Councillors say AT should address 'transport poverty' before charging for road use

Auckland Transport (AT) should prioritise active and public transport services instead of charging Aucklanders for time of road use, according to some councillors.

North Shore councillor Chris Darby told Auckland Council’s transport and infrastructure committee today that AT can’t expect public support for time of use charges unless it addresses “transport poverty” across the city, particularly in South and West Auckland.

“There are significant public transport and active transport deficiencies in the South, West and a pocket in the north around Silverdale,” Darby responded.

“Unless we recognise deficiencies and put in real plans to construct and deliver transport that is not available to many tens of thousands of Aucklanders, I do not see a possibility of getting time of use charges over the line,” Darby said.

He said transport issues have been compounded by central Government’s revised government policy statement (GPS) on land transport: “The problem before us has gotten even more enormous.”

“We have a new challenge - how to reset the transport landscape in Auckland where the money has gone away, the problems remain and solutions are the same,” he said.

“In my eyes, we are going to be absolutely dishonest to Aucklanders if we continue to promote time of use charging without addressing equity and transport poverty afflicting Aucklanders currently.”

Darby said central Government needs to recognise the need to invest in 21st century public and active transport for Auckland but “there is no Government vision for that”.

“I think our vision for that has dropped away too in recent months. We have to reignite our vision for transport in Auckland because it has subsided,” he said.

North Shore ward councillor Chris Darby.

Waitākere ward councillor Shane Henderson added that the Government’s revised policy statement on land transport (GPS) proposes cutting public transport services, raising charges or some combination of both.

“Looking at a time of use regime in this picture is not going to work,” Henderson said.

“Any funds raised through regime need to be looked at as compensation for the communities paying the charge.”

Henderson said any revenue must be “directly invested back into those communities so they have real transport options”.

These comments came in response to AT’s strategy to start its time of use charges scheme, where Aucklanders would face costs for using roads during peak hours.

Executive general manager for integrated networks Mark Lambert said the group has finalised the first two stages of the rollout, starting with public consultation set to start in October.

Secondly, AT will find a procurement scheme to get the project going with the help of the Ministry of Transport, expected to kick off early next year.

Lambert said AT will engage with members of the public at the same time as the two phases to get Aucklanders on board with time of use charges.

Mayor Wayne Brown endorsed the charge in his long-term plan (LTP) proposal and was pleased with the progress to date.

“It’s good to see some urgency on dynamic lanes, temporary traffic management and time of use charges. The question is what took you so long?” Brown responded to AT.

Brown asked for an update on time of use charges in about a week as he is meeting with Minister of Transport Simeon Brown to discuss the issue.