“Every bit helps,” Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said today in response to Transport Minister Michael Wood’s Transport Choices package 2022-24.
The package provides taxpayer funding for Auckland Transport (AT) projects which meet central government priorities, including safety and decarbonisation.
Auckland projects to be prioritised by central government include enhancements to Northwestern Busway feeder routes; new bus lanes and cycleways; and improved safety around Māngere College, Māngere Central School, St Mary MacKillop School and Viscount Primary School in Māngere, and Manurewa and Homai train stations and the Blind & Low Vision Education Network NZ’s Homai campus in Manurewa.
Mayor Brown said the projects were not necessarily at the top of AT’s priority list but Auckland was nevertheless grateful for central government’s support.
“I’m particularly pleased about the planned improvements to Northwestern Busway feeder routes, to increase public-transport use by making our bus system better rather than by trying to make our roads worse for private vehicles,” he said.
The Mayor has instructed AT and Auckland Council to work constructively with Waka Kotahi and central government to get work underway on all Minister Wood’s chosen priorities by the middle of 2023 if possible.
“There always has to be some give and take when central and local government are both involved in planning, funding and implementing transport projects,” Mayor Brown said.
“That’s why Minister Wood and I need to work together quickly to agree a plan for one high-quality, joined-up transport system.
“The single, joined-up transport system must include every mode, maximise returns from big new projects like the new City Rail Link (CRL), and be informed by clear decisions and timelines for the future use of Auckland’s publicly owned waterfront land, currently being used by the port company.”
Mayor Brown has previously identified his immediate transport priorities as:
- fast-tracking central government support for the completion of the Northwestern and Eastern Busways that Aucklanders want based on the success of the Northern Busway;
- encouraging central government to let more bus drivers into New Zealand to reverse AT’s cancellation of thousands of bus services;
- preventing or mitigating the two years of disruption to trains that Auckland commuters face because of because of poor planning by KiwiRail;
- finally securing from City Rail Link Ltd (CRLL) a confirmed completion date and cost for the delayed and over-budget CRL project;
- achieving certainty from central government about its proposed light-rail project to inform consequent transport planning in Auckland; and
- quickly agreeing Auckland Council’s intentions for its waterfront port land to allow much-needed infrastructure investment decisions to be made by central and local government and the private sector.
