Editorial: Trams could work well for Auckland

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Like anything that runs on rail, trams seem to have a curious but strong attraction for many people.

The Museum of Transport and Technology's tramline at Western Springs carries almost 200,000 passengers a year, and Christchurch's heritage tourist trams have proved highly successful.

On a broader canvas, cities such as San Francisco and Melbourne are closely identified with their trams.

Auckland chose another route when it removed trams from its streets.

Now, more than 50 years later, they are being readied for a comeback on the city's waterfront in time for next year's Rugby World Cup.

They can be successful here as well, but only if other developments in the Wynyard Quarter provide a suitable underpinning.

Auckland Regional Council subsidiary Sea+City is to receive up to $7.4 million to develop a 1.5km tram circuit by July next year.

On it, trams, probably obtained initially from Motat will travel clockwise between Jellicoe, Halsey, Gaunt and Beaumont streets.

The timetable is tight and there is an obvious risk that it will not be ready in time. But, on the positive side, the cost is not excessive.

Indeed, a deliberate attempt to keep this in check seems to have been made.

The original plan called for a $3.5 million tramshed. That has been shelved, and the heritage trams, probably to be battery-powered, will be kept at sidings at the western end of Jellicoe St.

At the moment, there is very little reason for tourists or Aucklanders to venture to the area. If this does not change before the World Cup, the trams will attract little patronage.

All will hinge on those orchestrating the painstaking Tank Farm redevelopment being galvanised by the World Cup in the same manner as the proponents of the tram circuit.

The sign s seem reasonably good. A $32 million marine events centre on the site of the old Team New Zealand bases in Halsey St is said to be on track for completion before the cup.

Sea+City is also spending more than $100 million on the Wynyard Quarter's first retailing and entertainment precinct.

John Dalzell, of Sea+City, reckons this attraction, around Jellicoe St and North Wharf ,and Silo Park, a park based on the old cement silos, will become an all-day destination for families. In that way, it is intended to stake out different, tram-friendly, territory to Queens Wharf's "party central".

Statements supporting the tram circuit invariably mention its potential to be part of the region's wider public transport network, with a route wending around the southern and eastern edges of the Viaduct Harbour to Britomart.

This, however, raises separate issues. It is true that at some stage, when the apartment market recovers and the residential sector of the development takes shape, there will probably have to be a direct connection to Britomart.

Buses have been suggested. But they would be a blot on the landscape, undermining the views from the bars and restaurants and introducing an unpleasant aspect to the public places where people like to stroll.

Trams or light rail might be preferable, but the whole question warrants reappraisal and should be set to one side.

Fortunately, that must be the case anyway because any public transport will have to await the replacement, in 2016, of the temporary foot bridge that will link the Viaduct Harbour with the Wynyard Quarter during the cup.

Set in isolation, the tram circuit is a reasonable idea provided the cost is in keeping with the inherent risks. One way of mitigating these would be to use Motat's technical expertise as far as possible.

Heritage trams have been a big drawcard elsewhere. There is no reason, with the correct back-up, a similar popularity cannot be achieved in Auckland.