Key Focus Areas for Auckland Transport

Transport, alongside housing, is Auckland’s most significant challenge and underpins many of the outcomes council is seeking to achieve for Auckland. Auckland Transport also represents council’s largest investment. Ultimately it is the council’s elected members who are accountable to the public in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of this spend. As a general point, Council expects the Board to have good visibility over operational decision-making. Auckland Transport is not just acting as transport planners, but as placemakers (in conjunction with local boards) urban regenerators, and a major contributor to improving Auckland’s environmental sustainability.

We invite you to broaden your perspective beyond transport models and engage with Council, its plans, and the other CCOs. This will require a courageous balancing of movement and place, and bold commitment to reallocating road space towards public transport and active modes.

Auckland’s growth means the efficiency of our existing transport network needs to be constantly improved. The bus network is the backbone of public transport, and this needs to be recognized in your priority setting. We invite you to consider expanding bus lane networks, extending bus lane operating hours and removing or modifying on-street parking. We recognize that while it is important that Auckland Transport makes evidence based decisions, these can be challenging as conflicts arise between perceived local needs and network priority. A stronger focus on effective communication, consultation, and problem solving is needed. We would welcome a discussion on how we could support you in this. Council would like to see the draft SOI highlight Auckland Transport’s commitment to working with the council on strategic issues and giving effect to existing strategies. Council would also like a commitment from Auckland Transport to operating in a ‘no surprise’ manner through indicating to council as early as possible Auckland Transport operational decisions that are likely to have significant strategic implications. Some specific examples in the near term are:

1. the recent work undertaken by Auckland Transport in relation to the city center’s transport network has strategic implications for the City Centre Master Plan, and should be resolved through a refresh of that Plan rather than through decisions made just by Auckland Transport
2. the work undertaken by Auckland Transport in greenfield growth areas needs to be consistent with adopted Council land use strategies, including the Unitary Plan and the Future Urban Land Supply Strategy (FULSS).

Other key focus areas for inclusion in your SOI include:

• Ensuring there is alignment between the refreshed Auckland Plan, the Long-term Plan (LTP) and the upcoming Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP): the RLTP must reflect the council’s direction as articulated in the LTP and a refreshed Auckland Plan. Alignment includes using the same budget information across all three plans.
• Work collaboratively with council and other CCOs on the Housing Infrastructure Fund.
• Work with Council to implement and embed the strategic approach and recommendations of ATAP, including addressing the funding gap.
• Provide technical advice on new technologies and demand management options, including higher vehicle occupancy and smarter transport pricing, and any other innovations that allow us to move beyond just investment in physical infrastructure to solve the issues associated with Auckland’s growth.
• Providing greater transparency in relation to asset management, maintenance and renewals, to build confidence that value for money is being achieved in this area. This includes reaching agreement with New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) on levels of service and funding requirements as part of developing the LTP.
• Aggressively pursuing strong growth in public transport use and active modes with refreshed targets, particularly through ensuring the new public transport network is successfully implemented with a strong customer focus.
• Ensuring full value is obtained from council’s very large investment in rail electrification by reducing journey times, particularly through shorter dwell times at stations and more efficient rail operations.
• Ensuring good progress is maintained on delivering early works for the City Rail Link and preparation for the project’s main works.
• Maintaining momentum on delivering the cycling program, incorporating priority for cycling and walking into projects, and building the case for a continuation of central government’s Urban Cycleways Fund beyond 2018.