Happy birthday, Britomart

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Auckland's Britomart centre celebrates its first anniversary today as a working railway station with the news that it is attracting almost twice as many passengers as its predecessor.

But its management accepts it could do with "a bit more bustle and vitality" to enhance its role and ensure the viability of retail tenants, who contribute to its $3.6 million annual running costs.

The $211 million centre has a daily headcount of 6887, compared with 3468 who used the old Strand railway station on a typical day in May last year, according to a patronage survey to be reported this morning to the Auckland Regional Council's passenger transport committee.

The figure is conservative as the latest survey was taken in March, and patronage estimates have continued to rise each month, to more than 260,000 passengers a month throughout Auckland's 92km rail network.

Although latest monthly figures are not yet available, the ARC expects annual patronage to June 30 to have exceeded 3.2 million journeys, compared with 2.5 million last year.

This is an increase of more than 28 per cent, surpassing expectations when the first train arrived at Britomart on July 7 last year.

Transport committee chairwoman Catherine Harland acknowledges Britomart opened ahead of its time, raising public expectations that "we had fixed rail", when the reality was that much of the network remained dilapidated.

She said plenty of hard work was still needed to bring it up to scratch, but a good start had been made on upgrading trains and suburban stations.

"We couldn't have one grand station in splendid isolation," she said of Britomart.

Auckland Regional Transport Network chief executive Martin Gummer, whose organisation manages Britomart and holds long-term leases over the network's other 40 stations, accepts that last year's opening left most of the others looking shabby.

But he said Britomart, which the Auckland City Council built with the help of $65 million from Infrastructure Auckland and Transfund, galvanised public and regional agencies' support of upgrading rail.

A new rail company, Connex, has meanwhile gained a safety licence to take over running the network but is waiting for an Employment Court decision next week on terms of a proposed transfer of 113 staff in a contract dispute between their union and existing operator Toll NZ.

Britomart still has a lonely feel between rush hours, and some of its tenants have had a tough challenge breaking even.

Continental Express cafe co-owner Ben Voykovich says business has picked up in recent months, and he is making ends meet.

Florist Ran Park is also pleased with an increase in business, and hopes the proposed Bluewater Consortium development of shops, apartments and offices behind the centre will bring more life to the area.

But the centre's small drycleaning outlet, its only founding commercial tenant, is looking for a business to replace it after a disappointing year.

Mr Gummer accepts a need to find ways to create a livelier atmosphere.

Down the line

* "Signature" stations have been created at Glen Innes and Papatoetoe. A contractual dispute is understood to have interrupted work on a third, at Ranui.

* Infrastructure Auckland plans to spend another $25.5 million upgrading 11 more stations.

* A "baby Britomart" rail-bus interchange is planned in a new civic centre which Waitakere City Council wants to open in Henderson in 2006.