Auckland Transport keeps saying the Government has cut busway funding - it now admits it is wrong

Funding for the Eastern Busway has not been cut. Image / Supplied

Auckland Transport has had to walk back claims that funding for the last stage of the Eastern Busway had been cut as a result of post-cyclone re-prioritisation.

The agency has been making the claim for nearly a month, despite being pulled up on the inaccuracy multiple times.

In fact, the money, which will fund stage 4 of the busway from Ti Rakau Drive to Botany, and the Botany Town Centre Station, has not actually been applied for from Waka Kotahi - NZ Transport Agency.

That has not stopped Auckland Transport from repeating the falsehood that the funding has been repriorotised in a press release, a newsletter, and briefings to stakeholders over a period of nearly a month.

Multiple sources, including members of Auckland Council, hold the belief that funding has been cut.

An Auckland Transport spokesman confirmed to the Herald that “AT has not yet made an application for Stage 4 funding for Eastern Busway and will be progressing through the application process”.

They admitted that any statement “that funds had been reprioritised were an error”.

National’s Transport spokesman Simeon Brown said the saga was frustrating.

“From my perspective, there’s clearly been a communication breakdown or there’ve been decisions made which now mean that part of this project is not funded,” Brown said.

“The public need to know what’s happened and we need clarity from both Auckland Transport and NZTA - and we need both of them singing from the same song sheet,” Brown said.

He said stage 4 of the project should already have been funded through the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax.

“The point is stage four was meant to be funded because of the regional fuel tax. East Auckland is paying the regional fuel tax to get that stage delivered,” Brown said.

The claim first surfaced on April 1, in a press release timed for Transport Minister Michael Wood’s sod turning on the next stage of the Eastern Busway.

The press release said that while the next stage of the busway would begin construction, stage 4 would be delayed “due to the re-prioritisation of current government funding following the extreme weather events of early 2023″.

After inquiries from the Herald, Waka Kotah NZ Transport Agency sent out a correction to that statement saying “[t]he statement that funding for Stage 4 of the Eastern Busway has been delayed due to the re-prioritisation of current government funding following the extreme weather events of early 2023 is incorrect”.

“AT has not yet sought funding for Stage 4 of the project, and no funding for the project has been re-prioritised,” the Waka Kotahi spokesman said.

Nevertheless, in the days following that statement, multiple people were briefed to the contrary - that funding had been reallocated.

Following this, last Thursday, Auckland Transport sent out a community newsletter to parties interested in the busway, again saying the funding had been put in doubt.

“There will be a delay to funding Stage 4 of the busway from Ti Rakau Drive through Guys Reserve to Botany, and the Botany Town Centre Station.

“The delay is due to changes in budget priorities following the extreme weather events of early 2023,” the newsletter said.

An AT spokesman said about that particular line that “Any statements in the recent Eastern Busway newsletter that funds had been reprioritised were an error”.

Waka Kotahi appears to want nothing to do with the kerfuffle.

When asked about the newsletter, a Waka Kotahi spokesman said it had “no further comment to add, beyond what’s noted in the attached email correction sent earlier this month”.

Wood was approached for comment.