infrastructure and event delivery.
Kimpton first joined AECOM in 1992 and moved from group manager and operations director and regional manager North Island, to managing director New Zealand and South Pacific from 2008 to July 2013.
He then became the Auckland Council’s chief operating officer from August 2013 to May 2019 before setting up his own business.
During March, Kimpton spent two days a week at Auckland Transport, meeting staff, board members and other people - and listening.
“From the top down, a lot of people are committed to delivering transport outcomes for Auckland but there is frustration around where things are at - the impact of Covid has made it challenging for transport services over the last three years.
“There are challenges with carbonising the fleet, and to top it off there’s a significant budget challenge. The organisation has wrestled with the budget without having a chief executive in place to help them with it.”
Auckland Transport has found the required $32.5 million cost savings as required by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown for the council’s latest annual budget.
Reducing staff numbers accounts for a third of the cost reductions. The other two-thirds are made up by sub-leasing a floor in its Viaduct head office and revising contracted services for buses and ferries and other efficiencies.
Kimpton wouldn’t reveal the number of job losses. But Auckland Transport has a staff of nearly 2000 and the number could be in the vicinity of 200.
He says: “As we find further cost savings, they will be reinvested to support the public transport services such as taking on more bus drivers.”
Kimpton will be delivering a “central road map” to the board by the end of April with actions on priorities and the order in which they are undertaken. “There’s been enough reviews, we don’t need another one. The 18 months implies a sense of pace and urgency around the reshaping [of] the operation.”
By mid-April he will have met all of the dozen public transport (bus and ferry) services providers to get their feedback. He says the road map will focus on getting closer to customers and giving them a better experience.
Auckland Transport will be more accessible and therefore better understood.
“The people of Auckland have told us they haven’t been listened to and I don’t think we have done as well as we could have from a community point of view,” Kimpton says.
“One of the things I implemented at Auckland Council was local board focus plans, and we can do this with transport services.
“We can work closely with local boards and understand the community needs - what sort of infrastructure and connections they require, and incorporate this feedback in terms of technology and innovation.
“We need to get back to basics and have a greater focus on core services such as road cones and maintaining the existing network.”
One of his main priorities is accelerating the return of full public transport (bus and ferry) services that had been hit by the Covid pandemic. The services are now running at 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels, and currently there are some 1235 bus trips per day suspended, which is fluid depending on bus operator availability, mainly in Central Auckland and the North Shore.
The present Auckland Transport budget is based on delivering 79 million (bus and ferry) passenger journeys a year; pre-Covid it was 100-104 million journeys.
“We are close to hitting the 79 million number,” Kimpton says.
“There is a reduction in funded services and we will look to shift capital around. Some aspects of large projects that affect the budget may need to slow down. How we handle the capital programme going forward will be the subject of a lot of debate within the board and with council.”
Kimpton says current projects such as the Pt Chevalier and Glen Innes cycleways, the City Rail Link, the Eastern Busway, and Northwestern Busway in conjunction with Waka Kotahi, will continue. The Pt Chevalier construction is about to start and Glen Innes will follow soon after.
“We are making a significant cycleway investment and the focus for the future is how we deliver that investment in a more agile and connected way. We have a got a cycling network in Auckland to complete and how best do we do that in a more cost-effective way?”
Auckland Transport needs 2233 bus drivers to operate full services and it presently has a shortfall of 369 drivers, an improvement from 550 in December, creating the 80 per cent operational run-rate.
Almost 200 crew are needed for Auckland Transport-contracted ferry services and there is a shortage of 35.
The organisation has an understanding with immigration to recruit bus drivers offshore and allow their families to live and work in Auckland. About 300 of the required number of drivers will come from overseas.
“We should be back to a full complement of bus drivers by mid-year,” says Kimpton.
“It takes three months to fully train them and by the end of this year, we are expecting to bring all of them on board and resolve most of the suspended or cancelled services. It will take longer to return the ferries to full service, say 12 to 18 months. We are competing offshore for skippers, especially with Brisbane and Sydney, and we have to satisfy them that their pay is sufficient and they can immigrate to Auckland.”
Of course, returning public transport to full services will cost extra money, and Kimpton says they are having a live conversation with the council on funding full services - which currently exceeds what’s budgeted for.
“Operating a full service is an issue Aucklanders care about. Transport touches everyone and how we move around the city every single day. It is fundamental to how a city operates.
“I see the frustration with the length of [traffic] queues and buses not turning up. My son rings up and says he can’t get to school because the bus is full. And so, I go and drive him to school.
“As a father, I understand what a public transport system should look like. I could sit on the sideline, but I took this job to understand how the system works and to lean in and be part of the solution.”
Kimpton says the only way to address mass rapid transport is to give people choices over how they move around, not just in cars, and he’s looking forward to progress in the nationally-significant projects such as the Eastern and Northwestern Busways, the City Rail Link, Auckland Light Rail and the additional Waitematā Harbour crossing. “They will help solve congestion, absolutely. Bring it on. Let’s go far and implement these transformative projects. I was pleased that the options for the second harbour crossing were put in the public domain for consultation.”
The options include tunnels and bridges or a combination of both, light rail and cycling and walking links.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said construction would begin in 2029 and the massive infrastructure mission would become the backbone of a modern, integrated transport system that can compare with the best city networks anywhere in the world.
Kimpton says Auckland Transport will play its part in the big projects. “We need to prioritise in the long-term plan - that’s a significant piece of work - the services we will provide to integrate with those projects.
Among all of Auckland Transport’s challenges, Kimpton’s leadership philosophy is pretty simple: “Success is when an organisation, its purpose and governance aligns, it delivers outstanding results for all. Achieve this and we have a licence to operate, trust and confidence grows.”
· Auckland Transport is an advertising sponsor of the Project Auckland report.
Red and green tape and orange cones on 'lofty' projects are the bane of Brown's existence.