KEY POINTS:
Political parties can expect organised pressure from the Auckland Regional Council to bid against one another to fund ambitious railway extensions, notably links to the airport.
Councillors expressed enthusiasm at a transport committee meeting yesterday for using this year's general election to extract hefty funding promises to boost public transport in the face of spiralling fuel prices.
The idea of trying to influence the election was spurred by their endorsement of a $2.2 billion proposal of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority to create railway loops between Britomart and the airport via Avondale, Penrose, Onehunga and Wiri - including tunnels under Onehunga and part of State Highway 20.
That would be in addition to a tunnel under central Auckland to form an inner rail loop for about $1 billion, which authority planning chief Peter Clark said would be essential for expanding services into Britomart.
Councillor Joel Cayford, while welcoming the rail expansion plan, said it was "incapable of being funded unless the Government puts its hand up in a bigger way".
"The state highway network has been a priority for Governments for decades and you'd really think petrol prices would raise some questions in some ministers' minds," he said.
"Just when will it click that major funding should be offered to public transport?"
Dr Cayford noted the Government's slowdown over introducing a regional fuel tax, which was only to pay for the $1 billion electrification of the existing rail network without provision for any extensions.
But he said the region could no longer be accused of lacking a plan, and he believed the council was in good position to mount "a strong Auckland campaign" to extract funding commitments from both main political parties.
Councillor Dianne Glenn referred also to the roles of the minor political parties trying to decide which big players to support.
"We really must find out which parties would support this network of railway systems and whichever party supports Auckland should become the government," she said.
Although the transport authority decided last year to work with Transit New Zealand on "future-proofing" a duplicate motorway bridge over Manukau Harbour for an airport rail link, Manukau regional councillor Brent Morrissey expressed support yesterday for its plan to include the eastern part of his territory in a wider loop route.
"The population of Manukau have been so poorly served by public transport over the years it's an embarrassment - it's often called a public transport desert."
Mr Clark said the authority was already working with Transit on ways of including rail links to the airport in its motorway corridors, from both the north and east, and was about to boost bus services as interim measures.
A new daily, regionally subsidised bus service will start running every 30 minutes from Sunday between central Manukau and the airport via the Papatoetoe railway station.
And on Monday, the unsubsidised Airbus Express buses will operate a more direct service every 15 minutes between Britomart and the airport, along Queen St rather than its circuitous route around city hotels.
The transport authority also hopes to introduce an "integrated" ticket to allow passengers to transfer from Northern Express buses from as far as Albany to the service on a single fare.
Mr Clark said a rapid transit study included a proposal for tunnels under the centre of Onehunga and beneath State Highway 20 between Onehunga Bay and eastern Mt Roskill.
