The Campaign For Better Transport

The New Zealand Herald has reproduced an article by super city mayoral hopeful John Banks on transport in Auckland, essentially rebuking former North Shore Mayor George Wood’s suggestion that rail may not be the way forward:

Quite simply, New Zealand needs Auckland to work, and for that to happen, it needs to work efficiently. Auckland cannot rely on roads and motorways alone to meet the region’s future transport needs, as the city’s roading network is already nearing the practical limits of expansion.

While this is vision of a CBD loop is great to hear, the question remains whether Banks (or any of the other candidates for that matter) is willing and able to deliver on it.

The National Infrastructure Plan will be developed by early 2010 and will be updated every three years.

The 20-year plan will present a high-level view of the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure and include a stock-take of existing infrastructure and anticipated future requirements. The Plan will help ministers, agencies, local government and the private sector identify needs and prioritise investments to lift growth.

Our submission is here: CBT Submission On National Infrastructure

Brian Rudman does some digging:

Figures for the first five months of operation of the Northern Gateway Toll Road, to June 30, reveal that, on average, it cost $1.29 in transaction costs to collect each $2 car toll.

For those paying by phone, it would have been cheaper to have waved them through for free. Each $2 phone payment cost $2.70 to administer.

I wonder if Steven Joyce will now move to close down the toll operation, as clearly it isn’t making much of a profit, let alone a contribution to the Northern Gateway road.

As well they might, because under the legislation establishing the system, the Government agreed that $1.13 of the $2 collected was to go towards paying for the motorway, 65c was for transaction charges and 22c would go in GST.

In its operating report, the Transport Agency says: “This means we can claim only up $0.65 from each toll to cover our operational costs.”

To make up the difference between the 65c permitted transaction costs and the actual figure of $1.29, the agency has had to dig into its own pocket.

This must also mean the death knell for the ridiculous Puhoi to Wellsford road widening project.

An excellent letter to the editor of The Dominion Post today:

OPINION: KiwiRail will find it very difficult to ever make a profit while taxpayers and ratepayers heavily subsidise its competition – the trucking industry.

The New Zealand Herald reports Transport Minister Steven Joyce is “worried” that the Super City mayoral contenders – John Banks and Len Brown – are too ambitious for further investment in rail beyond the $1 billion electrification project:

Transport Minister Steven Joyce is trying to dampen early hopes for airport trains and for a central Auckland rail tunnel as officials continue to grapple with how to pay for electrification.

Computerworld reports Infratil’s smart-card integrated ticketing subsidiary, Snapper, is in a last gasp attempt to win the contract for Auckland’s integrated ticketing system:

Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai says Snapper can work with the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) to have integrated ticketing on 90 percent of Auckland’s buses, trains and ferries by the time the Rugby World Cup kicks off.

The New Zealand Herald reports Transport Minister Steven Joyce is vowing to get Auckland’s $1 billion rail electrification project back on track by Christmas, after yesterday announcing ownership plans for new trains.

Minister of Transport Steven Joyce has just announced the new ownership and operating model for metro commuter rail services in Auckland and Wellington. In a nutshell:

• KiwiRail subsidiaries will own the rolling stock (that means neither ARTA or the Greater Wellington Regional Council will own rolling stock, as currently proposed);
• Train operators will lease the rolling stock and operate services. This differs from the status quo in that Veolia currently operates Auckland’s rail services under contract to ARTA, while Tranz Metro in Wellington is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KiwiRail.

The model looks a little bit like the current system in the United Kingdom, minus franchises. This model has had mixed success, while passenger numbers on rail transport is up in the UK, overall service quality has decreased (although some argue that the correlation is related – poorer service results from higher demand, due to underinvestment during Government ownership).

The full paper is available at the Ministry of Transport.