Today the Green Party launched a campaign to fast-track the CBD rail tunnel – a project which I consider to be Auckland’s most critical transport project in the next decade (now that electrification is happening). The CBD rail tunnel will achieve so much for Auckland, by doubling the capacity of Britomart, improving rail access to southern parts of the CBD, by making further expansion of the rail system possible and by providing a kick-start for the revitalisation of the central Auckland.
So I certainly 100% support this project being completed as soon as possible. Furthermore, while it seems that every local and regional politician in Auckland fully supports the project, the question of how it would be funded – and in particular the various transport policies that mean NZTA funds can’t be used – remains huge, and unanswered by central government. It is pretty obvious that Auckland, headed by whoever ends up being the new Mayor of the Super City, will need to mount one of the biggest campaigns yet seen to get the government to stump up with at least a reasonable amount of the necessary cash for the project (if the government is wondering where to find the money, I can suggest a low-performing project that if cancelled would free up all the money required).
It would seem as though the Green Party’s campaign launch today to “fast-track” this project is the first step in this wider campaign that will be necessary. And in that respect, I absolutely support it. However, I do have a lingering thought in my mind about whether this is necessarily the absolute best moment to run such a campaign, particularly in terms of aiming to get central government to view the project more favourably. The reason why I question the timing is because we are just a couple of months away from the current business case analysis into the CBD tunnel providing us with some preliminary results. This study will articulate, in great detail, what the cost of the project will be, what its benefits will be, and provide (hopefully) a sound justification for proceeding with the CBD tunnel. Then in December this year the business case study will be completed and we will have all the details, plus enough detailed documentation to actually start proceeding with securing the route for the project.
There seems to be a pretty good argument for holding off on the big push for the project until we know a lot more about it, as our arguments would be much stronger with a solid business case to back up what we’re saying. In particular, it would be useful to be able to compare the two business cases of the CBD rail tunnel and the holiday highway and have a debate over which of the two projects represents the best way to spend the $1.5 billion that both of them approximately cost. I suppose that my main worry is that when we have all this additional information and really want to push for the project there might be a bit of fatigue over the issue and it won’t be as effective as it need to be.
Alternatively I suppose that it’s possible for this launch to be just the start of things, and for a big push for the project to continue throughout the next few months, which would include the time where we know the results of the business case. I also recognise that it’s important for the project to be an issue in the Super City elections – so we have some idea of which politicians support the project (seemingly everyone) but perhaps more importantly which politicians are prepared to sacrifice something else in order to prioritise this project (a decidedly smaller group).
I suppose that all up I just wonder whether this well-meaning campaign is slightly jumping the gun in terms of its timing.
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The way this government has been making decisions having the media supporting the plan is essential.
Bring it on.
Of course all the politicians say they support it this. It takes a brave and honest politician to say no to the electorate in the lead up to the election.
Those that honestly support it will have ideas in their manifesto on how it will be funded, and what other projects this will mean saying no to.
Initially this is a zero sum game, if you build the tunnel then there is something else you are not building. Personally, in the longer term i think the savings and efficiencies this tunnel will produce will free up or generate economic capacity making projects possible that would not otherwise be the case.
e.g. if you spent $2b on more motorways from the suburbs through the inner city, at the end you be where you started – running just to stand still. While rail has the potential to reduce congestion, reduce travel times, while increasing capacity. Not to mention making the city much more livable and generating nominal GDP growth by attracting people to the city. Who wants to drive to work when you could read a good book / watch shortland street / catch up on work emails on the train?
Yes I guess it’s the super election that is their target, one thought though: I can’t think of much more than Green Party ownership of this project that is more likely to even further harden ol’ Stevo against it. There’s a lot of politics around rail at all levels, the current government’s glee at Kiwi Rail’s difficulties is all about being able to accuse the previous government of commercial naiveté in buying it. They do their best to run it down while the state subsidises the trucking industry with lavish highway building. Despite the fact that looked at dispassionately lines like Napier -Gisborne and Northland are clearly valuable national assets that add capacity and redundancy to our infrastructure and should in fact be supported with the sort of heroic energy wasted on trying sell us ideas like digging up Great Barrier Island for fantasy buried treasure.
I think there needs to be a campaign in the media to get this issue out to the people. The amount of people I speak to who have no idea this is on the table is incredible. Regardless of what Steven Joyce says, this is a Rail of National Significance. Getting AUcklander’s out of cars will provide significant benefits to the whole country. John Key recently said we were an anchor on the NZ economy (I disagree but there you go), this is in spite of the fact that we provide more than our fair share of the government’s tax take, just imagine what we could achieve if we are able to halt the gridlock.
I agree that this is well intentioned but a little premature, we really do need the business case completed first before stepping up the pressure. If the media pick up on this now they will eventually get tired of doing so and be more likely to ignore or not report on it as positively in the future, a bit of a case of “the boy who cried wolf”.
From what I have read about this one of the more interesting things was the fact that Ken Baguley said he expected this to have a BCR than Puhoi to Wellsford
James B – couldnt agree more. I was passing through britomart yesterday and saw a number of people hanging around, press etc and a poster avocating for the fast tracking of the CBD tunne, I went over and politely asked what was going on and was met with a mild smile and the person ( who was later taking down the poster etc) turned their back on me. Way to get the message out.
Yeah that is poor form. Personally I am telling all my family and friends about it. There really needs to be ads in the paper, social media campaigns etc. At the end of the day Steve Joyce will have no choice if the polls start to turn against his vision, espeically as if that happens John Key will most likely step in and instruct him to proceed. If nothing else our PM is pragmatic.
Vincent is right in my opinion, this coming from the Greens will likely just lead to Joyce’s total opposition to it, it should really have been a community led campaign after the BCR…
Unfortunately the ideological flavour of this well-intentioned campaign seems to have alienated one of the city’s key media organisations, the always fair and balanced New Zealand Herald: not a single mention of the campaign launch that I can see in this morning’s paper.
I have noticed that their timing on transport articles isn’t exactly breaking news speed i.e. John Banks spoke at to the CBT about his plans for the city and it took 2-3 days for that to be reported on. Based on that we may see something tomorrow.
In saying that I have also seen stories based on press releases about PT developments be printed early but then nothing later on. i.e. there was a story before the New Lynn trench was opened saying it was about to happen after the Easter break but nothing reporting it, the opening ceremony or what was said by the attendees etc. I get the impression from most main stream media that they don’t actually like PT so with the exception of repeating a few press releases from time to time the only other reporting they will do is when things go wrong.
I saw they’re STILL going on abou the bus lanes though.
hi guys
Two things – one, if you don’t want the Greens to be only people campaigning on this issue how about you start your own campaign? The reason the mining campaign (for example) was so successful was that while the Greens broke the story in the media, ALL the environmental NGOs and many members of the public worked on it in a concerted fashion.
Two, I think it is naive to believe that National will make a decision on this project based on the business case. If they cared about business cases why would they have made Puhoi to Wellsford (for example) a RoN while sitting on funding electrification for 9 months?
NAtional will make a decision based on whether they think the public a) know and b) care about the project. Right now, nobody outside a very small circle of peopel who take a great (some might say fanatic 🙂 interest in transport have even heard of the CBD rail loop. I’m one of them but when I talk to my “ordinary” friends none have even heard of the project – let alone wanting it to happen. Although, since the story was on Morning REport yesterday (because of the launch) now slightly more people I talk to know about it.
FYI: the Herald was planning to run a story. But their main transport reporter was sick so they didn’t. That’s just the breaks – could have been a 16 car pile up that day and they would have focussed on that instead.
I’m not sure about that Lucy, the CBD tunnel has been in the newspapers for a couple of years now. All my family and friends seem to have some recollection about “that subway thing in town”, and none of them are public transport fanatics (I prefer the term advocate by the way 🙂 )
Sure there are stacks of people who never read the papers or pay attention to anything except rugby and the cost of petrol though.
You can hardly say the last labour govt was great for Auckland PT- if fear of the loss of votes to the Greens shakes them out of their timidity all the better.
The other thing to remember is that National will be running a fear campaign against a Labour-Green coalition next election. Broad support for tangible benefits from a united left is a really good way to shove the Nats ignorance of these things right back in their face.
Can you see paula Bennett or Nikki Kaye complaining about PT investment next year? I don’t think so.
If you want to use a tunnel as a tool to promote a “united left” and to oppose the government then you’re not going to end up with a tunnel.
I think having the Greens front this campaign is a losing strategy… Many Green policies are just odd and are instinctively opposed by most of the population. Remember they’re the only party in parliament that have never been part of government. Why risk having a sensible idea blighted by association with a party who are the last cab off the rank for both Labour (who preferred to partner with NZ First) and National?
I’d let a tunnel stand on its own merits. If I were organising a campaign to support it then I’d get people like Auckland retailers and companies located in the CBD to support it. They’ll add credibility to an argument built on economics.
Well I think the Greens are a party of two halves on one hand you have the really loopy macro-organic, hemp wearing, dreadlocked lot and on the other you have the more sensible urban middle class lot. I always thought the Greens could get somewhere if they start focusing more on clean infrastructure and power generation and less on Tibet and promoting organic food etc… Still that’s really more suitable for a political rather than transport blog.
The thing we learnt from the mining u-turn is that this is a very nervous administration and one susceptible to public pressure. I agree with LucyJH that if possible National will bury a good BCR on the CBD and do what they want anyway, so it is up to us to make sure they can’t. So while a good business case won’t win it by itself, it is our best ally in arguing that it isn’t just a cute greenie thing but a real need with a real support base, especially with some of their people their voters behind it…. Also we are all relying on you good number crunchers to keep them honest on the report itself. I’m sure there was a nod and a wink to cost a gold plated version and be sceptical about the flow on benefits…. Call me cynical but we know he hates it; it’s urban doesn’t fit his provincial mind.
Anyone know who the consultants preparing the report are on the CBD line?
AECOM and Parsons Brinkerhoff are involved. Others may be too.
“I’m sure there was a nod and a wink to cost a gold plated version and be sceptical about the flow on benefits”
Isn’t it an ARC-led report? So there is unlikely to be such an initial negative bias.
This is rather disturbing…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10662532
The fact that he said this: “A rail loop from Britomart to Newmarket, with stops in Wellesley St for the universities and Grafton for the hospital, may be so well patronised that it pays for itself” just further shows that Roughan doesn’t have a clue when it comes to public transport, and probably last used it quite a few decades ago. We already have a Grafton Station John.
I wonder if he is aware that Aucklanders pay tax as well and maybe we want the government to spend that money on something we actually want. Sometimes I wish Auckland was its own state like the Aussie states so we can have more direct control over our tax dollars rather than having Wellington spend that money for us.