Thu, 02 Sep 2004

To: Gilbert Peterson Auckland Business Forum

RAM Open Letter to Auckland Business Forum 2.9.04

The RAM Executive has decided that no RAM candidates shall take part in the Auckland Business Forum's survey of council candidates.

Here are our reasons:

The ABF "survey" isn't an honest survey - it's a crude political swipe at opponents of the corporate road lobby.

The survey questions are slanted towards getting the pro-motorway answers the ABF wants. For instance, a number of questions revolve around the loaded and contested phrase "completion of Auckland's motorway network".

Critics of the corporate road lobby, including RAM, point towards motorway building as the root cause of congestion, not its solution. Every reputable urban transport study around the world has shown that motorways grow cars. >From this point of view, calling for "completion of Auckland's motorway network" is like calling for "completion of Auckland's gridlock".

Several ABF questions ask about the rail network, but none even mention buses. Yet, as RAM's Manifesto points out, "the fastest and cheapest way of ending gridlock is to introduce lots of modern buses which run as a public service, not for private profit".

Our Manifesto goes on: "A RAM-led ARC will work closely with local councils to bring buses to the people, including more disability services. We will examine how to introduce thousands more buses bringing frequent services that are cheap or free to everyone in built-up areas. This is the key element in creating a centralised transport strategy in the region."

And RAM's Manifesto states: "There will be a net financial gain in switching funds from tarseal to public transport. Multi-billion savings on cancelled highway projects will outstrip the cost of public transport projects. And gridlock costs billions, whereas a major expansion of public transport will free up roads for commerce and industry."

The final ABF question is loaded towards introducing tolls, congestion charges and other new taxes on road users, and also towards a private invasion of what has up till now been public control of roads.

Reputable polls have already shown that the vast majority of citizens are firmly against road tolls and creeping privatisation of public assets. The ABF survey is a sneaky bid to inflict a profit-driven corporate agenda onto council candidates which goes against what most Aucklanders want.

In total effect, the ABF survey is a propaganda and pressure tool of big business, not an honest questionaire. It's a reflection of the methods long used to impose corporate control over the Auckland Regional Council - which RAM is now challenging with our regionwide ticket of candidates.

A RAM-led ARC will, as our Manifesto says, provide "the centralised political will to break the grip of the corporate road lobby and redirect limited resources towards public transport".

The RAM Executive challenges the ABF to publish this Open Letter alongside your survey results.

Our Open Letter is also being sent to the media, to ordinary citizens and to current ARC councillors.

Reprinted below is the Transport section of RAM's Manifesto and the ABF survey questions.

RAM Manifesto Transport section

1. Every citizen should have the right to freedom of travel. But Auckland's car chaos is imposing increasing restrictions on our movement. We must restore the right to travel freely.

2. Every urban transport study around the world shows that motorways grow cars. The vast sums of money being turned into tarseal is the problem, not the solution. As well as clogging the region's arteries with cars, motorway mania is harmful in other ways. People's health suffers from exhaust fumes and traffic noise. "Concrete jungles" destroy our natural and social environment.

3. The multi-billion Eastern Highway is being promoted by the corporate road lobby as a "solution" to car chaos. Yet the Eastern Highway will create new bottlenecks in central Auckland which will ripple across the Harbour Bridge and slow North Shore traffic. Apart from worsening the region's traffic jams, this motorway is financial and ecological insanity. A RAM-led ARC will campaign to stop the Eastern Highway.

4. To fix Auckland's car chaos, a RAM-led ARC will promote a world class public transport network. That will require two things: First, there must be a major shift in transport funding away from tarseal and into lots more buses, trains and ferries which are seamlessly integrated into a regional growth strategy. And second, just as important, there must be the centralised political will to break the grip of the corporate road lobby and redirect limited resources towards public transport.

5. The present ARC, despite lip service to public transport, has shown neither the strategic vision nor the centralised will to fix Auckland's car chaos. The Regional Land Transport Strategy, brought together by the ARC, earmarks less than one-fifth of transport funds to rail projects over the next decade. Even worse, bus projects are to get under 5%, a pitiful sum.

6. A RAM-led ARC will push for public transport to get at least 50% of total project funds, and higher if possible. In Los Angeles, motorway capital of the world, car chaos has taken the city to the end of the road. Now the Los Angeles long term plan devotes 75% of transport funding to public transport. This should be both a warning and an example to greater Auckland.

7. Lessons from overseas show that the fastest and cheapest way of ending gridlock is to introduce lots of modern buses which run as a public service, not for private profit. A RAM-led ARC will work closely with local councils to bring buses to the people, including more disability services. We will examine how to introduce thousands more buses bringing frequent services that are cheap or free to everyone in built-up areas. This is the key element in creating a centralised transport strategy in the region.

8. While the immediate focus should be on vastly increasing bus services and reducing or eliminating their fares, it's also necessary to expand rail and ferry services. Since these are much more costly than buses and take longer to become operative, they are a medium term factor in sustainable transport.

9. There will be a net financial gain by switching funds from tarseal to public transport. Multi-billion savings on cancelled highway projects will outstrip the cost of public transport projects. And gridlock costs billions, whereas a major expansion of public transport will free up roads for commerce and industry. The benefits to business will far outweigh any rates differential.

10. A RAM-led ARC will lobby central government for a greater share of the region's petrol tax.

11. A RAM-led ARC will promote the extension of cycle ways.

12. Toll roads are being promoted as "fair to everybody". In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Roads have traditionally been part of the public domain, but tolls commercialise them and open the way to effective private control. Meanwhile, business escapes paying tolls through GST refunds, tax write-offs and cost-plus pricing, thereby shifting the burden onto others. So tolls unfairly favour business. A RAM-led ARC will oppose toll roads. --------------------------

ABF survey questions

1. Do you support completion of Auckland's motorway network including the Western Ring Route and the Eastern Transport Corridor? Yes No Don't Know 2. Would you call for the completion of Auckland's motorway network by: 2011 2016 Sometime later Never 3. In your opinion, which of these $multi-billion investments will help improve Auckland's traffic flow the most? Completion of motorway/highway system Completion of rail system upgrade Comments:

4. In your opinion, which regional transport investments have the highest priority for completion? Rank, with "1" the 'must do.' a. *Completion of SH20 Western bypass *Completion of eastern transport corridor *Do both together in the same time frame b. *Electrification of the rail network *Purchase of more modern trains/ carriages *Extending the rail network through Britomart with a loop line around CBD

*Do all (rail projects) as a package *Do none and concentrate just on roading Comments:

5. Which funding initiatives for roading projects will you promote to get roads built sooner than otherwise? Rank 1 to 5 where 1 is the top priority *Public sector funding only *Tolls to get some roads built sooner *Congestion pricing on existing highways/motorways i.e. charge for peak time usage *100% use of fuel taxes** for road projects *Private sector funding Other (**Currently only 18c of 55c/litre of fuel taxes is spent on roading. The balance goes to the Consolidated Fund for spending on social and other programmes.)

ENDS

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