Ryan Mearns: Alternative budget best way to fix Auckland transport

The ETB would triple the cycling spend. Picture / Doug Sherring

The two plans Auckland Council presented as options for our transport system over the next 10 years are a false choice.

One option would have us invest in transport infrastructure we can't afford - building everything in the Auckland Plan Network, requiring an additional $300 million a year in alternative funding.

The other plan, the Basic Plan Network, stays well within budget but fails Aucklanders by delaying important public and active transport improvements.

A happier medium is possible, prioritising projects that deliver the public transport improvements in the Auckland Plan Network but delaying non-essential projects to save money. This is the reasoning behind a 10-year budget of the essential projects in a third option being proposed from outside the council, the Essential Transport Budget (ETB).

Auckland's transport budget needs a significant change in direction to deliver a city that is well-prepared for both the opportunities and challenges of the future. Both options presented by council as part of the Long Term Plan consultation fail to meet this standard. The Basic Plan under-invests in key infrastructure needed to transform our city, such as rebuilding our bus services, upgrading rail, bus and ferry interchanges and building a safe, separated cycling network. The Auckland Plan builds the infrastructure required but also calls for a large number of extra roading projects that have little strategic purpose bar desperately trying to "solve" congestion in the short term.

These unnecessary adjuncts come at a very high cost, an extra $300 million a year more than the available funding through the council's current revenue streams.

The ETB was produced as a response to this false choice being offered by the council. It outlines a plan allowing for construction of high priority walking, cycling and public transport projects over the next 10 years, with a budget of $7.7 billion - a saving of $2.5 billion compared to the expensive Auckland Plan option. By prioritising only essential transport projects, the ETB saves ratepayers $220 million a year over the next 10 years compared to the Auckland Plan budget.

This leaves the council requiring only an extra $80 million a year in alternative funding.

Over the first three years of the ETB, walking and cycling would receive $114 million and public transport improvements $621.1 million. The ETB funds all the infrastructure necessary to roll out Auckland's redesigned bus network and 40km of new bus lanes over the first three years.

The ETB also triples the cycling spend to more than $30 million a year, allowing Auckland to make significant progress on a safe, separated regional cycling network connecting to SkyPath, a proposed privately financed walking and cycling facility on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, funded through an admission fee.

This budget, however, remains fair and balanced, allocating $3.8 billion for cars, including $2.4 billion for road renewals and $1 billion for road improvements.

The easiest way to fund the additional $80 million a year would be a regional fuel levy of 7 cents a litre starting in 2016.

Advantages of a fuel levy are the ease of implementation and a fair distribution of financial burden, impacting users more equitably compared to rates increases or a motorway user charge. Increases in petrol tax must also be seen in the context of large swings seen in retail fuel prices. Petrol dropped from $2.21 a litre in early October 2014 to a low of $1.73 a litre in early January. These market-driven changes have already resulted in price swings of 7 cents across a week.

Work by the Government in 2009 showed that a 1 cent petrol tax rise across the Auckland region would raise $12 million a year. Therefore, a 7 cents a litre petrol tax could conservatively raise $84 million per annum - enough to cover the cost of the ETB. This 7 cents tax would mean an additional 1 per cent per annum rates rise would not be required to fund the transport programme. Unlike the Auckland Plan option which combines a fuel tax increase with an extra rates rise, the significantly lower cost of the ETB means that no extra rates rises are required, which will make life easier for ratepayers.

An ETB is the balanced option for Auckland, saving money while delivering on the projects Aucklanders have said they want desperately. Auckland's budget needs to focus spending on the things that help to fix our city's problems in the long-term rather than low value projects that foster urban sprawl. It is crucial we prioritise the ETB.

Ryan Mearns is a member of Generation Zero and was the lead author and researcher on Fix Our City: An Analysis of the Transport Budget in the 2015-2025 Long Term Plan. Submissions on Auckland Council's Long-Term Plan close Monday.