Transport Funding Options – My preferences
A few days ago the council asked the question about how we should pay for Auckland’s transport infrastructure as they have estimated that over the next 30 years that their is a $10b-$15b funding gap. Of course one of the big elephants in the room is that the transport shopping list is quite long and contain a huge amount of motorway projects but I don’t want to discuss that.…
25 Comments Paying for Auckland’s infrastructure
Today Auckland Council released a discussion document with a range of suggested options to fund future Auckland transport development. Here is the list:
Thirteen options are raised in the report: general rates
targeted rates
development contributions
regional income tax
regional payroll tax
regional sales tax
tax increment funding
regional fuel tax and RUC diesel levy
tolling new roads
road pricing on existing roads
additional car parking charges
visitor tax
airport departure tax Conspicuous in its absence is the idea of simply using Auckland’s share of the National Land Transport Fund to fund the most important and urgent projects.…
Twyford v Brownlee – round 1
Yesterday was the first opportunity for Labour transport spokesperson Phil Twyford to question new transport minister Gerry Brownlee in parliament. The issue at stake related to a point I made in this post, from the briefing to the incoming minister, which highlighted the decline in cost-benefit ratios of state highway projects over the past few years.…
Briefing to the Transport Minister – Part 2
This carries on from my first post about the briefing from the Ministry of Transport to the incoming ministers.
The report makes only brief mention of what will likely be the biggest issue for transport going forward, funding. We have already seen the NZTA have to do a deal with the Auckland Council to help cover some of their funding shortfall but the next graph shows that we will only be able to cover the planned expenditure with a ‘high growth’ scenario.…
Briefing to the Transport Minister – Part 1
The government has released the briefings ministers received from their ministries and of course this blog is fairly interested in what the transport ministry has to say. The briefing has been split into two sections, one giving an overview of the portfolio and the other the policy challenges and upcoming decisions.…
NZTA wants slice of developer contributions
A very interesting article appeared in Friday’s Bob Dey Property Report, noting how NZTA is keen on developing arguments for them to be able to receive development contributions to help fund state highway upgrades – like Council can use them to fund infrastructure that is required by the new development.…
What can New Zealand learn from public transport in Asia?
Last week I was invited to appear on the Asian Radio Show on RadioLIVE to discuss the topic of what New Zealand can learn from public transport in Asia. Having spent a large part of this year travelling across Asia by public transport I guess I can now consider myself something of an instant expert on the topic, or at least I’ve had plenty of experiences to curry an opinion on the topic. …
Why is Council having to bail out NZTA?
Some rather concerning news has hit the headlines over the past day or two, about how Auckland Council is having to cover transport subsidies that NZTA would normally pay for – on the basis that NZTA will ‘pay the money back’ at some point in the next few years.…
The regional fuel tax
One aspect of the government’s proposed changes to the Land Transport Management Act (LTMA) is the repeal of a provision which allows regional councils to introduce regional fuel taxes. Already the process to create a regional fuel tax seems quite complex, as the government was able to unilaterally cancel the Auckland scheme back in March 2009, delaying projects like electrification, Penlink and integrated ticketing – which had been banking on that money.…
PT Basics – operating costs
Human Transit has an excellently detailed analysis of public transport operating costs, which comes from Jarrett Walker’s upcoming book that’s bound to end up being a bible for public transport planners around the world. Each year we spend close to $150 million subsidising public transport in Auckland, so it’s utterly essential for us to ensure we’re running the most efficient system possible and making best use of that money.…
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