One thing that Auckland Transport and the Auckland Council seem to struggle with at the moment is the issue of how to sell the City Rail Link (CRL). We have seen AT start to improve things but most people on sites like this tend to think that it doesn’t really do enough to explain the project or it’s benefits. Part of the problem is that the Government review muddied the waters by using dodgy assumptions like that the price of parking wouldn’t increase over a 30 year period, that there was unlimited roading capacity for more cars and buses in the CBD as well as a few others. These issues are currently being addressed by a piece of work called the City Centre Future Access Study (CCFAS) and that will feed into an updated business case but to me there is still a big gap we haven’t yet solved and that is, how do we explain the project to the general public.

Saying that we are going to build it is one thing but it tends to lead to a lot of misinformation about what the project actually is and part of the problem is that it can be very difficult to get some of the complex and detailed information across to the public in an easy to understand way. This leads to detractors coming up with arguments that have probably already been answered and already with the CRL we have seen things like:

  • Why not just put more buses on
  • Why not use X, Y or Z technology
  • Why should petrol taxes go towards a rail project
  • Why should those outside of Auckland have to help pay for it
  • Auckland doesn’t have the population to support rail
  • Aucklanders just love cars and will never use PT
  • We shouldn’t build a tunnel in such a volcanic area/what happens if there is an earthquake

So the question becomes, how do we get this information across to the public in a way that is easy to understand. One thing that we can do is look to overseas examples, here is one from Hawaii which describes a rail system they are currently building.

The information is nice and clear and makes it very easy to understand the process went they went through and the benefits of the process. About the only thing I thought that wasn’t well explained was why fuel taxes should be used to help fund the project. Hopefully AT will produce something similar once the current study and the updated business case are completed so that people across the country can see the benefits of the project.

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19 comments

  2. Interesting concept there Matt 🙂

    Going to have to play the devil’s advocate on using Hawaii as I ran a post about Honolulu’s rail system last month.

    This is the article from Professor Cox at New Geography (and I cue Mr Patrick on a comment about Cox? 😉 ) about Honolulu
    http://www.newgeography.com/content/002719-honolulu%E2%80%99s-money-train

    I am posting that link as a heads up in case someone else decided to (so early warning) – as well as the Centre-Right councillors who might read this would of seen this http://voakl.net/2012/03/17/honolulus-money-train-can-we-see-auckland-here-folks/

    Before someone decides to “attack me” on the post, I ask please read carefully what I wrote, because what I put in there is the exact same questions going to be asked next year in the Local Elections with the CRL becoming a centre stage issue (debt being the other).

    As you said Matt (and quoting at length):
    [One thing that Auckland Transport and the Auckland Council seem to struggle with at the moment is the issue of how to sell the City Rail Link (CRL). We have seen AT start to improve things but most people on sites like this tend to think that it doesn’t really do enough to explain the project or it’s benefits. Part of the problem is that the Government review muddied the waters by using dodgy assumptions like that the price of parking wouldn’t increase over a 30 year period, that there was unlimited roading capacity for more cars and buses in the CBD as well as a few others. These issues are currently being addressed by a piece of work called the City Centre Future Access Study (CCFAS) and that will feed into an updated business case but to me there is still a big gap we haven’t yet solved and that is, how do we explain the project to the general public.

    Saying that we are going to build it is one thing but it tends to lead to a lot of misinformation about what the project actually is and part of the problem is that it can be very difficult to get some of the complex and detailed information across to the public in an easy to understand way. This leads to detractors coming up with arguments that have probably already been answered and already with the CRL we have seen things like:
    •Why not just put more buses on
    •Why not use X, Y or Z technology
    •Why should petrol taxes go towards a rail project
    •Why should those outside of Auckland have to help pay for it
    •Auckland doesn’t have the population to support rail
    •Aucklanders just love cars and will never use PT
    •We shouldn’t build a tunnel in such a volcanic area/what happens if there is an earthquake
    end quote]

    Questions that are going to be asked, questions that are going to need to be answered to give the ratepayer who is balking at the idea of rate rises and debt (Money = Power)
    I hope what I provided gave some material to maul over to help for a robust information platform

    Reply

    1. Sorry Ben but Wendel Cox’s “analyses” are so partisan and lacking in validity that I’ve stopped bothering to critique them. He’s no professor, just a partisan ideological lobbyist.

      I do take exception to your point that “Basically rail’s reach in Auckland is limited, without feeder systems such as park and rides or feeder buses, our rail system could never achieve the numbers it needs to free up Auckland”.

      Well the point is actually true, but what is the point of the point? That is exactly what the plan calls for. Yes indeed the rail upgrades/CRL are contingent on creating an integrated public transport network based around providing coverage with local buses and speed and trunk capacity with rapid transit on rail and busways. You might as well say motorways are useless because their reach is extremely limited, and without feeder systems such as arterial roads, streets and driveways they will never achieve the numbers.

      No one is proposing a walk-up metro rail system like London or New York, so why bother arguing against such a thing?

      Reply

    2. The post isn’t really about the merits or otherwise of the Honolulu system but more how these videos explain the project and its benefits in a clear and uncomplicated way.

      Reply

  3. Wendell Cox?? Seriously next you’ll be citing Owen Mcshane as some kind of expert. Or are you Owen Mcshane?

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  5. Those are really good videos. The music is the same as that of the Auckland spatial plan videos so perhaps the council is aware of these.

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  7. 25 minutes worth of video is far too long even for a transport geek like myself. 2-3 minutes max should be enough to explain the key messages.

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  8. My advice to AC/AT would be to stop talking about the CRL all together (keep it right away from the public eye) until after the 2014 general elections as until there is a change in government, the present government willl do all it can to ensure that the AC is stacked with their (anti-rail) supporters…right up to mayoral level. By 2014, the EMUs will be running and the AKL public will better understand then, the need for the CRL. No marketing of the CRL should be done thus until after the 2014 general elections thus. AC should just quietly proceed with getting the land designation done and should not be even making noises like they are curently about cutting costs by removing stations etc. Better that there be no mention whatsoever in public about the CRL. The less said about it the better – until after 2014.

    Reply

    2. There’re multiple problems 1) we have no guarantee to still have a pro-CRL council after 2013 and 2) there’s no guarantee National won’t still be in government post 2014. Also if National lose both Labour and the Greens have already stated they’d support the tunnel. So basically the council needs to convince national of its merits, the general public support the tunnel, the opposition supports the tunnel – but National doesn’t. Going quiet about it isn’t going to help solve that.

      Reply

  9. Same thing applies to the 2013 local body elections – bury the issue now to avoid it becoming a turn-off to voters. The public at large do not aapreciate the value of the CRL at this point nor are they interested at all…and will likely vote against whoever is championing it over the next 12 months. Revive it in 2014…the hoi poloi will be in a more receptive mood by then.

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    1. What are you talking about? 85% of respondents to the Auckland plan supported the link, every study done has shown people support it. Len Brown was voted in on a rail platform.

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    2. The problem is there isn’t enough of a push going on to market the project. It’s good that a huge number of people support the project already but with the right marketing it will be something that has such demand from the public that no politician will want to be seen to be stopping the thing. Leaving it to go quite plays right into the hands of National who just want the thing to go away.

      Reply

  10. I’m with Kevin- these videos are wayyy too long. Make it 3.05 max and get a music video director to do it. Sexy will sell!

    Interesting points from the vids-

    1- The woman at the beginning gets up at 4 am but lets the family sleep til 4.30. Seriously? Nightmare…

    2- For the first section, and extensions, there’s a station every mile, but they still get up to 90+kmh between stations- that’s impressive right?

    3- Stations will be fairly generic for ease of building, but local neighbourhood stations will reflect the flavour of the local area. That’s an important one to note..

    Reply

  11. And as expected here is an article promoting the mis-information going around http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6794109/Aucklanders-slam-mayors-rail-plans

    Then again at the LTP forum session I had yesterday the misinformation or LACK OF information was quite out there when myself and two others out of a group of 10-12? knew what the CRL can do in unlocking the rail and ironically bus network…

    Guys do we need to do our own slick marketing campaign here?

    Reply

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