Traffic troubles beat all other gripes by miles

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Traffic and transport woes have got under the skin of Aucklanders like no other election issue, leaving crime, political leadership, housing and immigration in the dust.

A daunting 77.6 per cent of people who responded to a Herald-Digipoll survey - 736 out of 948 - identified transport concerns as the Auckland region's single worst problem.

Crime came a distant second, as the main worry of just 49 (5.2 per cent) of people, and Auckland City Mayor John Banks was the biggest bugbear of nine respondents, ahead of Otara (8), housing (7), immigration (6), rates (4), youth issues (4), rubbish (3) and graffiti (3).

Clogged roads, public transport "that doesn't go where you want" and inadequate access to motorways were typical concerns identified in the survey.

These findings follow congestion figures issued last week by Transit NZ, which recorded an average morning peak-hour crawl on Auckland roads of 36km/h during five days in March, compared with 47km/h in Wellington and 59km/h in Tauranga.

The survey also revealed far greater support for better public transport than for building more roads, by three to one.

More roads were preferred as the best solution to Auckland's traffic congestion by 22.4 per cent, compared with 67.2 per cent who wanted more public transport.

Tolls on certain roads were supported by 7.6 per cent, and 2.7 per cent did not know or refused to say.

But just over half of those who responded, 50.9 per cent, said they never used public transport and 22.1 per cent did so less than once a month.

Only 8 per cent said they used public transport every working day, although the figure for the 500 people surveyed within Auckland City was a slightly more respectable 12.3 per cent.

This compared with 6.1 per cent for those living elsewhere in the region.

Of those not using public transport, 22.9 per cent said they would do so if offered more frequent services, 22 per cent if the rail service improved, and 17.1 per cent if fares were lower.

Only 7.6 per cent would be tempted by faster trips, 4.2 per cent if ticketing was integrated between road, rail and ferry, 3.6 per cent if there were more bus-only lanes, and 3.1 per cent if road congestion became even worse.

Automobile Association spokesman Stephen Selwood said he was not surprised at the high support for more public transport, but believed that was not the most telling finding.

"There is no doubt that all Aucklanders want to see improved public transport, but the key question is whether the same proportion would also use it," he said yesterday.

"The survey reinforces the generally held view that public transport is a considerable turn-off.

"Most people who say we should have more public transport think everyone else should use it, but not me."

Asked about the relatively dismal support for more roads, Mr Selwood said the "anti-road brigade" was capitalising on people's frustration with congestion by claiming more tarmac would mean even more traffic.

He said the number of cars per Auckland household, put at 1.66 in the 2001 census, was already almost at saturation point and more roads would see only a limited increase "until they fill again, so it is almost a self-defeating argument".

But Campaign for Better Transport spokesman Cameron Pitches said the number of cars on Auckland roads had grown by an unsustainable 90 a day in the past two years, according to Land Transport Safety Authority figures showing 725,000 registrations for the region.

Auckland Regional Council passenger committee chairwoman Catherine Harland welcomed the strong support for public transport but said a gap remained between people's demand for solutions and their willingness to pay for them.

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