Better transport options required before new taxes

Auckland Mayoral candidate John Palino says he will review the projects in the Auckland Plan and call a public referendum on any new tax proposal.

“The report of the Consensus Building Group into funding Auckland’s future transport needs has recommended tolls on existing Auckland roads, but what it should have investigated was why the Mayor’s programme costs so much and yet delivers more congestion.

“I think Aucklanders would consider paying a bit more if it got them better public transport, less congestion and faster trips. But that is not what is planned.

“After an astonishing $68 billion of transport spending over the next 30 years, or just over $2 billion per annum – equivalent to one-and-a-half times the entire region’s annual general rates – Auckland will not only have worse congestion than it does today, it will have worse congestion than the very cities we are already struggling to compete with – Sydney and Melbourne.

“That’s not an opinion, that was the finding of the Council’s own transport experts earlier this year.

“How can we be more liveable than these and other cities if people are stuck in congestion? And not just at peak times, Auckland Transport also finds drivers will be stuck in traffic throughout the day.

“This is a terrible result and first job of the Consensus Building Group should have been to evaluate the projects and why they deliver so little benefit to commuters. It should have been given the opportunity to consider how we can get better value out of our motorway and public transport systems to make travelling either cheaper or faster – not slower and more expensive.

“They were not given this mandate and now there is a push to move the debate on to funding when the real issue is bad transport policy.

“Perhaps the thing of most concern, however, is that the Group has recommended tolls on road users partially because it will help alleviate the congestion caused by poor planning.

“In other words, rather than incentivising people out of their cars with great public transport and making provision for those drivers who don’t have a viable alternative, the Council will now consider controlling car use to stop people driving.

“As someone who has to drive because of the nature of my trips across town and to different locations, I feel badly let down by this whole approach.

“I’m going to review the Mayor’s projects before the region is committed to projects which don’t meet residents’ needs. Once we have a transport programme which delivers better results for Aucklanders, then I’ll hold a referendum on any new tax initiative so that Aucklanders decide how we together address the city’s challenges.

“If road pricing delivers a more efficient and better outcome on top of good projects, then is should be an option for residents. But it shouldn’t be a way to fix a broken transport strategy,” said John Palino.

ENDS

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