Hey PM, take a ride in our slow lane

Car users beware! Illustration / Bromhead

It's a shame John Key and his transport minister Simon Bridges weren't on my crowded bus home the other night. It was wet, which it often is at this time of the year, and Auckland streets were gridlocked, as they often are when it rains. It was the sort of congestion the Government says won't happen in Auckland for several more years.

It took more than 30 minutes to crawl along Albert St from the Wyndham St corner to Victoria St and around to the SkyTower. The driver whiled away the time, as any true Auckland driver would, trying to prevent the pushy Ritchies bus driver to his left cutting in front of us. Good sport, even though we lost.

Cars were queued the length of Hobson St as drivers tried to join the clogged motorway south, causing adjacent streets to jam up as well. It was the same by Victoria Park
as north-bound cars tried to join the queues for the harbour bridge.

Yet down in the Beehive, Mr Bridges and his boss continue to put the telescope to their blind eyes and cry "what congestion, I see no congestion".

Even they concede that building the city rail link tunnel from Britomart under Albert St to the Western Line is part of the solution. It would instantly double the rail network's capacity. And as Mayor Len Brown tirelessly points out, a train on the tracks is moving 1500 people at a time, the equivalent of a whole lane of motorway traffic.

Since June last year, rail patronage has increased 22 per cent - an increase of two and a half million passengers. Which would be good news, except that this growth will bring the rail network to a standstill by 2017, as dead-end Britomart reaches capacity.

Yet the Government is sticking to its guns, calling for more proof of rail's popularity, saying it's unlikely it will start paying its half share of the tunnel until 2020.

This week, undeclared mayoral contender Phil Goff entered the fray, calling on the Government to not only start building now, but to pay the full cost of the tunnel as well.

The former Labour Party leader asks "why the city rail link should not be funded on the same basis as roads of national significance, which are fully funded by central government". He challenges the government "to justify the different approach".

Until now, Labour politicians have supported an early start for the city rail link, but like National, insisted that Auckland ratepayers should pay half.

Mr Goff says he hasn't taken his proposal through the official policy process, but describes it as "a rational approach" that would "gain sympathy" from the party and Aucklanders.

It's about time. As I pointed out a while back, apart from a few 19th century tunnels built as part of private railways, New Zealand's 145 railway tunnels were almost all built by government agencies.

As recently as 2012, the Government's company KiwiRail paid to lower and widen seven tunnels on the Wellington commuter network, and rebuilt platforms and station buildings. And rightly so.

But if it's okay for the capital's railway system, why not Auckland's?

For Mr Goff, it will be a great election issue. By May next year, the political campaign and phase one of building the rail link will be under way.

Auckland Transport can't wait for Mr Key to come to the party. It has to start work at the Britomart end of the proposed tunnel to coincide with the demolition and rebuilding of the commercial site between Lower Queen St and Lower Albert St, under which the tunnel will run.

In this preliminary phase, lower Queen St will be closed to buses, lower Albert St will be partially closed to through traffic, and Albert St, from Victoria St to Customs St, will have "service lanes only", as a major storm water pipe is moved to the east.

In a recent stakeholder presentation, AT warned that to ensure "the city does not come to a standstill" during this "early works stage", a "mode shift towards the use of trains, ferries and active transport (walking and cycling) is needed". Included in this will be "a range of bus priority measures". Car users beware!

And this all before the real tunnel building begins.

By delaying its participation, the Government is ensuring the risk of the city coming to a standstill drags on much longer than necessary.

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