Voters have plenty of transport options to consider at this year's election.
Voters have plenty of transport options to consider at this year's election.
The Herald’s political and specialist reporters examine the big issues facing New Zealand and how the main political parties plan to deal with them. Today Bernard Orsman looks at transport.
Transport is not normally top of mind when voters enter the polling booth, but the issue is increasingly playing a role in the bigger issues of climate change and housing - where there’s a sharp political divide.
A raft of issues have dominated the headlines - from potholes and road maintenance to light rail, cycleways, Let’s Get Wellington Moving, congestion charges, and big road projects like Transmission Gully and the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway.
Away from these talkers, the catastrophic summer storms have exposed the country’s transport network to the impacts of climate change, and the issue of housing intensification along transport corridors has become a hot topic in the big cities.
Underlying the issues is a complex web of funding mechanisms fraying at the edges. Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency boss Nicole Rosie has warned the country’s state highway network is eroding and “at quite a tipping point” from population growth, rising costs and an outdated revenue stream based on fuel taxes, and Auckland Transport is crying out for a new funding model.
Potholes have become an election issue. Photo / Andrew Warner
In Government, Labour has a poor record in the transport portfolio. Not just the party’s failure to build one metre of track for light rail but the toing and froing between being progressive on public transport, walking, cycling and safety, and fizzing about the economic and social benefits of new highways.
Auckland light rail, like KiwiBuild, has been a hallmark of Labour’s failure to deliver. It was a key election promise by Jacinda Ardern in 2017 and meant to be up and running between the CBD and Mt Roskill by 2021, but the party is still at sixes and sevens.
But wait, there’s more. The Government’s plan for a second Waitematā Harbour crossing will include two three-lane tunnels for vehicles and a 21km light rail tunnel between Albany and the CBD - a plan that will take decades to finish and cost tens of billions of dollars.
In the meantime, Labour has released a $20 billion plan for the next three years, boosting road maintenance, public transport, cycling, and road improvements along SH1 from Cambridge to Piarere, Wellington CBD to the airport, and the Christchurch northern link.
Labour and the Green Party want to boost spending on public transport.
It won’t be popular, but Labour is proposing to raise petrol taxes by 12 cents a litre over three years to rustle up more funding.
The Greens take transport seriously as playing a major role in ensuring a zero-carbon and equitable Aotearoa New Zealand, and will press Labour hard in a governing arrangement.
Expect to see a big pushback on new roads, more investment in public transport, walking and cycling, further moves towards free public transport, aligning housing intensification with rapid transit in cities, and inter-city rail services.
The Greens would also push Labour to abandon tunnelled light rail for the cheaper and quicker surface option, and want light rail in Wellington and Christchurch.
Unsurprisingly, both National and Act are promising a big road-building programme, and looking to public-private partnerships and domestic and offshore investment.
Act is particularly keen on using tolls to pay for new roads, and for maintenance on existing roads, provided there is an alternative route.
National is resurrecting its Roads of National Significance programme to connect the major upper North Island cities of Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga with four-lane highways starting with Whangārei to Port Marsden and Cambridge to Piarere in the first term.
National is promising to begin construction on a second Mt Victoria tunnel within three years.
The Nats have also promised to start construction of a second Mt Victoria tunnel in the first term, and a $500 million pothole repair fund paid for from cuts to road safety initiatives. Light rail and the Auckland regional fuel tax of 11.5c a litre would be scrapped.
National and Labour share a common goal of building a northwestern busway in Auckland, but the parties are light on the details, so don’t expect to see shovels in the ground any time soon. National missed a golden opportunity to build the busway alongside the Waterview Tunnel project during its last term in office, which party figures privately admit was a big mistake.
Northland is a big focus for New Zealand First at this election, with policies to connect rail to Northport, and build a four-lane highway alternative for the Brynderwyns.
The main parties are keen on introducing congestion charging, starting in Auckland, to address congestion, but it’s easier said than done.
The political parties have policies ranging from more roads to better public transport.
Transport: The policies
Labour
*Tens of billions of dollars for light rail in Auckland(no start date)
*$20b package next term focused on road maintenance, public transport and cycle investment
*Fuel taxes rising 12c a litre over three years
*Roading projects include SH1 from Cambridge to Piarere, Wellington CBD to the airport, Christchurch Northern Link, Napier to Hasting SH2, Tauranga to Tauriko SH29
*Safety improvements on SH1 between Warkworth and Whangārei
