The Campaign For Better Transport

Late last year the Auckland Transport Authority (now called Auckland Transport) structure was announced. Most alarming was the “Major Roading Projects” department, with no equivalent department for public transport infrastructure.

It seems the Transition Authority have recognised this, and the title has been changed to “Major Projects and PMO”. The explanation given is “Not all major projects will be roading, and the PMO will be an important part of this group.”  Hard to understand why this obvious shortcoming wasn’t spotted sooner!

The new organisational chart is below.  Click the image for a larger version.

The Campaign For Better Transport is calling on the Government to urgently reopen a direct rail link to the Taranaki region.

The 143km rail link runs from Stratford to Okahukura, near Taumaruni and has been mothballed since the end of last year following a number of derailments. As a result, Fonterra milk products now travel 200km further between Taranaki and the Port of Tauranga.

Spokesperson for the Campaign for Better Transport, Cameron Pitches, says it is vital the link is reopened.

“It would be incredibly short-sighted to close it. This rail link is a the only alternative route between Auckland and Wellington for the main trunk line. If there is a washout or a volcanic event, rail freight between these two cities will be stuck,” said Mr Pitches.

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Submissions close tomorrow for the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill.

The CBT is very concerned that the current structure of the Bill will transfer much of the power over transport in Auckland away from elected local and regional politicians, towards unelected transport officials and central government.

Our full submission is here, and the summary is below the fold…

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ARTA have announced the anticipated fare increase for all public transport services, effective 21st February 2010.  From their media release :

ARTA’s Chief Executive, Fergus Gammie said, ”ARTA and its operators have held public transport fares in Auckland for three years in an environment in which other centres in New Zealand have increased their fares to recoup costs. Fares have been held to encourage transport patronage in Auckland and also in acknowledgement of difficult economic times.

“However, over the last three years the costs associated with running transport fleets have increased by around 11%. For example changing emission standards requiring improved vehicles and increased labour costs have been absorbed by our operators for a long period now, therefore bus, train and some ferry fares will increase from Sunday 21 February to help recoup these costs and hold service levels for our customers”.

It isn’t clear how much of the fare increase will go to the operators and how much will go to the ratepayer, or specifically what the fare increases are for the different modes and ticket types, but this is due to be revealed shortly.

Update: New bus fares are here.

We’ve got our hands on a copy of the BCR study funded by the NZTA and others. BCRs continue to be a contentious issue for the evaluation of transportation projects.  They are intended to be a tool to help evaluate similar projects, but invariably they are used by commentators on both sides to indicate the outright justification for a project (or not, as the case may be.)

I haven’t had a chance to read through all 156 pages of the document yet (full title “The Implications of Discount Rate Reductions on Transport Investments and Sustainable Transport Futures”) but will do so when I have time.

It will be interesting to see how independent the research is, given the funders are Roading New Zealand, Downer EDI Works and the NZTA.  Have a look for yourself, here:

BCR study by NZTA

The CBT submission on the RLTS will be presented today.  A copy of the submission can be found here

The National Business Review reports Ports of Auckland have begun their new rail service to the inland port at Wiri, taking numerous trucks off the motorway between the port and south Auckland. Some great statistics:

The rail link will reduce the number of trucks on Auckland’s busy roads, with forecasts that it will save up to 2.5 million truck kilometres per year – equal to 100,000 central city truck trips.

Taranaki Daily News reports:

Kiwirail is poised to announce that the Stratford to Okahukura line, which has been closed since being damaged by a derailment in November last year, will not be reopened.