Help at last for motorway woes

By GEOFF CUMMING

The long reign of roads as the king of transport is over, freeing money for rapid transit.

The Government is promising relief to hard-pressed commuters by making it easier for local authorities to get the money they need to develop public transport, the Weekend Herald can reveal.

Roads have traditionally been king when it came to dividing the $930 million Transfund budget, but that is about to change with an easing of rules for development grants.

The move offers hope to embattled Aucklanders facing ever longer trips to and from work.

Traffic problems are now so acute that a courier company is offering its drivers one-on-one counselling to keep their frustration levels in check as they sit in queues all day.

Easier access to Transfund money, combined with Infrastructure Auckland's cash, should mean that rapid-transit projects to ease congestion in the city finally get a start.

Civic leaders hope to begin work on the first project - the North Shore busway - before the end of the year.

Transport Minister Mark Gosche told the Herald that local bodies had struggled to access funds for public transport for too long.

He says Transfund's rules disadvantage public transport initiatives whose benefits are longer term than roading. Funding for capital works has also been a tiny proportion of total roading money.

He has now asked officials to review the rules, including the controversial cost-benefit funding formula which favours road projects, and to lift limits on spending for capital works and operational services.

Labour is already committed by its election pledges to a $20 million boost for public transport.

The first beneficiary of the changes is likely to be the planned $130 million North Shore busway, caught in a wrangle over funding for stations along the dedicated carriageway, to be built alongside the Northern Motorway.

The minister also expects progress on access to Tranz Rail's tracks for rival public transport operators.

He says he is not happy that the company has won an extension of the March 31 deadline on talks with local bodies until June 30.

"I've got no more patience left on that. It's time they reached a conclusion on what will happen with the tracks so we can get on with it.

"We've got to have the icebreaker. Tranz Rail access and the North Shore busway are two very important moves."

If the access issue can be resolved, the western, southern and eastern rail corridors are earmarked for high-frequency rapid-transit services estimated to cost $980 million to $1.8 billion.

But question marks remain over the cost-effectiveness of the projects, which will need ongoing subsidies. And state backing for public transport comes as business groups mount a campaign to ease congestion by completing the motorway network. Businesses say delays caused by traffic are costing them $1 billion a year.

Auckland Business Forum chairman Barrie Lunny said road-user charges and other road taxes should be spent on roads.

The group, representing employers, manufacturers and commercial road users, welcomed public transport measures to ease congestion. "But the evidence from around the world is that public transport is not going to take enough cars off the roads," said Mr Lunny.

Mr Gosche said roads would still be built but it was time to "right the balance of 30 years of neglect" of public transport.

He said the Government faced a backlog of roadworks in several regions and a comprehensive overhaul of road funding would take time.

"I don't want people to think we will solve all Auckland's problems in the Budget. But we will be sending signals of our intention to promote public transport as a major alternative to what has been a focus on roading and motorways.

"If we don't put emphasis on passenger transport we could end up with the whole isthmus being covered in tarseal."

A delighted Auckland Regional Council chairman, Phil Warren, said the Government moves left the city "closer than at any time in my 21 years in local government" to resolving its transport problems.

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