Government fails to deliver on infrastructure

For generations NZ has under invested in infrastructure and, while today's announcement is welcome, it's not enough to address the gaps, let alone take us forward.

Newsroom - Why $12b isn’t enough to fill this infrastructure chasm

$12B sounds like a lot, especially with $6.8B going to transport in Auckland. But to put that in perspective, Auckland is currently investing $27B into transport and it's still not enough.

Auckland could swallow $12B and still need more. And our regions still need investment - the Provincial Growth Fund hasn't delivered.

It's no secret that I've been highly critical of this government's big promises and lack of delivery. Today's announcement isn't doing much to change that, especially as many projects are simply restarted roading projects from previous government that were stopped by the current coalition. If they were important, why stop them? If they aren't important, why do them now?

This isn't transformational.

I'm not asking the government to tax more although I am keen to see the multinationals pay their fair share by closing loopholes. But government already has access to massive amounts of funds which they need to divest to the regional and city councils to build, repair and strengthen their infrastructure as they need to respond to local and regional challenges.

Last election, politicians (myself included) promised significant investment in infrastructure. Everyone agrees we need it to support our growing population, tackle climate change and address ageing assets.

This year, as a voter I'm looking for a party that's serious about investing in Aotearoa through true localism.

Absurd - public transport prices increase despite climate emergency

““Putting up prices during a climate emergency is absurd,” Damian Light, who stood unsuccessfully in the Howick Ward in the last local body election, tweeted.

”We’ve declared a climate emergency and transport is our largest contributor to emissions – we must address this.””

— https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118807935/aucklands-public-transport-fare-hike-absurd

Auckland Council: we've declared a Climate Emergency. Transport is our largest contributor to emissions, we must address this.

Auckland Transport: we're making it more expensive to use public transport. Again.

It's great about the free weekends for 5-15 year olds, making it easier for families to get around our city is a positive step. We need to do more of this and also introduce changes like fare caps.

But putting up prices during a climate emergency is absurd. I appreciate that some of the restrictions come from parliament, with farebox recovery mandated but when will our leaders get serious about standing up for our city, our environment and our future?

We're paying at the pump for what?

I was dismayed (but not surprised) to see that Auckland Transport has yet again under delivered, despite record taxes on residents. The Regional Fuel Tax was forced upon us with the promise of significant investment but after collecting over a billion dollars, they've held onto $268million. I agree with Councillor Daniel Newman that this is dishonest.

Auckland Council underspends transport budget by $268m in first year of regional petrol tax - NZ Herald 13 Jan, 2020

We're paying more than ever, yet we continue to battle with unsafe footpaths, congested roads and overpriced public transport.

The silver lining is that they didn't waste it all on consultants and vanity projects, but there's real issues that need to be addressed with urgency. One of many local examples is the long promised pedestrian bridge on Flatbush School Road, where students from Te Uho o te Nikau Primary School are left to dodge trucks while Auckland Transport sits on millions of dollars of public money.

In the Howick Local Board area, nearly half of the $5.4m available for local transport projects in the last electoral term was unspent. Will our newly elected Local Board be able to get Auckland Transport to deliver for us? I hope so, for the sake of us all.

Delays to Eastern Busway and Reeves Road flyover shows lack of governance

I’m very disappointed to hear there is more delays to the Eastern Busway project. This transformational project will be great for East Auckland, but is taking too long to deliver. Another 6 years until it's "complete" is too long and doesn't include the Botany bus station which is already overloaded.

I have concerns about the visual impact of the flyover, but I've seen some good examples of these done well in Melbourne so I'm hopeful we can get this right. Regardless, it's an essential part of improving traffic flow including ensuring a congestion free busway.

The lack of communication from Auckland Council and Auckland Transport is disappointing. They know this is a critical project for the area but there hasn't been an update in months.

We need strong oversight over these infrastructure projects and this is clearly lacking.

To T2 or not t2

T2 or not T2, that's seems to be the question that many are asking in East Auckland.

It's been a few weeks since the newest T2 and bus lane opened in Auckland, down part of Pakuranga Road. This was deemed necessary to reduce the traffic heading to Panmure while the new Eastern Busway is built. This massive infrastructure project will be transformational for East Auckland but its also very disruptive during the build. Auckland Transport (AT) need to reduce the traffic by 10%or 800 cars to make it possible and the transit lane is part of this.

Transit lanes can be highly effective - the T3 lane on Ōnewa Road is believed to carry more than 80% of people during peak. This isn't always obvious to the observer as it has less vehicles (each carrying more). I used to live nearby and used this for years. It was a pain if you needed to drive solo but if you carpooled or bused, it was brilliant. It forced locals to rethink their behaviour and for the most part it worked. As our population grows we need solutions other than more roads, we simply cannot all fit.

I know that public transport isn't what it should be, but let's focus on making it work. Let's fix the reliability problems - helped by dedicated bus lanes that allow them to miss congestion. I know that public transport and carpooling won't work for everyone, but if more of us do it then it leaves space for those that can't.

The local MP has launched a petition calling for its removal and he's been joined by both local councillors. He's also asking for the Reeves Road Flyover to be built, which is still part of the plan. There does seem to be some shift in the delivery dates for the flyover of the project and I've asked AT what this means.

My view is that we need to wait for more information before making a decision. I appreciate that this isn't much help for this sitting in traffic and I feel your pain. I sit in traffic along Ti Rākau every morning, despite starting earlier and earlier. I'm rethinking my travel plan to use public transport more often, but I'll still get stuck in traffic.

I don't for a moment think the T2 is perfect - there's plenty of issues being reported especially on the intersections of Gossamer and Cascades. Issues getting across lanes and merging safely, issues with traffic blocking crossings and bad driving behaviours. Some of these should be addressed by AT and at last nights local board meeting AT promised to provide a summary of the issues and actions underway.

We need to give it some time. Time for the new park and ride that only began this week to take affect. Time for people to adjust to the advantages of carpooling. Time for AT to sort out the issues like Gossamer and Cascades.

Let's keep the constructive criticism of the T2 Lane coming through to AT and give them time to resolve it. Not months, but a few more weeks.

We need to build safer roads for everyone. With urgency.

There are too many near misses, serious injures and deaths on our roads. Children are scared to walk or cycle to school.

This has to change - we need to build more physically separate cycle and walkways across Auckland now. As Emma McInnes says in this piece, with urgency.

We've invested in cycling infrastructure and the usage has grown considerably. This shouldn't be a surprise when 1 in 4 Aucklanders cycle, it's a healthy and environmentally friendly alternative. And despite the noise from some, cycle-ways are relatively cheap to maintain.

I've had the pleasure of walking and driving in cities overseas that have done protected cycling well. Even if you don't get on a bike, the investment in making people safe makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

It doesn't need to be expensive, plenty of options for separate lanes without massive price tags. But let's not do a classic Auckland & under invest in our future. There are plenty of studies that show return on investment is significant & wide ranging.

Auckland is growing fast and we have the opportunity to become a city that puts people first, not vehicles. We can create a transport system that delivers real choice, with safe, affordable options for everyone. Part of that means safe cycling infrastructure.

I've advocated for a fairer transport system for over a decade. If elected to council, I will make sure council takes action to make our streets and our people safer. With urgency.

Our environment needs action at all levels

Today marks the first day of a new government mandated ban on single use plastic bags. It's been a while since the supermarkets phased them out and everyone has adapted, even if remembering the reusable bags is a challenge! However plastic bags only represent a very small amount (~0.01% ) of the 1.6 million tonnes rubbish that ends up in landfill every year and while I fully support the end of single use plastic bags, we’ve got a lot more to do.

There’s definitely an appetite to do more for the environment. Over the weekend we had a number of events focused on the environment with Howick holding its first Ecoday event on Saturday, followed by tree planting with Macleans College and then Bucklands Beach clean up on Sunday with the Howick Youth Council. All events were well attended showing the keen interest that East Aucklanders have for our environment which is great.

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It’s fantastic to see that locals are keen but we need urgent action by council or our efforts are at risk of being washed away.

We need to invest heavily into water infrastructure to reduce flooding and pollution. The pipes in the older parts of East Auckland such as Howick, Pakuranga and Cockle Bay are struggling to cope with current demand, with overflows not uncommon. As housing continues to intensify, we urgently need to ensure we can meet current and future demands. The work being done to understand the current network is good but needs to be done across the region and much faster.

Last month Auckland Council declared an climate emergency which was another great start but we urgently need action. This means reducing our emissions and for Auckland 40% of these come from transport. While the transition to electric vehicles will help, we cannot all fit on the road. Public transport and active modes such as cycling and walking are essential to reducing our impact on the environment. But they need to be realistic options - reliable, affordable and accessible. Projects like the Eastern Busway can help transform our area, but much more needs to happen to ensure it delivers for more.

I’m pleased to see that soft plastic recycling is back and the government is investing $40m into waste minimisation innovation but we need to do more to reduce the waste being generated in the first place. Strong product stewardship is key to this, ensuring that those producing the waste are required to ensure it’s sensible disposal. We all have personal responsibility but we also need industry to get up to speed.

I want to see a council that leads the way, supporting local community efforts across the city backed up by meaningful action by Council that will ensure that our environment is looked after for future generations.

Building CRL is an investment in our future

Getting the City Rail Link built is correctly a top priority for Auckland Council. It will transform transport across our city (even for non-train users). It’s expensive and the project costs have risen by $1B to $4.4B. Auckland Council was asked to cover half of it.

Some of this extra cost ($250m) comes from increasing the size of the stations which will future proof them, absolutely the right choice. There's extra costs due to delays ($152m) but also the rising cost of infrastructure ($327m) which is a good reminder the longer wait, the more expensive this gets.

It's also worth noting that this new costing is far more accurate, now the designs and procurement are done.

Congestion costs Auckland $11B a year, we have to invest to tackle this. CRL is a major part of transforming our transport system to something that's fit for purpose.

However how the council managed to find $500m without raising rates is interesting. It highlights the significant savings that can be made if there's a need or will. Councillors need to push harder to realise more of these savings across the city.

What is definitely concerning is the lack of clarity over who will own and maintain the CRL. There's some suggestion it might be NZTA but councillors aren't clear. Considering the massive size of capital investment, I'm a little stunned that this hasn't been decided.

Local Board Meetings great opportunity to hear from community

I make an effort to attend every Local Board meeting. It's a great opportunity to hear from locals, on their concerns and ideas for our community. And tonight was no different.

We heard from Richard Waugh and Laurie Hayward from the Auckland Brit and Euro Classic Car Show. Four years running, the free show had huge turnout in both cars (1077) & visitors (over 10,000), up 20% on last year.

We heard from a local resident concerned about the issuing of a consent for an extension to the Half Moon Bay Marina and the lack of notification to affected parties.

Huntington Park Residents Assoc were present to thank the Council for supporting their recent neighbourhood day. They also raised concerns about how request for removal of privet has been handled by Council, the speed of cars on Huntington Dr and issues with maintenance of curbs.

Another resident spoke about dogs off leads and the challenges they can present to cyclists. Serving to avoid dogs can (and has) led to people coming off their bikes. He's very supportive of a local dog park which we don't have in East Auckland.

And safety around our schools was on the agenda again. A trustee from Te Uho o te Nikau Primary School was back to again request action on safety for their students. This issue was raised 9 months ago, again last month and got some traction tonight. Howick Local Board requested Auckland Transport truncate the normal LBTCF funding process to urgently get detailed designs underway for safe bridge near the school. The costs are estimated at $1m for a temporary bridge or beyond $2m for permanent one. the Community Safety Fund is also to be investigated but seems unlikely given the scale of the project.

More good news on safety Auckland Transport have a temporary solution for 90 Pakuranga Rd which has had cars crashing into their fence. AMETI is arranging for temporary barriers to be installed while longer term solution is implemented.

I find these meetings worthwhile, the minutes only capture the outcomes, not the discussion or debate. The agenda is published online prior to the meetings and anyone can come along. Some times they can be a bit dry, but I've never come away without learning something about the community.

The photo was taken after I was granted special permission to do so (much to the bemusement of some of the board members).

Massive milestone for East Auckland

As reported in the Times ‘Construction starts on $1.4b Eastern Busway’

The Eastern Busway is a potential game changer for transport in our area.

There's a lot of work to happen before it's finished so it's great to get it underway. The $1.4B project is being delivered over four stages, the second being Panmure to Pakuranga. This includes a new intersection at Panmure, an additional bridge along Lagoon Drive and new bus station at Pakuranga Plaza all connected by dedicated bus lanes.

Once completed, it will be capable of carrying up to 60 buses an hour and enable travel between Botany and Britomart by bus and train in under 40 minutes.

Have your say on safer speeds in Auckland

Feedback on safer speeds for Auckland closes tomorrow (Sun 31 March) so have your say now.

Too many people are killed or injured on our roads - 749 seriously hurt and 64 killed in 2017 is far too many. We need to improve the road design, driver behaviours and increase enforcement but we also need to set realistic speeds.

Our city has grown significantly and there are places where the current speed limits are not appropriate anymore. It's essential that we review and adjust them to make people safe.

Reductions in speed make a massive difference - someone hit at 50km/hr has a 80% chance of being killed while someone hit at 30km/hr has an 90% chance of survival (although still injured).

There are a few ways to submit feedback - online form, detailed map or contacting AT directly. Providing your thoughts is important, this affects us all. Even just showing support (or expressing concerns) is helpful. Get your feedback in today!

Instead of raising public transport fares, let's fix them

Public transport fares in Auckland have gone up because people are using it more. If you think that sounds backwards, you're not alone.

Generation Zero hosted an event to explain their report into this broken policy and the potential benefits of fixing it. Instead of raising the prices, we could be reducing it and encouraging more people to use public transport which helps reduce congestion for everyone.

Generation Zero is proposing we reduce public transport fares for targeted groups who need it most

We heard about two students who could carpool and drive into the city for less than catching the bus - they choose not to because of the environmental impacts but not everyone has the same choice. Let's make it cheaper for students to do the right thing, not more expensive.

Generation Zero’s proposing we make public transport cheaper for students

We can do better - free weekends, providing cheaper public transport for tourists (like so many cities do), reducing the barrier to Hop cards and making it easier for families to travel together are just some of the ways we can improve access to public transport.

Making off peak services free wouldn’t add additional cost to the network.

Check out this link for more details and ways provide feedback and support.

Changes coming to Pakuranga Road with mixed feedback from locals

AT Project Director, Duncan Humphrey

Last Wednesday night, over a hundred locals packed the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club for a public meeting on transport. Organised by Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown, the meeting was focused on some upcoming changes to Pakuranga Road proposed by Auckland Transport (AT) as during the construction of the Eastern Busway.

AT Project Director Duncan Humphrey was onsite to brief the crowd on the challenges and respond to questions. He started with an explanation of the project and its potential impact on our area.

The Eastern Busway has the potential to transform how we travel around East Auckland and the $1.4B project is being delivered over four stages, the first being Panmure to Pakuranga. This includes a new intersection at Panmure, an additional bridge along Lagoon Drive and new bus station at Pakuranga Plaza all connected by dedicated bus lanes. Once completed, it will be capable of carrying up to 60 buses an hour and enable travel between Botany and Britomart by bus and train in under 40 minutes.

Work is already underway with houses being demolished along the path but there’s a lot more to come over the two year construction period. The contractor has agreed to maintain two lanes of traffic in the peak direction, but there will still be disruption especially along Pakuranga Road heading into Panmure. This is the sixth busiest stretch of road in the country and serves as a vital link from East Auckland. AT believe that they need to reduce the traffic by 10% and are using a number of methods to try achieve this. Some will be implemented immediately while others are contingency plans.

The first of the immediate changes is a park and ride at Lord Elsmore Park with capacity for 332 cars. This will be served by dedicated buses which will go express through to Panmure and for the first few weeks these will be free to encourage uptake.

The second immediate change proposed is a transit lane down Pakuranga Road for the two year construction period. This will travel westwards from Dunrobin Place (Highland Park) through to Gossamer Drive, then from John Lane to Brampton Court (Pakuranga Plaza). The transit lane will take out the existing left hand lane and there’s a gap because Pakuranga Road is already too tight on this stretch of road.

I’ve seen the business case and modelling behind this decision which supports the concept, but it’s getting mixed feedback from locals. Simeon Brown ran a Facebook poll which showed that 43.9% supported the transit lane (from about 400 responses). When asked about the park and ride, an overwhelming 76% of people were supportive although many noted this would require it to be cheap or free.

By comparison, Howick Youth Council ran a survey which found that 70% of 97 respondents supported the transit lane. This went up for bus users (93%) and down for car users (56%) which is fair and higher than I would’ve expected. Support for the park and ride remained high with 72% overall support with little difference between bus (75%) or car users (69%).

At the meeting there were a lot of questions about public transport in general, particularly about the New Network. These issues are important and are worth talking about separately - I’ll cover these in another post but it’s worth noting that there are plenty of challenges in the public transport. A number of locals present voiced concerns about Gossamer Drive and the issues that already exist turning left onto Pakuranga Road, with others expressing the same about Cascades Road.

AT will be running active monitoring which means they’ll be watching the traffic very closely and making adjustments as required. This includes live adjustments to traffic light phases to compensate for issues and they may explore options such as variable speed signs. Exactly how quickly AT responds to issues is something that we won’t know until these changes take effect.

And we won’t need to wait long - this is all expected to happen around the 15 April.

Will a transit lane for Pakuranga Road be a help or a hindrance?

As any local will know, Pakuranga Road is an extremely busy place every day and with the incoming construction work for AMETI Eastern Busway, this is going to get worse.

Auckland Transport is taking some action including encouraging people to take alternative transport, alter their hours or routes. But with significant work happening in the area these won’t be enough. To help, Auckland Transport is proposing some big changes:

• a transit lane for Pakuranga Road

• a park and ride at Lord Elsmore Park

• increased bus, ferry (Half Moon Bay) and train capacity (ex Panmure)

• increased communication and options.

Most of these are pretty uncontroversial, but the transit lane has been met with some concern. Restricting a lane of traffic to only vehicles with 2 or 3 people will impact a lot of people and we need to get this right.

I contacted Auckland Transport and requested a copy of the studies along with business cases and reports. There’s a lot to work through and I’ve done my best to summarise them but feel free to read the full documents attached.

Surveys of Pakuranga Road found that 87% of vehicles heading west were single occupant and remaining 13% of vehicles carried 24% of people.

Modelling shows that doing nothing will make traffic worse (about 3 minutes longer for everyone) as will a T3 transit lane (about a minute longer for cars, but 40 seconds faster for buses). A T2 lane should reduce travel time for everyone (a minute for general vehicles and 100 seconds for buses).

People who use the transit lane (by busing or carpooling) will get the most benefit but it will help those using the remaining two lanes. Effectively this needs that nearly half of people using Pakuranga Road will benefit from a T2, while a T3 or doing nothing will make it worse for most people.

Obviously there's a cost to these changes - the estimate for everything (including park and ride) is $5m with nearly $2m is for the transit lane. This doesn’t take into account the money that will be recovered via public transport which should reduce the costs by about a million. The benefits over the 2 year construction period are estimated at over $8m while the costs of not taking any action are estimated at $16m.

The devil is always in the detail and there’s plenty more detail to come with the designs yet to be finalised. What is clear is that we need to do something or things will get worse on Pakuranga Road.

This Wednesday (27 March) there’s a public meeting organised by local MP Simeon Brown. Auckland Transport are going to present on the plans and I’m sure there will be an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

Is a transit lane the solution for Pakuranga Road?

Pakuranga Road is one of the busiest roads in the country and is often congested with traffic (even in off peak). We need a solution and Auckland Transport is proposing a transit lane.

It's intended to be just for the duration of the Eastern Busway construction which should be about 2 years.

Transit lanes like this can have a massively positive effect on getting people past congestion. A great example is Onewa Road in Northcote which carries around 80% of the people but only 40% of the traffic. It's been helped by regular bus services (now double decker) which means more people can be moved in a lot less vehicles.

How much will this hurt or help Pakuranga Road? This depends on how many people are travelling on buses or in vehicles with more than one person. I would hope that Auckland Transport have this information and I'm requesting they confirm.

Without seeing this information, it's far to early to be saying no to this. I'm cautiously optimistic that this trial might help but will require close monitoring to ensure it's successful (with any adjustments are made quickly).

Vanity projects are not the answer to our transport problems

Today Auckland Council proudly announced that they're wasting an unknown amount of money on trams for Wynard Quarter. This is a waste of money and effort that should’ve been focused on real transport, addressing congestion and safety.

This same week we found out that we're required to pay more for public transport because of rising costs.This is not only incredibly poor timing but also shows how some in Council have little regard for responsible spending.

It's worth highlighting that only one Councillor (Richard Hills, North Shore) voted against this terrible waste of public funds. How much? We don't actually know, but it's estimated to be somewhere close to $6.6million. Panuku Auckland recommended that these were not reinstated due to the cost, lack of commercial viability and little actual functionality.

We need better transport and this vanity project isn’t it...

Again Aucklanders made to pay more for transport

Very unhappy to see that public transport fares are once again going up.

Aucklanders have been paying extra for fuel to help boost investment in transport (which we desperately need). It's been difficult for many but we've adapted because it means better transport for Auckland. But for Auckland Transport to then increase fares due to the same fuel tax is farcical.

When this tax was introduced AT *must* have calculated this into their future operational costs, like every Aucklander did. AT received $8.1 billion in extra operational funding, which was meant to be used to increase services and decrease fares. But less than a year later, we're being asked to pay more.

The lack of actual response from the Minister is also disappointing. We've had a promise to investigate but it's too late. This government has made a lot of noise about climate change and public transport - they need to step up with the funding.

Construction and destruction underway

As part of the changes required for the AMETI Eastern Busway, Auckland Transport has begun removing 61 houses along Pakuranga Road.

Like many, I was concerned about the loss of housing especially considering the current housing market. Investing in transport is an absolute must for East Auckland and we need to get this busway built so we can move onto other transport projects, but it's important we make good decisions.

In NZ, you can request information from government at either central (Official Information Act or OIA) or local level (Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act or LGOIMA). So I contacted Auckland Transport using the FYI.org.nz website which helps track the requests and makes it available for others to see (reducing duplicate requests).

I'm pleased to say I got a pretty quick. Here are the key points:
- houses where offered to "mana whenua and to Housing New Zealand however both parties declined ... due to logistical reasons and the cost of removal vs the property condition";
- contractor is aiming to relocate properties where possible;
- "vast majority of buildings" are unable to be re-located due to "condition and structural stability";
- waste minimisation conditions in place with the contractor;
- up to 90% of non-asbestos contaminated materials will be recycled (mostly metals or concrete and bricks);
- remainder will be sent to a plant that uses the waste to generate electricity.

It's good to see that relocation and reuse of these houses was considered and the materials are being recycled where possible.

The Eastern Busway is a $1.4B project which won't be finished until 2026 so there's a lot more to happen. Minimising the impact on locals during a construction project of this scale will be a challenge. I'll be keeping an eye on progress and will provide updates as I get them.

Connections and pathways

Facilities at Sir John Walker Promenade

On Thursday 6 December, I attended the opening of the Sir John Walker Promenade. Rain cleared just in time to celebrate the opening of this beautiful new facility in Sir Barry Curtis Park, Flat Bush.

It was wonderful that Sir John Walker attended, speaking about his connection with the area having grown up in Flat Bush.

New shared pathway in Highbrook

Just a week later another opening of more local cycling and walking infrastructure, great to see more progress. It was a beautiful morning in East Auckland for official opening of the Highbrook Shared Path.

Tucked in behind Highbrook, this pathway is connects Trugood, Ti Rakau and Stonedon Drives providing another option for the thousands of workers in the area. Staff from Fisher and Paykel were onsite to celebrate, there was talk of hundreds of workers who’d switch to cycling once the alternative is there. GETBA (Greater East Tamaki Business Association) have been supporters for the same reason.

As the kaumatua said, these pathways about about connections - within our community and also to our neighbours as the rest of the city builds their own.

It was also great to have some of the members of Bike East Auckland to test it out!

Read more about the pathways plan for East Auckland.