John Palino For Mayor

Transport

Every day thousands of Aucklanders spend thousands of hours in congestion. It’s frustrating, time consuming, costly and reduces quality of life. We have to reduce congestion in our city and we have to begin today.

To address congestion in Auckland, we’re going to have to do more than invest in roads and public transport. That’s the key learning from the past three years of planning. Current policy is to invest $68 billion in transport over the next thirty years, or more than $2 billion per annum – and the result is more congestion. That is not a matter of opinion, it is the finding of the Council’s transport arm, Auckland Transport, who undertook an assessment of the transport programme, and was reinforced by the Mayoral Consensus Building Group report.

If we are to tackle congestion in Auckland, we must not only add capacity to our transport networks, we must reduce the need for travel on busy roads at busy times. That doesn’t mean making it harder or more expensive to travel. It means good planning where residents live closer to employment and activity centres and, where they do not, it means ensuring they have ready and easy access to good public transport. It also means spreading flows across transport networks so that not everyone is trying to get to the same place at the same time.

To achieve this, we have to develop new centres which make the most of our current transport networks, including central government’s two really significant transport projects due to be completed in the next few years – electrification of the rail network and the Waterview Connection. We have to focus our new development in areas near public transport, not in established communities never designed for infill. We have to build satellite centres.

Satellite Centres

II’m going to focus new development on a very small number of new sites adjacent to rail or busway stations. Satellite centres, the first most likely in the fast growing Manukau area, will be locations with high intensity residential and commercial development, providing both housing and jobs. Co-locating accommodation and employment will reduce the need for some travel, while high speed rail and bus services will provide connectivity to and from the CBD.

Residents who value proximity to public transport and various urban amenities will live right beside public transport in an environment designed for public transport. Satellite centres will have well-illuminated, safe walkways with necessary feeder services to make it easy for people who want to live without a car to actually do so.

Satellite centres, by their scale and nature will change the future direction of flows on the road and rail networks. This will help deliver better balance on our transport system without needing to provide more capacity. And if, in satellite centres, we can match jobs to residents, or facilitate remote working, we may be able to avoid the need for long commutes at all.

Action

In my first 6 months as Mayor I will seek regional and local feedback on the most commercially viable and publicly de­sirable locations for one of more satellite centres. As locations for potential new satellite centres emerge, I will initiate Council technical workstreams to investigate further the environmental, economic, cultural and social implications of new development in each location. I’m not wedded to any location in Auckland – just the best location.

Once a location has been identified as publicly, technically and commercially feasible, I will work with experts in urban development to deliver in a short timeframe a vibrant, attractive, smart, green and affordable centre where people want to live. Council funding for the project will be financed through debt either in the form of a public private partnership, bonds or traditional Council borrowing. But the repayment of that debt will be tied to the rates revenue earned from residents living in and around the satellite centre – not subsidised unfairly from the wider residents of Auckland.

Park and ride

Of course, satellite centres won’t emerge overnight, and our congestion problems are here today. That’s why my first transport priority will be to build park and ride facilities at all train and busway stations where there is local support and demand.

Rail electrification creates a huge opportunity to get people onto public transport, so we have to make the most of it. Auckland’s relatively low density does not support walking to stations for most residents and each time a commuter has to use more than one service to get somewhere, their car becomes that bit more attractive. Park and rides are the quickest, cheapest and most practical way to relieve pressure on our network while our first satellite centre develops.

Action

In my first month as Mayor, as I engage communities over their expectations of the Unitary Plan, I will begin the collaborative process of identifying parking needs and expectations around stations. In some areas, achieving community agreement and support will take time, in others it will be more rapid. As this process moves forward, Council officials will investigate the scale, future demand and business case behind parking facilities to inform community understanding.

To free up funding for park and ride facilities, I will not be increasing rates. I will instead reallocate funds from poor investments. I expect to identify inefficient use of ratepayer funds in my first year as Mayor and will take a very close look at all Council expenditure to ensure money is put in the place where it delivers the best value for Auckland residents.

ENDS

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