Speech by ACT Transport Spokesman MP Penny Webster to ACT Auckland Conference, Sunday 11 November, 2001
Overview
We’ve heard so much about the problems of Auckland transport. The arguments, stonewalling and headlines have continued for years. And yet, not a sod has been turned, not a ribbon cut. We still grind to a halt between 7.00a.m. and 9.00a.m. every weekday morning and crawl home in the evening.
Earlier this year the chamber of Commerce and Industry along with other members of the Auckland Business Forum put out a series of post cards graphically showing the problems of Auckland. The prospect of being renamed the City of Snails had goaded them into action. It was the amount of money and opportunity being lost that prompted a similar group to call for the Auckland Mayoralty race and recent local body elections to be run along ‘Get the City Moving’ lines.
Trucks at a standstill, courier vans at a snails pace and staff held up for work all adds up to losses. Frustrated motorists, endless delays, and minor accidents are the norm for life in Auckland.
With car usage growing by more than 5 per cent a year, we need enabling people. We need engineers and contractors who want to build and not control.
The election of John Banks is a good sign, and we have reason for hope. However, we must remain alert to those that would make Auckland’s congestion even worse.
The Barriers
There are planners who talk about cars in suspicious, hushed tones, as though those who like cars have a problem. These planners would increase housing in the centre city and stunt city growth. There are politicians like Keith Locke who would have us all travelling in communal trains.
Whatever the reason for their ill-conceived crusade, each person in the anti-road movement has the same fear. They are scared of cars because automobiles allow individuals to make their own decisions. Car drivers can turn left or right, they can travel for miles or stay in the city, they can live out and commute in or live in and commute out. Planners and politicians can’t control them.
The Cost
I think the time for talking is past and that the Government has the responsibility. Auckland is a vital cog in the wheel of the economy of the whole nation. Goods and services that truck though Auckland to and from the Ports, to and from the regions, to and from the growing areas are the key to New Zealand’s economic success. This problem goes beyond Auckland commuters trying to get home.
Auckland’s transport costs $3 billion every year. One billion of that is straight transport costs – fuel, wear and tear. Another one billion is caused by land escalation costs including servicing for densified housing, subsidised by ratepayers.
And the final billion dollars is caused by lost opportunity through congestion. We can all relate to this: “I can’t be bothered fighting the traffic to buy that theatre ticket”, “I need another truck on the road to deliver that item,” or “I need to keep my trucks off the road during peak times.”
Jammed highways, motorways, clogged arterial routes, delays and daily commuter chaos are all becoming commonplace on Auckland streets. The city's transport system is crammed to capacity, with no room to spare. Frustrated drivers talk about the desperate need for a solution.
Is the city equipped to cope and are the local authorities prepared to act? The current situation does not bode well for future transport growth. Without a doubt, the repercussions of long-term under-investment, inadequate planning, and the lack of a co-ordinated, practical approach to the problem are having an impact.
Forty-five years ago, the first plan for the completion of the Auckland road network was launched. We are no closer today to a satisfactory solution.
What we are seeing is a disjointed haphazard approach to the problem. Responsibility towards solving transport issues has become fragmented, with different groups clamouring for a solution, but unable to offer practical help. What Auckland transport needs is leadership and direction.
Auckland's already suffering due to congestion. This congestion is the result of long term, under‑investment in an infrastructure driven by institutional structures and Government policies. If New Zealand is not to become a Cook Islands with all its best young people and investment going overseas, Auckland must work economically and be a competitive location for people and investment in a global market. There is no evidence that the current growth strategy and transport planning for Auckland, with its heavy investment in public transport, with no effective policies to address the current congestion issues, will provide the transport infrastructure the city needs to achieve the well‑being of the community.
The Benefits from Change
An adequate infrastructure is vital. This is illustrated by Intel’s recent announcement that it will not build any more facilities in Silicon Valley due to uncertainties over power supply.
It should also be noted that London, which has had a substantial reduction in population, is spending very significant sums on transport infrastructure. To provide access to the docklands redevelopment, some 5.1 billion was spent on light rail and underground rail connections, which we've all heard about. However, they also spent 7.5 billion on road improvements in the area, about half the cost of the Channel tunnel, just to get road traffic into the docklands area to ensure the development would proceed.
An adequate transport system is an essential part of a needed infrastructure. If goods and materials can't be moved efficiently between ports and factories, factories and consumers, if workers can't get to work, if business trips can't be made, costs will escalate. Carrying on a business will be difficult and other locations for the business will become more attractive.
Public Transport
Our problems are compounded by the fact that public transport is hailed as the saving grace to our problems, and funding is being enthusiastically poured into what is a somewhat limited solution.
In order for public transport to have any effect on congestion, public transport has to attract significant numbers of people who currently use cars. To achieve this, firstly, the public transport has to go where the people want to go and, secondly, it must be more attractive than the alternative modes.
Auckland is a de‑centralised city with both residential and nonhome destinations widely dispersed. It's a typical young, modern city that has developed in the car and transport age. It has much in common with cities in Canada and Australia but not much in common with European cities which developed their form before the current modes were available. So, also, I think we should note here that most European cities are experiencing zero or negative growth, unlike Auckland. So, travel demand is diffuse and net of all the radial demands of older cities.
As a result, it would be very hard to get up to 20% public transport use because of the limited number of people who work in the CBD. In Auckland, only 12% of employment is in the CBD. A further 22% work in ten other centres, but each area only contains about 2% of employment, while the remaining 66% of work trips are dispersed elsewhere in the region. So, it's difficult to get a concentration of work trips along any of the corridors. You'll very likely only get a high proportion of public transport where the public transport has a separate corridor and there is very heavy congestion on the roads. However, once you've got this heavy congestion, the adverse effects on the economy of the region make this an undesirable situation.
It's often implied that alternatives to road transport are benign with no adverse effects. In practice, the noise from rail can be as disruptive as that from motorways and accidents from public transport are not much different from road transport.
Public opinion reveals that while drivers approve of better public transport for others, the reality is that they themselves won't be abandoning their cars in a hurry. Studies overseas have shown that enticing people out of their cars and onto public transport does not work. Recent New Zealand Automobile Association figures show that in 1986 fifteen percent of people travelling to work used public transport, and in 1996 this had dropped to seven percent.
Smart Planning
The problem isn’t just from politicians who would have us crammed into buses and trains, but also from planners who would reduce open urban space and make congestion worse in New Zealand.
Recently two Americans were invited to address a seminar in Auckland to give the case for roads. They were appalled at what they had experienced in the USA and wanted to make sure that this did not happen in New Zealand. They had examined the ARC transport plan for Auckland. They had come to the conclusion that what the ARC is planning would worsen the outlook for Aucklanders.
In New Zealand, we love our wide open spaces and house and garden outlook. The new shopping centre, "Botany Downs" is exactly what the Americans had said we should fight against at all costs: In-fill housing built around a shopping mall, little gardens, and no open spaces. And the name for this type of planning is “Smart Growth”!.
What’s Going On?
By the year 2020, the AA predicts the region will grow to 1.6 million people, and traffic is projected to double. The layout of the city itself is not ideally suited to a comprehensive public transport system.
Shifting the focus onto public transport does not alter the fact that it is ultimately our roading system which requires urgent attention.
Various roads have been completed by either Transit or the local authority. But we have some bizarre situations. The most glaring is the four lane highway from the International Airport. This whisks passengers away to the North and the city for a few kilometers before snarling them up in traffic as the road turns into a narrow, two lane, high-usage, suburban road.
The Eastern corridor linking the city with Howick and Pakuranga has been stalled as some local residents question the route in a "not in my backyard" scenario. Transit NZ has plans to rebuild part of Spaghetti Junction. In reality there are only about two houses that need to be purchased and the corridor has been there for many years and designated as such.
And that still leaves finishing the loop to the south from the Southern Motorway to the Northwest and to the North. Part of that route relies on local councils Auckland City and Waitakere.
This problem is compounding all the time. Ongoing transport delays will only increase tension and divide communities even more. Why put up with this any longer? The Government needs to act decisively and act now. Giving one body the authority to finish the job is the only way.
The Government’s moves regarding the Auckland rail network miss the point. Why put a heap of money into a transport system that is not going to fix the problem?
Government and local government owning the rail tracks together is no better than cross subsidisation and far worse than motorists paying tolls. At least with a toll the motorist has a choice and the road is being maintained.
The recent budget actually said it all. Less money for new roads. No new motorways to be built.
Need for Leadership
We have too much government and no leadership, too much government and no will, too much government and no responsibility to finish the job.
Most MP’s in Auckland are Labour/Alliance Coalition MPs They enjoy the luxury of taxis and ministerial cars to take them to the airport where they fly out of the chaos on Monday or Tuesday to return on Thursday or Friday. By the time the politicians have flown to Wellington, commuters are still trying to drive to work in Auckland.
When was the last time they really sat in the car chugging along in second gear, watching the clock? When did they last get up an hour earlier to beat the traffic to the office?
ACT believes that we should have enabling legislation to require the Transport Committee of the Regional Council to finish the network.
We believe that the RMA which stifles so much development and hampers the building of roads should be scrapped in favour of legislation that will protect the environment but also protect people from the bureaucrats.
ENDS