KEY POINTS:
Backing from the Auckland Regional Council for a road-fuel tax to boost public transport is warming the Government to rail electrification.
Transport Minister Annette King, opening a $5 million train station and bus interchange in Panmure on Friday, said electrifying the region's rail network was "firmly on the Government's agenda".
And after hearing council chairman Mike Lee say his organisation supported a regional fuel tax to raise money for public transport, she indicated to the Herald that a decision on electrification may be close at hand.
The minister said Mr Lee had told her the council would respond this week to a Government request for more information about a $560 million electrification proposal from the Auckland Regional Transport Authority.
"Once we have got that response, we will be in a position to make a decision."
That could not come soon enough for the authority, which fears booming patronage may force it to place orders for a new diesel fleet if it has to wait much longer.
Although electrification start-up costs would be $150 million to $180 million higher than for a new diesel fleet, the authority believes the gap will be closed over 25 years by lower operating expenses and greater passenger loads on faster services.
Ms King's comments followed recognition from Prime Minister Helen Clark in her opening statement to Parliament that Auckland's development was critical to the growth of a nation with potential to become a world leader in renewable energy, and that "time lines around electrification will need to be agreed on".
But Helen Clark said new funding mechanisms were needed for transport initiatives, prompting Mr Lee to assure Ms King of his council's support for a regional fuel tax.
"Be in no doubt that the Auckland Regional Council formally supports a regional petrol tax as a funding instrument to invest [in] and maintain public transport services," he said, at the station opening.
Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said quiet and cleaner electric trains would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but would also allow a greater intensity of development around rail corridors.
Ms King said although the Government could provide the mechanism for charging a regional fuel tax, the "ownership" of it needed to be Auckland's.
"They need to run a regional petrol tax and identify clearly what it's to be used for," she said.
"There's no good having a shopping list as long as your arm - you need to be very clear to the people of Auckland what you will use it for."
But Mr Lee, who opposed a new fuel impost before being outvoted by councillors, said it should be the Government's responsibility to set a tax at a level judged politically acceptable to Aucklanders.
"It can't be punitive, because that would drive people off the roads and on to trains which we do not have," he said.
"If it eases the path to electrification, we will go out and support it."
He said it was six months since the transport authority sent an electrification business case to the Government and he hoped delays would not end up locking Aucklanders into a diesel future.
Regional councils were given power in 1993 to raise a petrol tax of 2c a litre for public transport, but that proved unpopular and lapsed within three years.
The Government increased petrol excise by 5c a litre in 2005 and road-user charges for diesel vehicles by a similar amount, for distribution to regions, but much of the more than $200 million a year that has been raised has gone towards fully state-funded highways rather than public transport.
A regional council report estimates that every cent of tax on a litre of petrol or diesel would raise $14 million for Auckland transport.
Asked how hard it would be to persuade car drivers to subsidise public transport, Mr Lee said: "The more people in trains, the less clogged up roads are going to be."
