In the race for Auckland’s “super-mayoralty” it has been encouraging to see all major candidates nearly “falling over themselves” to support the large rail projects that Auckland so desperately needs (like the CBD rail tunnel) and even ones that we can probably live without for a few more decades (like North Shore rail). I have wondered about the sincereity of some of the promises being made by some of the candidates, and now it does seem as though a difference in policy between John Banks and Len Brown – the only two candidates that really have a hope of winning – is emerging.
Here are some extracts from an NZ Herald article today:
A transport gulf is developing between the two main Super City mayoral candidates, with John Banks emphasising roads and Len Brown pushing for rail.
Mr Banks yesterday told an Auckland Chamber of Commerce breakfast that he wanted a fully integrated transport system, saying no other candidate had put more effort into building roads across Auckland.
Good progress was being made to complete the city’s motorway network at a cost of $1.5 billion a year, he said, and in 15 years it would be finished.
In that time, a third harbour crossing needed to be designed, but it would not be built by 2025.
Rail from Albany to the airport was a good idea “but it is well out into the future”.
Mr Banks criticised Mr Brown, who has promised to build an inner-city rail loop, rail to the airport and rail to the North Shore within 15 years.
A couple of thoughts come to mind – the first being what does Banks really consider to be “completion of the motorway network”? I had never really considered another harbour crossing to be an essential part of completing the network, as all it really does is add a big (and unnecessary, considering traffic volumes across the Harbour Bridge have been falling in recent years) amount of capacity. The motorway system will actually be “completed” in around six years time when the Waterview Connection has been constructed.
The second thought that came to my mind was around Banks’s strange figures. Are we really spending $1.5 billion each year on completing the motorway network? My understanding is that is about Auckland’s total transport spend each year – including public transport, local roads, maintaining roads and so forth. It’s a bit worrying to consider what 15 years of spending $1.5 billion a year on motorways would create – hopefully that’s not his transport policy!
Other parts of the article make for interesting reading – with Banks pointing out (quite correctly) that there is a limited amount of money out there for transport projects – and funding measures such as PPPs and infrastructure bonds (which from memory was something he came up with) are not a magical fix:
“Don’t kid yourself that simply making promises is going to make it happen. Don’t kid yourself that by carefully uttering words like ‘public-private partnerships’ or ‘infrastructure bonds’ we have solved our funding issues.
“Private-public partnerships and infrastructure bonds mean increased rates or additional borrowing or a combination of both,” said the Auckland City Mayor, who has kept rates below inflation this term but increased debt by 169 per cent from $322 million to $867 million.
While this is very true, there is a funding source out there which has so much money to spend that it’s almost literally flushing it down the toilet – and that agency is the NZTA. The single most important thing a mayor could do for transport is ensure that NZTA money is able to be spent on rail upgrades, and to then advocate extremely strongly to the government to redirect money away from poor quality motorway spending (like the Puhoi-Wellsford road) towards building critical rail projects like the CBD rail tunnel.
I do wonder why Banks hasn’t mentioned that potential funding source yet – perhaps Steven Joyce has had a word to him?
Len Brown’s response is outlined below:
Mr Brown said he was committed to significant roading projects, but as mayor he wanted Auckland to build a rapid transit system at pace – the city rail loop, rail to the airport and rail to the Shore.
“If that is not the purpose of this uniting, what is?”
Mr Brown has proposed public-private partnerships and infrastructure bonds to help fund major projects, which will also require significant Government funding.
He said his record as Mayor of Manukau was for strong, prudent management of the city accounts.
“The lowest average rates across the region, $600 per ratepayer less than Auckland City, no increases in water for the past two years, the lowest debt-equity ratio.”
My main critique of Len Brown’s current transport policy is that it all sounds too good. And when things sound too good to be true, they generally are. It’s simply not possible to build all the roads, all the railway lines and keep rates very low. Some projects will have to be prioritised above others, there will have to be a commitment to what steps will be taken to ensure Auckland gets a better deal out of the government, and there will have to be a decision over the acceptable level of rates increases – and what they will actually be able to fund.
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Why is Banks so obsessed with the motorway network anyway? If he drove around Little Auckland City he would notice the huge underinvestment that has gone into the local roads system that he and his C&R cronies have allowed to occur. For example drive from Clark St, Waitakere City accross the creek to Tiverton St, Auckland City- you go from a dual carriage way to a decrepit goat track. Spending billions “completing the motorway network’ will be a total waste of money if people can’t even get to and from the motorway exits. He and his buddies at ACC are the main culprits.
Funny you mention that, I was driving along there the other day and thought, “this was a really stupid budget cut”, the SH20 exit at Maioro (sp?) is already putting pressure on that single carriage stretch, imagine when Waterview is finished…
The more preassure that is going on the more Banks is retreating to his comfort zone of roads, roads, roads. I’m just glad that this is starting to come out before the election and not after it. In saying that I’m not that impressed by Len Brown either but so far he has been more consistant.
Yes Brown is clearly looking like the least worst candidate. Banks is retreating to Joyce-speak, he’s clearly had the word. Interestingly it’s not a left/right thing [thankfully- as nor should it be] both Alex Sweny and Mathew Hooten have been strongly positive about completing the RAIL network in recent publications. Swny- Herald and Hooten- Metro. Great to see Bank’s colours now as J said. And he’s as muddled as ever.
The differences are really clear. While Banks has perfected his bland lines about supporting public transport, when pushed into talking actual details, it is clear that his heart is just not in it.
Brown does believe in improving the PT network and is credible. He has been closely involved in pushing along the Manukau rail spur – the first actual extension to our rail network in decades. He used the Mayoral office to bring together ARTA, the givt, and MIT (who have a campus going in above the terminus station) and other players, in order to get the project agreed, funded, and on the way. Saw it first hand.
I wouldn’t trumpet the Manukau Rail Spur too much. It Len Brown’s council had stumped up with a bit more money then the spur could have been continued right into where the council carpark is – a much more useful spot in my opinion.
Yes I have the same feelings, Manukau City Council is the reason we ended up with a rail station in a park next to a motorway and meanwhile everyone keeps driving to the carpark integrated into the mall, which with 10million funding could have been where the Manukau station also was.
Agreed that would have been much better, although there are some things going for the current terminus – it will be directly beneath the new MIT Manukau campus, and will be a big part of a rejuvenated city centre, which will come down into Hamyan Park. Students coming to MIT from north and south will find that rail is easily their best option.
But yes, best option would have been a stop at Hayman Park and then a terminus at current city centre. Len has had to battle a bunch of dullard anti-PT C&R Councillors (Quax, Williams etc…) on every public transport initiative, so I can imagine where the resistance came from for further spending.
Having two stations that close would not have been ideal, one station slightly closer to the centre of Manukau would have been much better as the MIT campus would still be close to one end of it but it would be closer to the existing employment and mall at the other end. Also trains can only come in from the north as there is no link to the spur from the south despite the NZTA building the motorway to be able to support one, from what I have heard a south link will be much harder to build now as Kiwirail has built the inland port where a south link would have gone. For someone from out south to get to Manukau they would have to catch a train to say Puhinui and then wait and transfer to another service. All this means that it probably isn’t going to be as successful as it could have been.
Also Manukau hardly seems to be rejuvenating much compared to say New Lynn which is seeing massive development by comparison.
Ha ha, yes I drove through New Lynn last week – a massive development of traffic lights..! Lol…
Yes but there is also a lot work going on to develop the town centre etc, as for the traffic lights, at least it slows cars down so they aren’t racing through there, that has to be better for pedestrians
I don’t think Alex Swney support for completing the rail network is that surprising. Remember he’s the Heart of the City guy and a strong advocate for the CBD. Even Banks must know completing the rail network will help the CBD, which is always going to suffer from the problem of lacking of parking no matter how many roads you build (unless he plans to turn one of the harbour bridges into a car park).
BTW, I remember a week or two ago hearing I think on TV or it may have been reading, someone who was a mayoral candidate saying we need to stop wasting money on public transport. It doesn’t seem it was one of the high profile candidates but does anyone know who it was?
Perhaps Alex Swney supports completing the CBD tunnel but it doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to do anything about it. Furthermore, this is the same guy that has more or less said he’d make sure the first thing the new Auckland Transport does is to waste 2 years reviewing all the current bus lanes. We don’t want someone learning on the job that bus lanes are important, we need someone who is clued up and can push through major PT improvements in short order, not wasting time with reviews about the pathetic number of bus lanes we have. Just look at the amount of money and time the citrats have wasted on trying to water down Dominion Rd and open Grafton Bridge to cars, time and money that could have been better spent on planning new bus lanes.