Hopefully this will be my last blog post on last Friday’s events. My overwhelming feeling of the events that unfolded nearly a week ago was that Auckland’s public transport system had let the city down. Aside from the overcrowding issues around “Party Central”, including the bizarre failure to close Queen Street to cars, everything else (aside from the public transport) worked a charm last Friday. The fireworks were spectacular, the opening ceremony was absolutely world class – even Eden Park got its act together to be extremely well organised by the sounds of things. I’ve been attending sports games at Eden Park for over 20 years now and they write the book on how to stuff up organising anything. Yet they still managed to pull off the events without a hitch.
But when it came to our public transport system, things were a shambles. You only need to read through Veolia’s log of events throughout Friday to realise that it’s actually somewhat surprising anyone got to the game via the rail system. My personal experience of the evening was mixed, but it clearly came across that the transport planning generally was totally inadequate. There weren’t enough buses, trains and ferries to get people into the city, there weren’t enough to get people out of the city, the crowds blocked the ferries, exiting train passengers blocked arriving passengers – the whole thing was a complete mess. I explored yesterday my thinking behind why this happened – fundamentally because Auckland Transport and ATEED couldn’t talk to each other and communicate how many people were expected downtown.
While last Friday’s experience was a very severe example of Auckland’s inadequate public transport system, in many respects it exemplified what we have to deal with every day: a public transport system that has suffered from severe under-investment, poor planning and organisation and a woeful lack of attention – for decades. In quality-of-life surveys comparing cities around the world, Auckland tends to score very well on a number of factors but transport (and I suspect public transport) let’s us down. As was explored in great detail at a recent Transport Committee meeting, Auckland does incredibly poorly in terms of public transport patronage per capita when compared to similar cities in Australia, the USA and Canada:
While I don’t particularly often find myself agreeing with the NZ Council for Infrastructure Development on too many things, I thought this recent press release highlighted a pretty obvious issue:
Auckland’s infrastructure failings underline NZ’s continued poor ranking in WEF global competitiveness report “It will come as no surprise to the tens of thousands who suffered on Auckland’s public transport system Friday that infrastructure has once again been identified by the World Economic Forum as the biggest impediment to doing business in New Zealand,” says Stephen Selwood CEO of the NZ Council for Infrastructure Development.
“In a prophetic release last Wednesday, the annual Global Competitiveness report once again identified infrastructure as the most problematic of the twelve “pillars of competitiveness”.
“If you were stuck on the Auckland rail network Friday and perceived a distinct ‘third world’ feel to the service, you won’t be surprised to hear Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Azerbaijan all rate higher in terms of rail infrastructure. When survey respondents were asked to rate NZ rail, they gave it just 3.3 out of 7, or 47th out of 142 nations.
I’m not quite sure what role Friday’s events will play in the long term history of Auckland’s public transport system, but I think there will be long-term ramifications. My negative side thinks that potentially much of the good work done to improve Auckland’s PT system over the past few years could be undone by the negative experiences (and media) of the system – and perhaps we will really struggle to encourage people back onto the buses and trains, particularly for future events. What happens for the rest of the World Cup will be quite interesting in that respect – whether a couple of clear runs build up enough confidence in the general public that everything has been sorted by the time the big knockout games arrive. My negative side also perhaps thinks that the government will be really pissed off at Auckland’s PT system, particularly its rail network, for embarrassing them on the world stage – and potentially be less likely to look kindly on future requests for funding.
But my positive side (and I think I am overall an optimistic person, so I think this side wins out) wonders whether this might prove to be a key turning point for Auckland’s PT system. Perhaps it will have been made so extremely obvious that Auckland needs better public transport, that the government in particular can no longer ignore our pressing demands. Perhaps it might put to bed forever the myth that Auckland’s don’t want to use public transport, because last Friday clearly they did in absolute record numbers. Perhaps Aucklanders in general might get a bit more vocal about the need to fast-track improvements to our PT system so that we can host major future events with confidence. The 2015 Cricket World Cup is not that far away, with one semi-final likely to be held at Eden Park along with a number of earlier games there too.
I suppose only time will tell about whether my positive or negative side turns out to be true. Overall though I do suspect that everyone’s likely to take public transport a bit more seriously in the future – particularly the Auckland rail network. Which is surely a good thing.
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I’m hoping that after Friday night rail has hit centre-stage as well. Im also wondering if, on Saturday night if everyone drives, people will see the result of NOT using public transport… and just how inefficient and unworkable 30000 cars are in the city and at Eden Park.
Comparing last Friday with this weekend is comparing apples with pears I.e no fireworks, no opening ceyw8?remony events in the city
Not wishing to be seen as suggesting that it was well planned or run but the fact does remain that the sheer number of people moved by rail and bus on Friday is still the reason the roads were clear and driving easy…. There will be many fewer movements this weekend and the trains will no doubt be much emptier…. it should all work a treat… road heads will still draw the wrong conclusion
The best thing for happen for PT would be that everybody drives tomorrow night and they cop the mother of all traffic jams. The media has torn PT to bits, the Herald this morning actually says “drive to the game, it’s the Auckland way”. Given that there are no more massive events on the waterfront, the rail system should be okay with just the Eden Park crowd – worked perfectly for me and 55,000 others for the Bledisloe a month ago. So a big traffic jam tomorrow night, and seamless rail service (and more people using buses) for the rest of the tournament and PT’s image could be restored in time for post RWC lobbying for the CRL!
But there won’t be a jam- unless absolutely everyone drives and no one takes the train….?
Here’s the article.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/transport/news/article.cfm?c_id=97&objectid=10752110
It will be interesting to see how it goes. Of course there isn’t the triple issue of a whole lot of people going to the game, the usual number of people trying to get home (given it’s Saturday night) and an enormous number of people downtown, so it’s going to be better even without a mode change. And the forecast is such that most people are probably not looking to stand outside to watch the game on a big screen.
I certainly hope there is positive action from this. After all in other cities (London for example) there would be up to 5 sizable games every weekend without transport stress. Melbourne constantly manages crowds twice this size at the various sporting events they host (I went to a game at the MCG where there were 100,000 people attending and the entrance and exit of the crowd was extremely well managed). In both those places they couldn’t do it without the people moving power of a train system, but in conjunction with other modes.
“My negative side thinks that potentially much of the good work done to improve Auckland’s PT system over the past few years could be undone by the negative experiences (and media) of the system – and perhaps we will really struggle to encourage people back onto the buses and trains, particularly for future events.”
I’m not sure that will happen. To be viable, public transport needs regular patronage rather than relying on once-in-a-decade events. Presumably people who take the bus or train to work on a regular basis won’t judge the system by Friday’s standards. I think potential public transport commuters will value the experiences of friends who are current commuters, rather than their own experience on Friday.
But I do think the Council’s credibility has taken a hit. They couldn’t organise a piss up in a party zone. And then when central government stepped in to provide some oversight the Council’s reaction seemed to be sulking that McCully hadn’t rung Brown personally rather than relying on the Council CEO to keep Brown in the loop. Which apparently he wasn’t doing. If the council want to be trusted with billions of dollars to run giant infrastructure projects then they need to show some competence and also show they can correct themselves after a setback rather than sulk.
The council, or its CCOs? It seems the core problem was that ATEED and Auckland Transport weren’t talking to each other. Sure, the Council has an oversight role of its CCOs, but they (and maybe the structure?) should shoulder some of the blame too.
Yes, Friday’s performance by Auckland PT was woeful, but, IMO, the Mayor set it up to fail. As pointed out elsewhere, the train system simply does not have the capacity to move such large crowds to events like the RWC Opening. It should not have been promoted as “THE way to go” before the capacity had been increased.
Overloading of the rail system, coupled with the vulnerability of a single train fault causing the whole rail system to fail, highlights the limits of a service already straining to provide regular commuter services being used to support big, one-off events. To deal with these risks takes a considerable amount of contingency planning and a lot more buses to take the overflow. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, both these were obviously absent from Auckland Transport.
Perhaps things may have been better getting to Eden Park had the Western Line been converted into a dedicated busway as was once proposed. The passenger moving capacity would likely have been much higher 😉
I think this will be a blip on the radar, when the history of Auckland’s public transport is written. Neither particularly influential positively or negatively. Yes, the average punter who didn’t use PT before may have gotten a bad image. But that is unlikely to affect the LONG-term viability of PT and PT patronage growth. And everyone else really only uses this to bolster his own position (“PT never really works” / “This only failed because PT isn’t supported enough”), so I think the status quo ante is actually not much different from now.
When I heard on the Saturday morning there had been some major problems on Friday night, I immediately thought “the trains”. Why? Because I (when I am brave) use the trains from West Auckland into the city and have been subjected to sudden stops, late/no arrivals, hold ups and just being dropped off at a station miles away (Avondale) with no human intervention to show passengers what to do or where to go, just a vague intercom announcment about “buses will be coming” (where/when not addressed and no guards in sight). Friday night sounded like business as usual (adjusted to scale).
I love trains/metros and use them around the world as a preference, but I cringe in my own much loved city where to take a train is like taking a lottery ticket. As an optimist – perhaps government will now get the message – we want a fast, reliable, efficient train service in Auckland.
This commentary is spot on in every regard but I take issue with your point regarding funding and “under investment”. On the contrary I believe that as a tax and ratepayer we are the victims of an extraordinary bureaucratic rort whereby the typical NZ love of consultants, reports, committees and layers of highly paid incompetents dilutes an extraordinary amount of money into the shambles we currently have. As I look out my office (on a main urban arterial)this weekend past hour even and I see large pollution belching antique buses noisily blasting past with a frquency only a delusional transport or traffic planner could find delight in. All empty. Tell A fib…one bus had 1x passenger.
What is it about NZ traffic and transport engineering that attracts so many power tripping buffoons incapable of commonsense?
I see Paul Holmes has decided to be a dick and put the boot into both Len Brown and Graham Henry in one foul swoop.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10752294
For me a reason to be optimistic was the extraordinary sight of the two main parties having a fight in parliament about which one supports and has put more money into Ak rail. Think about it; completely unimaginable for so long. Labour was rightly being criticised for their half-pie investment but by whom? Steven Joyce! I know this is largely political game playing but it does show how the terms of the debate have moved quite far quite rapidly. And it is a sign of some sort of democratic process at work; the people have long been ahead of our masters but it is at last having influence up the chain.
Additionally we might also get some real buy in to improving management and accountability on a day to day basis on the rail network now, d’ya think?
Paul Holmes is a wash-up, this is how populists become irrelevant; by failing to notice that the world has moved on….
Remember Gandhi: ‘first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win’
I was stuck in a line with my 10 year old son for hours on the night of the RWC opening. When we finally got on the train we were told to find a bus because no trains were coming in or out of Britomart. This was the first official communication we had had from the rail co. It took me 4 hours in total to get back via bus to Mt Albert train station to get my car. My son and I missed the whole opening ceremony because of the SHIT public transport system. Our transport system is third world and ridiculous. Sort it out Auckland! For goodness sakes.