Transport blueprint choice in weeks

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Auckland councils will decide next month which of six bus and rail plans should form the blueprint for the region's $1 billion public transport system.

Auckland is now poised to win control of city rail routes from Tranz Rail - but is yet to figure out what vehicles will use the corridors.

The corridors stretch from Papakura in the south, Albany in the north and Glen Innes in the east to Swanson in West Auckland.

Auckland Regional Council planners yesterday revealed some of the ideas they have looked at, including monorail, personalised cabins run by guidewires and an underground system similar to London's.

ARC transport action plan programme director Paul Bradburn said: "We've had all sorts of people knocking on our doors with weird and wonderful ideas." But some proved too costly, and the region did not want to be a "guinea-pig" for the more way-out systems.

Instead, the planners have drawn up six options that include various mixes of buses, heavy trains such as those used now, and light trains similar to trams.

* Option one is for heavy trains to run on all the rail tracks, with the North Shore busway stretching south to Newmarket.

* Option two is the same, with the busway going south to Penrose.

* Option three is for heavy trains on the main trunk line from Papakura to central Auckland, and light trains on the western routes from Swanson to the city. The busway would stop at Newmarket.

* Option four is the same as option three, but with the busway going to Penrose.

* Option five is again similar to option three, but light trains from the west would swing south to Penrose, sharing part of the route with heavy trains.

* Option six is for light trains on all the tracks, with the busway ending at Newmarket.

The Bus and Coach Association yesterday repeated calls for buses to be used on roads built beside the main trunk line. Executive director John Collyns said buses had already proved successful in Auckland, and they would cost one-third as much as trains to run in the corridors.

But Mr Bradburn said the idea was rejected because it was illegal for buses to share the main trunk.

The six plans will be narrowed down to a preferred option and put before a "political working forum" next month.

ARC transport committee chairman Les Paterson said that even then the other options would not be totally ruled out. Planners will fine-tune the preferred option and do full costings.

The estimate is that the system will cost $750 million to $1.5 billion.

NZ Automobile Association public affairs director George Fairbairn said 80 per cent of people would still use their cars once the system was built. He urged an "integrated" approach to spending so that the needs of car users were also met.

The transport system is pencilled to go to tender in June next year, but it could be 2005 before Aucklanders notice changes.

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