Climate Change Minister James Shaw announces the Government's Emission Reduction Plan at Parliament. Video / Mark Mitchell
Auckland Council has released an uncosted blueprint to slash transport emissions by 2030, with aspirations of people halving their car use and switching to public transport, walking and cycling.
The Transport Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) has set a target of reducing transport emissions by 64 per cent by 2030, with much of that coming from halving cars share of transport mode of distance travelled from 94 per cent to 47 per cent.
The idea is for people to stop using their cars for trips of less than 6km, which accounts for about half of all trips, and either walk, cycle or use public transport.
The Transport Emissions Reduction Plan is big on goals, but short on detail. Photo / Alex Burton
Other ambitious goals are a five-fold increase in public transport trips from 100 million a year pre-Covid to 550m and "supercharging" the use of bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters from less than 1 per cent on the transport mode share to 13 per cent.
But while Mayor Phil Goff and senior council and Auckland Transport officers are adamant there is still time before 2030 to pull off the plan, the practical measures and costs have still to be worked through.
At a media briefing this morning, Goff said the plan is transformational, ambitious and tough "because it has to be".
"Aucklanders understand and have told us that we have to move further and faster on climate change if we are to avoid an environmental disaster and create a sustainable future for our kids and grandkids," he said.
The transport targets were set in the council's climate plan, Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri, which was unanimously supported by councillors in 2020.
Transport is the largest source of Auckland's carbon emissions, accounting for more than 40 per cent with the bulk of these emissions coming from road transport.
As well as getting people out of cars and into public transport, cycling and walking, other goals include increasing the city electric car fleet to 32 per cent by 2030, having 75 per cent of low emission buses, trains and ferries and a 50 per cent reduction in freight emissions.
The plan's aim is to halve the amount of trips by car. Photo / Alex Burton
An update on TERP last December said the level of transformation required is immense and will require significant extra funding and urgent action by the council and central government.
Goff, whose latest budget included a climate targeted rate enabling $1 billion of funding over the next 10 years, could not say how much the measures would cost but said the costs of not doing it will be significantly higher and the costs in human terms are unthinkable.
Nevertheless, figures from Auckland Transport show the cost of increasing cycling's share of mode share alone will run into the billions of dollars alone.
Cycling currently accounts for 0.4 per cent of the transport mode share and the current budget of $306m will only increase cycling's share to 1.3 per cent.
A further unfunded budget of $1.7b would lift the share of 3 per cent and it would cost $5b to roll out cycleways on the city's full strategic network, says the Auckland Cycling and Micro Mobility Programme Business Case.
Environment and climate change committee chairman Richard Hills. Photo / File
Council's transport strategy manager Robert Simpson said the TERP set out how public transport boardings would increase five-fold from pre-Covid levels at a high level.
Projects from the carbon targeted rate would go some of the way there, he said, but a lot more on top of that would be needed, such as peak hour bus services, across the network, across the day.
The need to massively increase public transport services comes as AT is running out of money to operate public transport services at current levels and the council is facing huge financial challenges.
The TERP will be considered for adoption by the council's environment and climate change committee on Thursday.
Committee chairman Richard Hills said by putting the infrastructure and public transport systems in place across the entire region, Auckland's long-standing over-reliance on cars can be reduced by giving people more choice in how they travel.
"With such a big challenge in front of us, there is no time to waste, and we should all be thinking about the changes we can make now to help us get the journey underway," Hills said.
The plan aims to get people out of cars and walking, cycling and using public transport. Photo / File
The 11 areas that will see Auckland achieve its 64 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030
• Using public transport much more • Prioritising and resourcing sustainable transport • Reducing travel where possible and appropriate • Making neighbourhoods safer, with less traffic • Putting things closer to where people live • Electrifying private vehicles • Supercharging walking and cycling • Enabling new transport options • Making buses, trains and ferries low emissions • Making freight and services cleaner and more efficient • Helping Aucklanders make sustainable transport choices
