Len Brown: Budget milestone a kickstart for Auckland transport

Britomart will be at capacity in 2018. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Opinion

Transport without question remains Auckland's number one issue.

That was the clear message out of the weeks of public consultation for our 10-year budget and it's the message I've been getting from Aucklanders every day of my mayoralty.

So I know Aucklanders agree with me when I say it is heartening to know we are actually, finally getting somewhere.

I am aware people are concerned about rates - I am too - but as a result of our work with the budget and the adoption of an interim targeted transport levy we can invest 24 per cent more in transport than we were able to in the past three years.

The levy wasn't my first choice but the Government has yet to be persuaded about motorway charges and we had to come up with an alternative so we could start work now on keeping Auckland moving.

There's no denying we and Government have had our differences over this all-important transport issue but we are now making progress. Our budget has been adopted and we can get on with getting Auckland moving.

We are now very definitely working with the Government constructively and collaboratively, as Friday's Auckland Council Central Government Forum demonstrated.

The fact the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers are prepared to spend half a day discussing vital issues is indicative of the quality of the relationship and the importance with which the Government views Auckland's issues.

Auckland Council and the Government have started work establishing a Transport Accord and we acknowledge the Government's constructive response to our approach. I am confident we can reach agreement within a year.

To be honest, we can't afford to wait any longer. By next year we will have reached train service capacity and Britomart's platform will be at capacity by 2018.

That's because rail and its popularity just keeps growing. Aucklanders are taking an additional 300,000 train trips every month and while that's good news we must ensure the infrastructure to support that growing patronage is in place, as I think all public transport users would agree.

Thankfully enabling works for the City Rail Link (CRL), which will ease congestion and speed up travel times, are about to begin. Although the Government has yet to agree on when it will start funding the project one thing is very clear - it makes financial, logistical and operational sense for them to be alongside us from the start.

The Government announced earlier this week that collectively we will invest $4.2 billion in Auckland transport infrastructure over the next three years.

The CRL was the one very obvious omission from that and something we will continue to work to remedy.

I remain convinced the optimum solution to congestion is implementing the full Auckland Plan transport programme through the motorway charge, a pricing tool that would change behaviour as well as raise revenue. And I know Aucklanders broadly agree. But clearly we have more work to do to convince the Government which is why I welcome the ongoing work on the Transport Accord.

In the meantime the interim transport levy will enable us to, among other things, extend the hugely successful park and ride and bus lane network and up our game in terms of walking and cycling projects, improve the quality of roads across Auckland, advance work on major transport projects such as Penlink in the north and accelerate AMETI in the southeast.

It won't fund everything that needs to be done but it's a great start.

Adopting the budget was Auckland's opportunity to flick the switch from planning and talking to delivery - getting on with the job and making a difference on behalf of Auckland.

We have a plan in place to keep Auckland moving. Auckland is on side, so is business. We and the Government are listening to each other. The passing of the budget was a milestone but the work has only just begun.

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