Light gleams at end of the tunnel

Stuck in traffic or waiting for a bus? You must live in Auckland. But don't despair - GEOFF CUMMING believes help may be on the way.

Auckland civic leaders have a message: be patient for a little longer - relief is just around the corner.

Aucklanders have heard it all before. After 35 years of procrastination, each new plan to relieve congestion is greeted with a "believe it when we see it" reaction.

But this time, there is cause to hope the talk will be backed up with action. The planned assault on congestion is two-pronged:

* Finish the missing links in the motorway network.

* Integrate the public transport network, with mass transit at its hub.

Roading is one part of the recipe already gathering pace. Transit New Zealand has accelerated planning on an ambitious works programme over the next five years (detailed on this page). Plans include extra bits for the central motorway system, port connections, extensions to the Southwestern Motorway, and the Upper Harbour corridor.

The 17 projects total $645 million. All will qualify for funding because congestion is so bad, says Transit's regional transportation engineer, John Hughes.

But most Aucklanders now accept that more roads can no longer head off gridlock. All the main motorways, feeder roads and arterial roads are severely clogged at peak times, which last for about 21/2 hours morning and afternoon.

The Southern Motorway between Penrose and Hobson St is beyond its design capacity for much of the time between 7 am and 7 pm. Accidents at vulnerable points can bring the city to a halt.

Public transport is not an alternative for most because of lack of investment over the past four decades, and the highly dispersed housing and workplace patterns that have developed. Lost time distributing goods is costing businesses and the economy millions.

Elements of the ring motorway network envisaged (along with mass transit) in 1965, offering an alternative to the Southern Motorway and Harbour Bridge, are still not complete, and pollution from idling vehicles is close to danger level at some intersections and corridors.

Readers responding to the Herald's Getting Auckland Moving campaign offered us a snapshot of what is wrong. Their top 10 gripes:

1. Frustration at sitting in tailback queues.

2. Increasing travel time to and from work.

3. Inadequate or poorly designed on-ramps and off-ramps.

4. Flow problems, including traffic-light phasing, delays for left-turning traffic and delays where motorways narrow from three lanes to two.

5. Queue-jumping on motorways and feeder roads.

6. Lack of enforcement.

7. Infrequent, unreliable bus services.

8. Lack of crosstown bus routes.

9. Lack of integration between transport services.

10. Poor public transport facilities, marketing and information.

Three things have changed to fuel optimism that, finally, the public transport ingredient will be added to the mix.

First, says Auckland Regional Council chairman Philip Warren, there is unprecedented unity between local bodies and transport agencies over how to remedy congestion.

Second, Infrastructure Auckland is eager to fund public transport improvements - up to $410 million in the next five years.

Third, the Government is prepared to free up funds for passenger transport, mindful of the political mileage it stands to gain with Auckland voters.

"The penny has dropped with this Government," says Mr Warren. "It's not because it is a Labour-led Coalition. It's because they know they won't be the Government for long if they don't solve Auckland's problems."

At the start of the Herald's campaign, Transport Minister Mark Gosche talked of "righting the balance of 30 years of neglect of public transport" compared with roading.

Next month's Budget is expected to confirm the Government's commitment. Apart from the $20 million boost for passenger transport service subsidies promised before the election, there will be further moves to ease access to the state coffers. Legislative changes, ensuring that local bodies have long-term access to public transport funds, are also under study.

But while state funding for passenger transport may finally be within Auckland's grasp, critical roadblocks lie ahead.

The sense of unity and purpose is fragile, and the passenger transport measures planned over the next decade or so top $1 billion.

The western and southern rail corridors, and the eastern loop through Glen Innes, have long been earmarked for rapid transit.

But the impasse over access to Tranz Rail's tracks remains no closer to resolution with the deadline looming on May 25.

Tranz Rail previously said it wanted $300 million to relinquish its rights - 10 times what the region is prepared to pay. But its more recent stance is that it will continue to negotiate on all options.

In the meantime, the region sees the $130 million North Shore busway as the flagbearer for rapid transit.

If the high-frequency buses on a corridor separated from the Northern Motorway, supported by feeder buses and park-and-ride stations, can get North Shore commuters out of their cars, public demand will ease the path for rapid transit elsewhere.

Yet funding for the busway, which has been on the drawing board since the late 1980s, is stalled by a technical wrangle between Transfund and Infrastructure Auckland.

Stiff tests of regional unity lie in the debate about roading bypasses to ease the Southern Motorway-Northern Motorway bottleneck from Penrose to the Harbour Bridge.

Auckland City favours a rail-based alternative to the proposed eastern highway (from the waterfront to Panmure via Hobson Bay and Glen Innes). The planned connection of the Wiri-Hillsborough motorway to the Northwestern Motorway - through Mt Albert - raises similar issues about the impact on communities.

How long will regional unity last? One insider suggests that division will return as soon as local bodies face big rate rises to fund elements of the public transport network, including station upgrades, park-and-ride facilities and operational subsidies for rapid transit.

The challenges - and the sorry track-record of the city's fragmented transport administration - are fuelling calls for basic structural change.

North Shore City has called for a report on setting up an authority to plan and coordinate an integrated public transport system. Overseas models, in which a single authority is equipped with the necessary powers and the ability to raise money through taxes and levies, are being touted.

The Auckland Business Forum wants an America's Cup-style taskforce formed to complete the motorway network and develop public transport. Spokesman Tony Garnier cites the ad hoc approaches and different jurisdictions of Transit New Zealand and individual councils.

"Some local authorities are following trends towards buses, others rail."

Civic leaders and national politicians are turning deaf ears to the pleas for structural change - but not because they reject the arguments.

The Minister for Auckland Issues, Judith Tizard, says a separate transit authority is an option in the long-term. But like many, she fears progress could be further delayed by sweeping reforms of local government structures and laws.

While she regards Infrastructure Auckland as an unnecessary extra layer of analysis and consultation, she would rather "get on with the projects."

Also warning against change is Mr Warren - whose regional council is likely to gain most from additional powers. He says the regional land transport committee is the appropriate coordinating body.

"The last thing we need as we try to sort things out is a big debate about setting up another body - that's 'camel and three humps' stuff. We've got all the bodies we need ... Let's make the bastards work."

Even then, says land transport committee chairman Les Paterson, commuters will not be swapping their cars for fast, frequent, comfortable trains or buses for a few years yet.

The lead-in time for each rapid transit project is four to five years, and the fully integrated public transport network Auckland needs is 10 to 15 years away.

Feedback to the Herald's campaign suggests that timetable is way too slow.