Joel Cayford, North Shore City Councillor,
Representative on Regional Transport Ctte - June 2001
As submitted to NZ Herald Newspaper
Greater Auckland authorities are moving – albeit at glacial pace – to a consensus on how the region’s transport systems need to be governed. At a recent regionwide workshop there was no dissent from the collective view that existing transport governance arrangements in the region are ineffective because there are too many different organisations involved each with overlapping responsibilities and unclear lines of accountability. These include four city councils, the Auckland Regional Council, Infrastructure Auckland, Transit New Zealand, Tranz Rail and various bus and ferry operators.
The Minister of Transport, the Hon Mr Gosche, provided the workshop with examples of inadequate transport performance in Auckland. He cited poor management of the North Shore Busway project where there was no lead agency, and ineffective traffic incident management across the region. In contrast he noted that Rotorua District Council has taken reponsibility for local State Highways from Transit New Zealand, and that Tauranga District Council with Environment Bay of Plenty has shared arrangements with Transit.
Another significant weakness in Auckland transport decision-making is the absence of effective strategic planning. The Regional Land Transport Strategy, prepared by the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) with other stakeholders, is misnamed. It is more of a statement of intent, a wishlist and vision, than a strategy. A vision is useful. However implementation requires a strategy with a properly prioritised list of transport projects and developments, each specified with completion dates and funding streams.
This hasn’t been prepared. Instead there are several different priority lists and projects, all competing for the same money. Transit has presented Transfund with a ten year $1.5 billion motorway plan. Auckland City Council is pushing Transfund and Infrastructure Auckland for a $750 million plus railway plan. North Shore City has a $150 million busway plan. Most ferry terminals routinely exceed capacity and need expansion. Thousands of bus-stops need shelters. And cyclists seek a safe regionwide cycleway network.
Some might describe all this as a strategy. That we need all these things. And that might be true. But we can’t afford all of them at once, and we can’t have all of them first. Some transport needs have higher priority than others. Winning public confidence in - and fast takeup of - passenger transport requires certain infrastructure be built first. I believe that local passenger transport improvments are the absolute priority, in parallel with incremental expansion of regional passenger transport networks. I don’t believe motorway expansion is a priority.
Not only is there no effective regionally agreed implementation strategy, but yet another two transport organisations have been established. These are the Auckland Rail LATE and its associated Shareholder Representative governance structure containing councillor representatives from Auckland’s councils. The need for the LATE first arose when it was realised Tranz Rail assets purchased by Auckland local government would need an appropriate corporate home. This deal fell through when the government - concerned at the prospect of a fragmenting national rail system - stepped in to negotiate with Tranz Rail.
The Rail LATE idea still has momentum because Greater Auckland rail assets eventually purchased by Government will ultimately need an appropriate home. Unfortunately some local government politicians believe this LATE can be expanded to hold ferry terminal assets, the North Shore Busway, and eventually transform into Auckland’s Transport Authority.
At a recent public meeting in Auckland, Minister of Transport Mr Gosche said the government had no intention of imposing a transport governance structure on Greater Auckland. Instead he wants the region to get its act together, work out what is wanted, and then collectively request the government to enable it through any necessary legislative change. This is appropriate decision-making. But is the proposed LATE the appropriate regional response?
To get Auckland’s transport moving, steadily and surely, a number of conflicting demands will need to be resolved in a cooperative manner. Motorways Vs passenger transport infrastructure. Bus priority-lanes Vs private car road space. Manukau City access needs Vs Waitakere City access needs. Local bus improvements Vs regional station developments. And I haven’t mentioned rail investment or ferries.
The public are keenly interested in this prioritisation, and in the steady completion of top priority projects. I believe there is no way in the world that a LATE structure, with its annual statement of corporate intent cycle and its distant board of directors, will be able to satisfy that public with the sort of accountability and input such a dynamic situation will require. Those who think it can must surely put hope before experience. LATEs may be appropriate for the efficient delivery of stable and predictable public services, but almost by definition they cannot meet the democratic demands inherent in times of change and transformation.
What is needed is a Greater Auckland Transport Authority with the overall responsibility for planning, constructing, owning and managing all regional transport infrastructure including state highways, arterial roadways, railways, stations, and ferry terminal infrastructure. It would also regulate and subsidise commercial bus and train operators, and be responsible for the establishment of integrated ticketing. The Authority would incorporate into one structure the proposed rail LATE, Transit New Zealand regional state highways, Local Authority arterial roadways, Ports of Auckland ferry terminal infrastructure, the North Shore Busway project, and the ARC’s transport planning and management functions. It would be funded by Transfund, rates and Infrastructure Auckland which would no longer need to carry the costs of developing its own transport funding policy. The ARC would be able to concentrate on its role as regional regulator.
Most major cities in the world have integrated regional transport authorities, with governance exercised by elected representatives. Auckland needs to grow beyond the separate interests of existing narrowly focussed structures, and request government to enable the sort of integrated regional transport governance which will deliver properly planned and prioritised transport services for all its citizens.