Auckland City Council - City Scene

Rapid transit routes for Auckland

Rapid public transport for Aucklanders has taken one more step towards reality, following the release of an Auckland City-led study identifying a rapid transit route for the central city. The route would run between Britomart and the Western rail line at Boston Road and then on to Newmarket.

Completion of the study means that three out of four planned rapid transit corridors for the Auckland region have now been identified. They are the northern corridor which will be the North Shore busway; the western corridor proposed to follow the existing western rail line; and the central corridor.

A fourth study, to identify the southern corridor, is being led by Manukau City Council and will get underway shortly.

The four corridor proposals will form the basis of an application to Infrastructure Auckland from all the region's councils and the Auckland Regional Council for funding for a rapid transit system.

Manager of Auckland City's Transport Planning, Ross Rutherford, says the technology that will run in the corridors, light rail or bus, for example, is not critical at this stage.

"What is critical is that we identify the corridors that are separate from the congestion created by other traffic and that will enable people to travel from one part of the region or city to another as quickly and easily as possible."

He says the corridor studies have attempted to link the places likely to have the most users of public transport. In the central area, these places are the downtown employment area, the Auckland University area and the planned new hospital on Grafton Road.

On other corridors, the study teams have looked at how to link the areas most suited to future higher density mixed residential business development.

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