The Campaign For Better Transport

CBT member Munroe Graham writes

150 years ago on 1 May 1862 the first of three tramways opened in Drury. This ran about 4.5 km from a coal mine (the first of significance to be discovered handy to Auckland) in the hills east of Drury to the port, then situated on an estuary leading out to the Manukau Harbour.

This was a horse drawn tramway, but unlike its southern counterpart, the Dun Mountain Railway in Nelson, (which had opened on 3 February 1862 and was thought for a time to be the first railway in New Zealand but actually preceded by the Coal Point railway at Clutha of 1861, itself preceeded by at least one timber logging tramway prior to 1860, for example the Gibbons tramway at Huia), the rails were timber (Rimu), rather than steel and built to standard 1435mm gauge, rather than 914mm, or the current NZ narrow gauge standard of 1027mm. Also, there was never any intention of carrying passengers, whereas in Nelson passenger services commenced on May 3 1862, so that Nelson will celebrate two separate 150 year anniversaries this year, the second being the country’s first dedicated passenger rail service. At Drury passengers were loaded on to a coal truck on opening day and trundled up from the port to the mine head – but that does not count.

Ultimately, the importance of this tramway was that it acted as a trigger for the commencement of a conventional Auckland-Drury railway a few years later and this, although later delayed, represented the commencement of the North Island main trunk line.

The site of the port has been obliterated by the southern motorway and at this stage the writer has not yet been able to determine the exact route of the tram line, or the location of the coal mine which it served. Research has been made somewhat tricky by the fact that Drury has been host to not one, but three separate tramways in its short history and there have been several coal mines in the area, along the Symonds Stream to the north east and in the foothills to the south east.

Munroe proposes an informal BYO picnic gathering of interested people from say midday on Sunday May 6th at Drury Domain, near the Library, where the story, much as set out in this article will be available to view and discuss.

Our submission on the draft Regional Land Transport Programme relies heavily from the excellent work of Matt Lowrie, who has his submission over at transportblog.

The CBT has extended the list of projects we think worthy of consideration to be:

• Investigation and design of a busway along State Highway 16 between Westgate and Waterview, to support the significant urban development proposed for the northwest part of Auckland. This work needs to occur as soon as possible, so that it can inform NZTA’s proposed upgrade to the motorway.
• The CBT understands (from AT Board Papers) that significant changes to the operational structure of Auckland’s public transport network are likely to occur over the next three years. There will be infrastructure requirements arising from these changes, such as bus priority measures, relocation of bus stops, road widening to eliminate bottlenecks for buses, key interchanges (both between bus and rail, and bus to bus). To ensure the success of the changes to the PT network, funding needs to be set aside for necessary infrastructure improvements.
• To properly take advantage of integrated ticketing, implementation of a zone-based fare system is necessary. This may require some funding in the short-term to cover any revenue loss while the system is being fine-tuned. Given that integrated ticketing is yet to be implemented (ignoring the soon to be disestablished Snapper card which has been branded as “Hop”), we believe further investment is going to be necessary to implement AIFS, however there appears to be zero budget for this in the 2012/13 year on p.44.
• More emphasis should be given to connected cycle lanes for commuting purposes. The emphasis in cycling is on developing cycleways across the region but there are no reasonable connected cycle lanes in the CBD to provide safety for those wishing to cycle to their workplace in the CBD in safety. At least two such cycle lanes should be developed north-south and two east-west across the CBD. Walk/cycleway over the harbour bridge should be included as a funded project
• More pedestrianisation of the CBD should be envisaged, eg shared space in High Street or Queen Street.
• Rail link to airport – should be better defined as rail extension from Onehunga to Mangere then via airport to Manukau; Mangere communities are poorly served with PT and would greatly benefit from at least a first stage extension of the Onehunga line across the Manukau harbour.
• We support the AMETI project but would ideally like to see longer term planning for a rail corridor west-east across the Manukau region, to Botany or further then linking back to Panmure.
• The extension of the Wynyard Quarter tram to Britomart and beyond along Tamaki Drive and / or Queen Street.
• The Avondale – Southdown rail corridor is identified as a proposed future RTN, however there appears to be no work towards achieving this in the draft RLTP.
• We support the inclusion of the City Rail Link project in the programme of work. The arrival of electric trains will put more pressure on the rail system and increasing capacity further will be impossible without making Britomart a through station.

We’d also like to know what happened to the projects that were supposed to be on the old RLTP:

The preamble on p.5 states that the first RLTP was produced in 2009 by the former Auckland Regional Land Transport Authority.

The CBT submits that there should be some attempt to reconcile this previous programme of work with the programme of work contained in the latest draft RLTS.

It would also be beneficial to know if the projects in the preceding RLTS achieved desirable outcomes or not, or even if they have been completed at this point.

For instance, the preceding 2009 RLTS contained this line item on p. 56:

Project	Total Cost	2009/10 Cost	2010/11 Cost	2011/12 Cost
Auckland Integrated Fare Solution	$70,000,000	$15,000,000	$35,000,000	$20,000,000

We know that AIFS is still yet to be implemented in Auckland, but there is little explanation at all of the remaining components to be implemented in the draft RLTS.  There are bound to be other projects which are equally “disconnected” between the two plans.

And we point out the inadequacy of  the project prioritisation section of the document:

How projects are prioritised is given in only the most general sense on p. 26 and in Appendix 3.

In terms of calculating project benefits, recent research overseas show that predicted travel time savings rarely persist. In the UK, for example, average travel times have remained static at about half an hour per trip since the 1970’s. (David Metz).

Recently an NZTA study found that many commuters actually like spending time travelling and don’t consider the time to be wasted. However these findings are not reflected in the current Economic Evaluation Manual for roading projects.

The RLTS talks about efficiency only in terms of the BCR, however there is no attempt to define how costs and benefits are calculated. The assumption is that the BCR calculation is consistent with the Economic Evaluation Manual. If this is the case then the calculation of benefits and costs should be challenged by the RLTS, particularly in the Auckland context.

In the Auckland region, greater emphasis should be placed on projects that reduce pollution. For the good of the economy, projects which reduce consumption of fossil fuels should also have a higher benefit weighting than those that do not.

There also needs to be a strategic focus that acknowledges the very strong possibility of increasing oil prices for the foreseeable future, and that projects which are not dependent on cheap oil for their viability should be promoted ahead of projects which are.

There are a plethora of plans out at the moment for public consultation, but there is one in particular that better transport advocates need to submit on in particular.

It is the Regional Land Transport Programme – this lists all the planned transport activities for the next three years and is used to prioritise applications for government funding through the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).

Submissions are very much a numbers game. If there isn’t strong support for projects as vital as the City Rail Link then the chances of it getting funded diminish severely.

It is easy to make a submission, you can do it online right here. Complete the section titled Your details and then go to section 8 to provide your submission on the RLTP. All the other sections are optional.

There is a general lack of understanding as to why the City Rail Link is necessary, but in short it is vital to avoid the entire rail network from getting congested at Britomart.

Other areas poorly represented in the RLTP are:

• Dedicated cycling lanes
• Support for pedestrian safety improvements
• Extension of light rail from Wynyard to Britomart and beyond
• Avondale – Southdown rail link
• Improved connectivity between bus, ferry and rail services
• Northwestern Busway
• The need to reduce our dependency on ever more expensive oil

Submissions close 4:00pm Friday 23rd March.  Please take a minute to show your support for better transport.

Sunday 19th February

For the first time ever, Auckland’s main street is going to be turned into a giant playground.

Playing on Queen Street

The event is to be held between Customs and Wyndham streets on Sunday 19th February, starting at 10am. Aucklanders are encouraged to bring their families and friends, to put on their shorts and trainers, and come and take part, whatever their age or sporting ability to play on Queen Street.

At this free family event, everyone will have a chance to try their hand at a large range of sports including football, squash, cricket, badminton, netball, gym skills, cycling, zumba, aerobics and more. Check out the attached programme which tells you whats on where and when. There will be demonstration games, experts on hand to give tips, free bike maintenance, as well as contests and competitions. All of Queen Street’s favourite shops and eateries will be open, and there will be picnic spots on the street, so families are able to make a day of it.

The event was inspired by international cities such as Bogota, New York and Copenhagen which have successfully opened streets to people rather than cars over the last twenty years. The aim of the event is to create a space for playing sport in the city for children, young people and adults, drawing people into the heart of the city and thus building relationships between young people, the city and its businesses.

?Check 1ZB from 8am on the day in case of adverse weather. The rain date for the event is Sunday 26th February.

?For more information and a programme for the day visit www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz key words ‘playing in the streets’

The WWF have released a Colmar Brunton public opinion poll which shows seven out of ten New Zealanders want to see more Government money going to fund public transport improvements. The release goes on to say:

Only 1 percent of total land transport spending is allocated to new and improved public transport.

In Auckland the rate is even higher with 78 percent of people in agreement that the government should spend a greater percentage of its Land Transport Budget on improved public transport infrastructure in major urban areas or cities over the next decade.

“The Roads of National Significance and other roading projects are currently gobbling the lion’s share of government transport money, when what New Zealanders want is more investment to make public transport in cities better,” says WWF-New Zealand Climate and Energy Advocate Lee Barry.

“The futility of building more roads is not lost on Kiwis – they know fuel prices will rise and new roads will not help them.”

In the survey they point out that new or improved road infrastructure accounts for 59% of total government spending over the next decade, while new or improved public transport infrastructure accounts for 1.1%.  The chart for the current year looks like this:

Click for larger image

Media Release from the Campaign for Better Transport

The Campaign for Better Transport is picking transport to be a major issue in the forthcoming election. The organisation is hosting a public meeting where the main political parties will be given the opportunity to explain what they intend to do over the next three years to improve transport, particularly in Auckland.

Spokesperson Cameron Pitches says he hopes the meeting will cover wide range of transport issues, but a key role of central Government is administering the $2.8bn annual fuel tax revenue in a “sensible and realistic” manner.

“Current Goverment policy limits just 0.8% of that revenue stream for public transport infrastructure projects. We think that the huge growth in numbers of people using buses and rail in Auckland in recent years justifies a bigger percentage than this,” says Mr Pitches.

Pitches describes the meeting as a unique opportunity for the public to show their support for intiatives such as the CBD rail link and more immediate alternatives to the costly $1.7bn toll road between Puhoi and Wellsford.

“It is our view that in Auckland the CBD rail link is absolutely vital to the continued growth in rail patronage. Other options such as a bus tunnel won’t overcome this, especially given electrification will make commuting by rail even more popular than currently.”

The meeting is to be held on Thursday 10th November, 7:00pm at the Ellen Melville Hall, Freyberg Place in central Auckland.

Confirmed speakers for the public meeting include:

• David Bennett, MP (National)
• Shane Jones, MP (Labour)
• Gareth Hughes, MP (Greens)
• Don Brash (ACT)
• Colin Craig (Conservatives)

Each speaker will be given 10 minutes to explain their party’s stance on all modes of transport and issues that affect the Auckland region in particular. Audience members will be invited to ask questions after all speakers have presented their policies.

The meeting is open to all members of the public, however as space is limited free tickets should be obtained through http://bettertransportnov11.eventbrite.com/ to guarantee a seat.

[Ends]

Notes:

Looking closer at Operation Lifesaver:

http://transportblog.co.nz/2011/11/02/looking-closer-at-operation-lifesaver/

CBD Bus Tunnel:

http://transportblog.co.nz/2011/10/30/a-cbd-bus-tunnel/

The Sustainable Business Network is hosting the Sustainable City Showcase at Shed 10, Queens Wharf on Wednesday November 9th:

• 7 to 9am –Conscious Consumer Commuter Challenge. FREE coffee for commuters on foot, bike, boat, bus or train.
• 12pm to 2pm – Great food available from the farmers market and Cafés
• 5pm to 7pm – Green Drinks

Those that come to the breakfast between 7-9 will get a FREE fairtrade Kokako or Atomic Coffee,

Plus delicious sustainable food on sale all day from Ripe Deli, Cosset, the Library Café, Little Bird, French crepes, Paris Berlin Organic Bakery.  There is an organic meat barbeque, mussel fritters, gluten free and vegan food, and a whole Farmers Market to do some early morning shopping.

Auckland is a great big city; so why doesn’t it have a great big city transit system? That’s the question posed by inthel00p.co.nz, a brand new ‘fashion activist’ website.

With designs based on famous subway or metro signs, you’ll stay stylish while making a statement. Plus for every t-shirt sold via this website, they will give $10 to the Campaign for Better Transport! Simply order at their website, and enter ‘CBT’ in the special delivery instructions field. If you have any queries, please contact them directly.