‘Let us down’: Labour joins Transport Minister, Mayor Wayne Brown calling for more accountability from Auckland Transport after handling of CBD parking charges
Wayne Brown has reprimanded Auckland Transport over its 24/7 parking charges. Video / NZHerald
Labour has joined Transport Minister Simeon Brown in calling for greater accountability from Auckland Transport following the debate on new 24-hour parking charges in the central city.
Labour’s Auckland issues spokesman Shanan Halbert said Aucklanders need to have confidence in AT, saying “time and time again they have let us down”.
The Auckland-based list MP has written to Simeon Brown today seeking support for a parliamentary select committee inquiry into the 2002 act that established AT to identify what changes need to be made to improve outcomes for Aucklanders.
Simeon Brown said rather than conducting a select committee review, the Government is committed to collaborating with Auckland to ensure we deliver the transport infrastructure and policies that Auckland requires.
“We will also partner with Auckland Council to ensure there is increased accountability over Auckland Transport,” said the minister.
“I tend to agree with him, there does need to be greater accountability over Auckland Transport, and we are working through some potential options of what that might look like.
“When you are trying to get more people to come into the city at night-time, it [the charges] clearly rubs against that,” Simeon Brown said.
The CBD parking issue has also ignited a war of words between Wayne Brown and AT chief executive Dean Kimpton.
At the weekend, Wayne Brown said he was blindsided by the plans. Kimpton said he talked to the mayor about it late last month and that the plans had been “out there” since April 23 as part of AT’s parking strategy. Brown hit back, saying the process “is a poor effort and I’m not happy about it.”
Auckland Transport (AT) has announced from July 1, CBD residents and visitors will face new charges overnight, at weekends, and on public holidays to collect more money.
Auckland Transport chief executive Dean Kimpton has been in a war of words with Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The new overnight charge will be $2-$3 an hour, depending on the inner-city zone. Other on-street parking charges are not changing.
AT said it currently earns $8m a year from parking charges in the CBD and expects the changes to raise a further $800,000 to $900,000.
In the letter to the minister, Halbert said AT’s failure to communicate the parking changes is unacceptable, saying it delivers haphazard services and owes some accountability to Aucklanders and Auckland Council.
He said an inquiry by the governance and administration select committee would seek to improve the accountability of AT, including identifying what changes need to be made to improve better outcomes for Aucklanders and allow councillors and Local Boards to play a more effective role in representing their communities.
Hablert told the Herald that Aucklanders need a transport agency they can have confidence in because the success of the city relies heavily on the transport network.
“The reputation of AT at the moment is challenging for any of the general public to buy into, and that’s what needs to change” he said.
Simeon Brown said Halbert is a member of a party that, while in government, directed Auckland Transport to focus on merely slowing down and installing speed bumps throughout our city, all while squandering hundreds of millions on light rail.
