They’ve also revealed that the future of light rail will soon come under an intense spotlight. So will the question of a new harbour crossing. And the railways will likely be given a far greater role, with budget to support it.
The headline news is the Government’s commitment of an extra $200 million for the Eastern Busway. That’s important and very welcome, but it’s not startling. The project has been underfunded and everyone involved wants it to proceed as quickly as possible. So does National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown.
Transport Minister Michael Wood. Photo / Georgina Campbell
But the minister and the mayor have also announced:
• A single plan to rule them all. They want “an agreed broader plan to futureproof Auckland with one high-quality, joined-up transport system, which includes cars, buses, trains, ferries, cyclists, pedestrians, freight and passenger rail and light rail”.
• It will include the port. “The agreed joined-up plan will require clear decisions and timelines to be made about the future use of Auckland’s publicly owned waterfront land, currently being used by Ports of Auckland Ltd [POAL].”
• It will be part of a nationwide freight strategy. “This work will be supported by the Government’s draft New Zealand freight and supply chain strategy to be published by June next year, which will inform investment decisions by central and local government and the private sector.”
• Big decisions are going to happen fast.
But haven’t we already got a unified transport plan? Technically, yes. It’s a joint agreement between Government and council called ATAP: the Auckland Transport Alignment Project.
But ATAP was largely dictated by Wellington. The Government and its agencies decided, Auckland Council and Auckland Transport got told.
Brown is determined it will be different this time but the Government controls most of the money. The two sides have agreed to produce a plan together, but they still have to negotiate the value of every project that might be in it.
Another problem with ATAP: it was announced before decisions were made about the Auckland Light Rail (ALR) line to the airport. Strange but true: the city’s existing transport plan doesn’t include its largest transport project.
Today’s announcement signals that is about to change.
But the ALR plan for tunnelled light rail to the airport was budgeted at almost $15 billion, at a time when economic forecasts were far more optimistic than they are now.
There are much cheaper ways to achieve similar mass-transit goals, including surface light rail and rapid transit buses, like the Eastern and Northern Busways.
It’s hard to see how an “agreed joined-up plan” will allow the Government to stick with tunnelling. The mayor and probably his council are against and so is National. In fact, it’s hard to find any support for the tunnelling option anywhere outside Cabinet.
The new harbour crossing? The Government and National both want it fast-tracked and both seem to prefer tunnels. But as Brown has said many times, if a substantial amount of freight haulage can be moved on to rail, our motorways, including the harbour bridge, will be relieved of much of the current pressure.
He’ll push hard for that to happen first.
Which brings us to the port. Until today, everyone has been waiting for the Ministry of Transport to produce its nationwide supply-chain strategy. It’s due in June 2023.
Wayne Brown wants more port land freed up for public use. Photo / Alex Burton
But sources at council say Brown is about to blow all that out of the water.
This coming Thursday, at the last meeting of the year of the council’s governing body, he will table his draft budget for 2023/24. Along with it, he will table “Letters of Expectation” for POAL and the council-controlled organisations (CCOs).
Those letters will be statutory instructions from council to the organisations it owns. They will have the force of law.
And Brown will be using the letter to POAL to say: We want to start work now to move the port operation, which we own, from the port land, which we also own. So the port has to accept that and Government planning has to take account of it.
Of course, he can’t just make this happen by declaring it. He needs the majority support of councillors, for each Letter of Expectation and for his draft budget. On Thursday, we’ll discover if he has it.
Does he? Councillors have spent hours in closed workshops on the budget and related matters. Brown will know where they all stand and he’s unlikely to put proposals up for a vote without being confident of getting support.
One other thing today’s announcement: it suggests the minister and mayor agree on the key to dealing with Auckland’s transport problems, “particularly congestion”. It’s not more roads and more priority for cars. It’s better public transport.
It’s implied throughout, without ever being made explicit. Are we really about to stop framing transport as a battle between cars and buses?
