KEY POINTS:
Auckland's over-arching transport strategy body is backing a special fuel tax for electric trains and other public transport needs, despite being warned that revenue might shrink if petrol sales plummet.
The Regional Land Transport Committee yesterday endorsed an Auckland Regional Council plan for a tax of 5c a litre on petrol and diesel over 29 years, to pay for an $882 million package of rail, ferry and bus infrastructure projects said to be unaffordable from rates and available Government subsidies.
That will be only half of what motorists will have to pay in extra fuel taxes if the Government levies a further 5c to electrify Auckland's rail tracks and to supplement funds for the $1.89 billion Waterview motorway tunnels and Rodney District's "Penlink" toll road to Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
But the committee, after hearing of a risk of dwindling revenue if fuel sales plummet against sharply rising prices, has also called for an urgent staff report into Government funding levels for Auckland public transport projects compared with what is spent on Wellington's commuters.
That follows a claim by committee member and resource management consultant Kathleen Ryan that Auckland suffered "a huge historical inequity" in comparison with Wellington, one which she said the Government was failing to rectify even with its heavy investments in the Northern Busway and the region's rail network.
"I find it utterly unacceptable that Wellington can have access to a 90 per cent subsidy for rail rolling stock yet Auckland has to pay the full above-track capital costs," she told the committee. She was referring to a deal by which the Government took over responsibility for all of Auckland's rail-track and signalling upgrades, including the installation of overhead electric lines, but left the regional council having to pay the full costs of new trains and stations.
That is in contrast to Wellington, which gained an electric rail system in the 1940s and is now in line for a hefty Government subsidy for a third generation of trains to run on it.
ARC chief executive Peter Winder said the fuel tax was needed to overcome a $700 million funding shortfall between revenue from rates and Government subsidies, and investments required to meet the regional land transport strategy's target of doubling trips by public transport to 100 million a year by 2016.
The council has begun consulting ratepayers about a fuel tax package which will allow it to borrow up to $630 million without eating up Auckland Regional Holdings reserves.
That will enable $494 million to be spent on electric trains and supporting infrastructure, $157 million on more diesel trains, $135 million on new stations and other "above-track" facilities, $43 million on upgraded ferry terminals and $52 million on new electronic ticketing and passenger information systems.
But Mr Winder acknowledged that if fuel prices soared too high, falling petrol sales might leave the council struggling to cover extra operating costs for the public transport needed by people who couldn't afford to drive.
Waitakere City representative Linda Cooper said her council was a reluctant supporter of a new fuel tax, given the large distances some of its lower-income residents had to drive in the absence of good public transport.
She was disappointed the Government was leaving it to the region to raise the tax, rather than having the "intestinal fortitude" to do so itself.
Automobile Association executive Simon Lambourne was outvoted in calling for staff to report back to the committee on the results of the regional council's public consultation round, and Franklin District representative Jill Morris said her council saw few public transport benefits for rural residents forced to pay a new tax.
But North Shore City councillor Chris Darby said that although most of the money would go towards a rail system yet to extend across the harbour, "we'll see the wider benefits as we travel along the regional public transport network".
ARC chairman Mike Lee said the committee should not show any hesitation in grasping a "once in a lifetime" chance to electrify its rail network.
