The Herald on Sunday are celebrating their 10th birthday by looking at how things were 10 years ago so I thought I’d do the same by from a transport/urban slant.
Population
Just over 1.3 million people lived in Auckland compared to today which is pushing towards 1.6 million. The area with the strongest population growth over the last decade has been in the CBD with last year’s census showing that over 29,000 are now living in the area, up by approximately 14,000 people and which is ahead of earlier estimates.
Governance
We’ve seen huge changes in the governance is Auckland with the 8 former councils (7 territorial councils and the regional council) merged into a single body. This has also seen the creation of Auckland Transport to manage all transport across the region. On the whole I think both the council and AT have been relatively successful and will be more so now that they’re really starting to get through the issues of combining and prioritising the multitude of legacy plans and ideas.
Public Transport
A decade ago Britomart had only been opened for a year and there was no Northern Busway and even projects like double tracking the western line or electrification of the rail network were just pipe dreams. Bus frequencies even on the busiest routes left a lot to be desired, especially off peak. Overall Aucklanders made around 52 million trips on PT (approx 39 trips per person).
Today the usage PT has seen significant growth now up to 73 million trips (47 trips per person) and we are on the cusp of even greater growth thanks to a handful of projects that vastly improve services (electrification, new network, integrated fares etc.).
Private Transport
While there has been investment in PT over the last decade it pales in comparison to the investment in the roading network. On the state highway network alone we’ve had the following projects completed.
- Central Motorway Junction Upgrade
- SH18 Upper harbour Highway and duplicated upper harbour bridge
- SH20 Mt Roskill extension
- SH20 Manukau Harbour Crossing
- SH20 Manukau connection
- SH18 Hobsonville Deviation
- Significant progress on the Waterview Connection and the widening and upgrade of SH16 and its interchanges.
- Strengthening of the Harbour Bridge clip-ons
On top of that there has been numerous local road upgrades. All up more than $5 billion has been spent on new or upgraded roads in the region and that doesn’t maintenance or operations costs. Since 2004 the number of kilometres travelled (VKT) on Auckland’s roads has increased from close to 11.1 billion km to just over 12.7 billion km in 2013, an increase of about 15% however crucially that’s about the same as population growth and so on a per capita basis vehicle travel has remained virtually flat.
Data from the NZTA shows that the areas where vehicle volumes are growing strongly are typically the areas that have recently been upgraded, inducing additional trips. In many other areas traffic volumes have been flat or even declined. For example on average fewer vehicles cross the Harbour Bridge now than they did in 2004.
Wynyard Quarter
This and many of the other changes could fit into a didn’t exist 5 years ago category if I had one. North Wharf which represents the first stage in the redevelopment of the Wynyard Quarter was only opened 3 years ago just before the Rugby World Cup. The area has seen a colossal amount of change from an area dedicated to the storage of bulk liquids and servicing the marine industry into a successful people space that people want to visit. The redevelopment has been so successful it’s won numerous international awards including two just a few weeks ago.
Shared Spaces
Like the Wynyard Quarter the shared spaces opened just before the RWC but they already feel like they’ve been part of Auckland’s fabric for much longer. We now have shared spaces on Elliot St, Federal St, Fort St (and surrounds), Lorne St outside the library and O’Connell St. Not only do these shared spaces look much better, they’ve also been incredibly successful in other ways. For example as of 2012, spending on hospitality in Fort St had increased by a staggering 400% compared with before the upgrade. Shared spaces have also started to be seen in other locations outside the CBD.
Improved Built Environment
The improvements to the city haven’t just been to the streets but we’re also starting to see improvements to the built environment. The internationally award winning renovation and extension to the Auckland Art Gallery is a fantastic example
This is of course far from an exhaustive list of the changes that have occurred in Auckland over the last decade but hopefully it serves to remind that the city has change substantially and for the better. This improvement has been despite constant opposition from many quarters. We are definitely on a path to becoming a much more people focused city and it’s been shown that when we put our mind to it we can achieve significant change.
Tomorrow I’m going to look at what the next 10 years may hold.
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It is hard to overstate just how significant the change in transport demand has been over this period. Despite truly massive spending by the government to encourage people to drive as much as possible it has just not been rewarded with uptake. And this refusal to drive more is new, pronounced, and persistent.
How long will it go on before some sense breaks out in Wellington that this is a very very poor investment. The return in value from many billions being poured into an already widespread driving amenity is simply just not there.
Meanwhile people want the freedom to close other means of travel along with driving, and because these options are undeveloped the marginal return on investment is higher.
A bit of a curve-ball but I was curious about the Herald’s article today on the AA offering free driving lessons to youngsters. Very noble of them or are they also trying to attract them into vehicle usage?
Recruitment. Clearly starting to panic about their market share ‘going forward’ as we say in business. Wonder if it will make much difference? Having a licence is all well and good, but if you’re priced out of driving or it isn’t really central to your lifestyle, so what.
Damn kids; not doing what their parents do!
One counter-point: You still need a drivers’ licence to make use of services like Cityhop (carshare) from time to time.
The AA doesn’t make money on driver licencing. They make money on memberships, car insurance, vehicle services, advertising and other things targeted at the owners of personal cars. A future where a substantial fraction of people have licences but use carshare services instead of owning isn’t good for revenue under the AA’s current business model.
Maybe it’s time for the AA to broaden their horizons. They already have a membership system, a big network of offices and garages, and operate as a quasi-club already. Perhaps they could just start running a car-share system of their own? They wouldn’t even need to change name.
I’d say they see it as a way to try and get more people driving and protect themselves from a shrinking membership base.
There is a growing problem with younger people who although do not require a car themselves require a vehicle licence for work. We require a drivers licence as part of work requirements and job applicants without one are obviously excluded.
I say good on AA as there must be many younger people excluded from jobs just because they don’t have a licence.
Mike that’s nonsensical.
What if you need crane operators or forklift drivers with permits? Why not treat motor vehicle operation as specialist skill, for those with the interest to get it? You could pay for the training if you employ them.
I treat AA giving out car training as not much better than tobacco companies giving out ciggies to young kids. Bad habit, bad for health, better off to never start.
I wonder if the soon to be lowered drink drive limit will have any effect on pt usage ie why risk your licence by driving after 2 or 3 beers after work when you can catch a train
The mode shift from driving to Transit is amazingly consistent across first world economies. Here’s the story in Arizona, the home of Uber-sprawly Phoenix:
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2014/10/03/surprising-many-use-of-public-transportation-is-way-up-in-arizona/
Is there any graph that compares the vehicles crossing the Harbour Bridge with the numbers of people crossing it?
Will the new minister be in a position to vary the decision on the extension of the busway to Albany in the light of the SHA’s in that area?
Even on the unlikely off-chance Bridges is considerably more favourable to the project than Brownlee, he has even less influence over the actual decision-makers in the party. In fact, I suspect the most progressive senior Nat on transport issues is probably… John Key himself. And that’s not a high bar.