KEY POINTS:
Drivers will be reduced to a 30km/h speed limit on Auckland's main street from Monday, but the city council's transport committee has voted against adding bus lanes.
The new speed limit will apply to the main part of Queen St, from the waterfront to Mayoral Drive, in what
the council says is a move to improve the safety of cyclists and the 46,000 or so pedestrians who use it daily.
The council does not expect the reduction from 50km/h to cause any great inconvenience for most drivers. Studies found a mean vehicle speed on Queen St of just 31km/h, and transport committee chairman Ken Baguley said yesterday the new limit would allow police to impose heavier fines on anyone inclined to "hoon down there at 80km/h".
A report presented to the council last month estimated that just 2 per cent of cars reached 70km/h on the "Golden Mile" and said the lower limit was supported by 76 per cent of public submissions, as well as by the police, although it struck opposition from the Automobile Association.
Council road safety manager Karen Hay said her staff were working closely with the police to allow motorists time to adjust to the new speed limit, which follows the installation of three mid-block signalised pedestrian crossings as part of the $43.5 million Queen St upgrade. The old 50km/h limit will remain on the Queen St hill above Mayoral Drive.
Mr Baguley's committee has, meanwhile, voted 4-3 against introducing 24-hour bus lanes to Queen St "at this time", after opposition from retailers and property owners extended to a threat of possible legal action.
That was despite support for the proposal last year from 64 per cent of 498 general submissions.
A staff report said potential benefits from the bus lanes were likely to be minor, and more work was needed on how the Queen St corridor should fit into a wider central business district transport network.
Gulf Islands independent councillor Denise Roche said she was probably the only person in the committee room who used Queen St buses, but she sometimes missed the ferry back home to Waiheke when her service became stuck in peak-time traffic.
But Aaron Bhatnagar, of the Citizens and Ratepayers majority, said the committee should not support bus lanes while embarking on a $500,000 study of how public transport services should be run through the central business district over the next 30 years.
That study, which the committee endorsed, will consider optimal bus routes from the central city and locations for transport interchanges.
According to council staff, it will seek options that "minimise the impact of buses on public realm to reinforce a 'people' focus for the CBD".
Despite the Queen St debate, the committee endorsed a council submission which includes opposition to a government proposal to allow drivers to use up to 100m of established bus lanes to complete left-hand turns into side streets.
