Auckland Regional Integrated Rail/Bus Transport System
After years of neglect the rail service has had some long awaited investment. While most of this has been focused in rail stations and double tracking the western line there is no long term planning document. A good rail system can lure people out of their cars, because people see that rail travel is faster, cheaper, more convenient and more comfortable than driving.
At 8.30am on a weekday, on the Southern Motorway in Auckland headed north, as you crawl through the peak hour traffic and watch a city-bound train on the Southern line whiz past at a speed 60 km/h faster than you, it's difficult to continue using your car with such an obvious better option in front of you.
Rail, however, has more benefits than can be seen at a casual glance from the freeway. The use of rail instead of cars for transport produces less smog and greenhouse gases and is far safer. As oil supplies become increasingly rare and expensive, both now and in the very near future, transport that doesn't rely on oil has escalating economic benefits. Rail can also help with the design of a city, by reducing car-based urban sprawl.
Background
Some opinion holders say oil production will peak somewhere between the years 2000 and 2010, after which it will decline. This means bad news for those of us who depend on cars that run on affordable petrol, as limited supplies mean we will pay increasingly higher prices for running a family car.
In recent years, it has been recognized that atmospheric greenhouse gas levels are much higher than they should be and that these increasing levels could cause climate change. The most well known aspect of climate change is the phenomenon of global warming. Under the Kyoto Protocol, countries aim to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to reduce climate change. Electric rail produces 217 times less hydrocarbons, 780 times less carbon monoxide and 4.5 times less nitrogen oxides per passenger kilometre than a car with a catalytic converter.
Anyone who has driven on the motorway at peak hour can tell you that traffic congestion is a problem. To reduce congestion on the roads, various things can be done: more roads can be built, roads can be widened, a bus-way can be constructed or a railway can be laid down, among other things. However one freeway lane can carry a maximum of 2500 people per hour, a bus-way can transport about 7000 people per hour and a railway has a maximum capacity of 50 000 people per hour.
The Auckland Proposal
The two existing linear routes from Waitakere and Papakura and the eastern line would be supplemented by five or nine circular routes and another new linear route to Whangaparaoa or Albany.
Each of the circular routes would be bi-directional and would consist of the following destinations.
- Britomart-Avondale-Onehunga-Penrose-Britomart.
- Britomart-GlenInnes-Panmure-SylviaPark-Britomart
- Penrose-Onehunga-Mangere Bridge-Airport-Puhunui-Penrose.
- Panmure-Pakuranga-Botany-FlatBush-ManukauCity-SylviaPark-Panmure.
- Britomart-Constellation Rd- Massey-Swanson-Avondale-Britomart.
With the supporting bus transfer feeder services this will give a significant increase in population catchment and increases the efficiency and usability of the transport system.
Sustainability Benefits
Social Benefits of Rail
With our population getting older, and, in some cases, unable to drive, they need another method of mobility. Independence for those who can't drive is important and can be assured if people can easily walk or take a short bus trip to a train station. No one has ever been seriously injured as a passenger on a train. When you compare this to the number of car accidents you see every day, it appears that rail has significant safety benefits as a mode of transport. The health risk posed by air pollution from oil-based transport, like cars and buses, is decreased through increased electric rail travel as an alternative.
Environmental Benefits of Rail
Rail helps to encourage better urban land development, which can reduce urban sprawl. This means the city encroaches less on the surrounding bush and agricultural land, protecting the biodiversity present in the bush. It also produces far less greenhouse gases than car-based transport. Railways do not pose the storm water problem that roads do. Unlike sealed roads, which require storm water drains that take water away from the roads and into rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. With increased rail patronage, less lanes of freeway, as well as other roads, will not need to be built, so less water will have to enter storm water management systems.
Economic Benefits of Rail
According to surveys, the train is the preferential form of transport for tourists when visiting other countries. People who travel by rail spend less money on cars, which they can then spend elsewhere.
An Australian study has shown that a family saves around $750 000 over their working life if they don't have a second car. This amount of money, if it stays in the local economy, is about the average amount it takes to create one job. Every person who takes the train, thus negating their family's need for a second car, creates a job locally.
The central city and sub-centres along the rail lines all benefit from the large numbers of pedestrians who do not need to have parking provided for them and don't cause traffic problems for other motorists. This means attractive pedestrian friendly areas can be created that are the key resource for knowledge intensive cities.
In the City of South Perth population 35000 it resulted in the following results when electrified rail was implemented:
- 17% increase usage of Public transport.
- 35% increase in walking.
- 61% increase in cycling.
- 14% reduction in motor vehicle usage.
Sustainability Characteristics
- Decreased automobile dependency;
- Public transport promotion;
- Decreased environmental impact of urban development;
- Increased community interaction, therefore decreased social isolation;
- Increased energy efficiency;
- Improves health and safety of local population, through less pollution and accidents;
- Increases equity within the community;
- Decreases greenhouse gas emissions;
- Increases business opportunities for local businesses, from increased pedestrian traffic close to rail stations.
Insights and Innovations
- Contributes towards a modal shift in transport habits away from car dependence;
- Cooperation between government and community - rail improvements were made with huge community support;
- Integrated transport system.
- Using the latest technology available.