The Campaign For Better Transport

Graeme Hunt reports in the Herald on the need for a dedicated link between the CBD and Auckland Airport.  Unfortunately the focus is once again on completing the roading network.  We are told that rail is enormously expensive and that Auckland Airport has ruled it out in the short to medium term.

A dedicated transport link between Auckland airport and the commercial business district is essential to lift the region’s tourism standing, Tourism Auckland CEO Graeme Osborne says. “My sense is that we are not any closer to that thing materialising. According some greater priority to an airport-CBD link is pretty important.”

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Auckland Business Forum chairman Michael Barnett states that planning for Auckland’s future transport needs is inadequate and that we need a vision beyond 2015.  Graeme Hunt reports in the Herald.

Auckland Business Forum chairman Michael Barnett says the region is still playing catch-up when it comes to road spending and development, despite new projects being announced by the new Government…..

…..Barnett says people are starting to look at the productivity gains that could be achieved by an efficient transport network but planning for future transport needs is inadequate. “We are planning … not future-proofing. We are standing still. By 2015 when the network is complete we will have done little else but stood still.”

Michael Barnett does seem rather roading-focused though, putting the priority on completing the roading network before addressing public transport.

“With a complete roading network you have options and choices, especially for public transport.”

“At the end of the day we do need a network of roads and once we have done that we can look at better bus services and things like congestion charges.”

He [Michael Barnett] urges people to look at developments [beyond 2015] such a third harbour crossing, an east-west link and better roads to extend Auckland into Northland and Waikato.

Surely we have to stop “completing” the roading network at some stage and consider rail as an alternative!

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Scott Macarthur’s Pt Chev to Newmarket service is now running week days.
In the morning services leave to Pt Chevalier at 7.05am, 7.45am, 8.30am.
In the afternoon services leave Newmarket at 4.30pm, 5.18pm, 6.10pm.

Those wanting to travel from Point Chevalier to Newmarket currently need to catch the 045 service and then transfer at Karangahape Road. The total cost of such a journey is $4.80. Macarthur Buslines offers a direct route to Newmarket for $3.20 – saving you time and money!

More at http://www.mbl.net.nz/

“Very happily”, ARTA have announced an Open Evening to discuss the rapidly approaching reopening of the Onehunga branch line. Anyone interested is invited to come along:

• Tuesday 18^th August 6:30 – 8.00pm
• Onehunga Community Centre
• Beeson / Henderson Room
• 83 Church Street, Onehunga

This is your chance to find out where the stations will be and exactly when they are due to open! Download the flyer here and stick one up at work!

Things are really on a knife-edge at the moment when it comes to whether Hamilton-Auckland Rail will go ahead or not, so now’s the time to let your voice be heard on the matter.

Print off this postcard and send it to Steven Joyce, Minister of Transport. Our “Action Stations” campaign was a big success due to your participation – so put some pressure on the Minister and make your voice heard! Postage is free.

Mathew Dearnaley reports on the Auckland City Council’s preference for a “surface-tunnel” option for the Waterview Motorway.  From the Herald:

Auckland City’s transport committee has infuriated communities in the path of the Waterview motorway by supporting the Government’s preference for a revised “surface-tunnel” option.

“I’m absolutely gutted by the response from our council – I think they have been irresponsible,” Margi Watson, Waterview-based spokesman of the Tunnel or Nothing protest group, said yesterday.

“The council was elected to represent the interests of communities, not the Government.”

Members of the ruling Citizens and Ratepayers bloc, led by Deputy Mayor David Hay, outvoted minority City Vision and independent councillors in backing the revised scheme, which the Transport Agency estimates will cost $1.4 billion.

That differs from the council’s previous support for a pair of deep tunnels to carry traffic along most of a 4.5km link between the Southwestern and Northwestern Motorways, and will provide extra comfort to the agency’s board when it meets in Auckland late this month to approve the new plan.

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Long time CBT member Barry Palmer responds to David Bennett MP’s baseless anti-rail viewpoint.

David Bennett MP, Hamilton West, has not considered all aspects of a Hamilton to Auckland Rail Service.

When he advocates electric cars to the exclusion of rail he completely ignores those that will be unable to afford them and those who cannot drive. At least he seems to concede the age of oil is coming to an end.

He overlooks the availability of the train’s on board refreshment and toilet facilities that eliminate stops that car commuters inevitably make.

He fails to grasp that trains permit business commuters to start and finish their working day while commuting, saving up to four hours otherwise lost.

He doesn’t take into account that while cars can manage a legal top speed of 100 kph, the present railcars with a top speed of 120 kph can easily manage 100 kph for much more of the journey if that is required due to fewer speed restrictions, less congestion and gentler gradients.

In 50 years’ time he claims electric cars will be the most efficient form of transport, but seems unaware that our narrow gauge rail, with a fraction of the investment his government is making in parallel roads, can reach 160 kph for passenger and freight trains, something road transport will never achieve. City centre to centre it will also outperform air travel.

Does he appreciate that future electrified railcars do not have to carry a heavy load of batteries while electric cars will need to for their source of energy, nor will they have to delay to recharge, as cars will. Their steel wheel on steel rail has 1/10 the rolling friction of rubber on tarmac. Overall the energy consumed per passenger-kilometre will be less than a third that of an electric car.

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It has been an interesting year so far for Auckland’s public transport. Probably the biggest story of the year so far was the cancellation of the Regional Petrol Tax back in March, which put most of the public transport improvements that we can expect in the next few years, into doubt.

In the months since then it seems like everything has been about “cleaning up the mess” that Steven Joyce created in March through his transport announcements. Fortunately, most of the mess has now been cleaned up: with a decision on integrated ticketing being made last week, NZTA coming to the party and funding upgrades to Onehunga and New Lynn, the Manukau rail link going ahead, and funding for the below track part of electrification being outlined in the May budget. All we are really waiting for now is NZTA to confirm that they will provide the necessary funding subsidy for integrated ticketing (to be finalised in September I think) and for the funding of Auckland’s electric trains to be announced. Goodness knows when that will happen, although rumours suggest it might be this week.

So, we’re almost back to where we were a few months ago then. The question I wish to ask is “where to next?” It seems like the government is convinced that the money they’re going to spend on finishing ProjectDART (upgrades to the rail system  that have been ongoing for the last few years) and electrification, that’s it. Auckland’s transport planning documents suggest that this is the case as well, with funding for public transport infrastructure after electrification is complete almost disappearing. As a public transport advocate I think it’s important for me to state that I believe we’re only at the beginning of this process to truly create a top-class public transport system for Auckland. Electrification and ProjectDART cannot be seen as endpoints, but rather the first step of a process. We must develop a vision for how we want Auckland’s public transport system to look like in 30-40 years time, and work out how we’re going to get there. With higher fuel prices a certainty in the future, combined with the need to reduce CO2 emissions from our transport sector, I think that it’s critical that we back up the “talk” of quantum shifts with a real plan. And we fix our broken funding system to ensure that the money’s available to do it.

Unfortunately, I doubt the current government has the vision or desire to do anything more than the bare minimum when it comes to public transport. Maybe a future Super-City Council will be just what we need to push the need for better public transport?