Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown chairing a meeting of the governing body of Auckland Council. Photo / Michael Craig
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has announced new plans for transport in the city. Top of the list: a $50 per week fares cap on all buses, trains and ferries in the inner harbour.
“This will cut costs for regular commuters, as well as [encourage] regular users to use public transport for more of their journeys,” Brown says.
The cost at current rates will be $1.3 million a year.
The idea is one of several proposals that forms part of the mayor’s new draft Long Term Plan (LTP), which includes a 10-year budget.
While catching the bus or train will be cheaper for some people, widespread cuts are proposed to services and spending. Auckland Transport (AT), which accounts for 37 per cent of the budget, is particularly hard-hit.
AT has costed its existing capital spending programme at $24 billion over 10 years, but the mayor proposes limiting to $14b.
The plan “requires us to make choices and trade-offs”, he says. He’s called for a halt to “low-priority initiatives that are not yet under way”.
He hasn’t revealed what that will mean. But it’s likely to include traffic calming and a whole range of other safety measures, the purchase of more e-buses, campaigns to promote public transport, town centre developments, improvements to the quality of new roads and, of course, cycleways.
It won’t affect unsealed roads. The LTP draft includes a “fully funded” improvement programme for them, costing $124m over 10 years.
It’s also unlikely to affect projects already contracted or under way, such as the Meola Rd improvement project.
And there will be a war on potholes. Brown has proposed that $5.5b of the capital spending be dedicated to road maintenance. That’s nearly 40 per cent of the entire capex budget.
“It is essential that we keep our roads in good order, otherwise they will further deteriorate,” he says. “Properly funded” road maintenance will allow the city to “avoid potholes”.
Operational spending is also under the axe. AT asked council for an extra $130m to keep existing operations going next year, but Brown wants that reduced by $70m to just $60m.
It is not yet clear what this will mean for public transport.
Also on Brown’s transport budget list:
Brown’s draft LTP is currently being discussed behind closed doors by councillors and officials. It will be formally debated on December 14 in a public session of the governing body of council.
Extensive public consultation will then occur before final decisions are made. The council is required to adopt a new LTP before the financial year starts on July 1.
Public transport fares are rising by 6.2 per cent from February 4. With the new fares in place, Brown’s $50 cap will save adults who travel daily through three zones or more $10 a week.
For four zones it will be $24, and for five zones it will be $35. Children will still travel free.
The “time of use” road charges and higher costs for parking are both designed to make people think twice about using their cars, but they are also intended to raise revenue.
Brown is keen to limit rates rises, and one way to do that, he says, is to “continue to drive non-rates revenue”. Fifty more enforcement officers, otherwise known as parking wardens, will be employed.
But he also wants to achieve more with less. Brown’s focus is not on big infrastructure projects, but on smaller-scale work that can have a big impact.
These include “dynamic lanes” to help traffic flow, transponders on buses that trigger priority passage through traffic lights and moving car parking off arterial roads.
He says he wants the roads to function well for all users, and he wants public transport to be “faster, more reliable and easier to use”. The $600m commitment in this area is substantial.
The idea of an annual public transport pass may become part of a project AT already has under way to encourage corporate Auckland to close its carparks and pay for staff Hop cards.
But the bike ferry proposal has not come from AT. It’s a Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency initiative, and there is also at least one private sector bid to offer a similar service.
Brown has mentioned it in his LTP to signal his support.
Level crossings are important because of the City Rail Link, which will open in or around 2026.
With more trains on the lines, crossings will become more dangerous and less efficient for road traffic. Some will close; others will need bridges or tunnels. It won’t be cheap.
Brown’s LTP draft doesn’t actually say he is abandoning the 2030 and 2035 emissions reductions targets. But it mentions only the net-zero target for 2050.
This is in line with the new Government’s own target, but it is at odds with what is likely to be the principal message of the United Nations’ Cop28 climate action conference starting today in Dubai. The consensus of scientific advice is that worldwide action is urgently needed.
And will there be fewer road cones?
“I am determined to reduce the unjustifiable social and economic disruption caused by the current approach to temporary traffic management,” says Brown. “The number of cones, the frequency of lane closures and the length of time roadworks remain in place are excessive and unnecessary.”
Brown has already started to address this by charging contractors who take over road space. And he wants to employ “additional enforcement officers” to make sure they take those cones away.
Simon Wilson is a senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.
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