Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says congestion charging might be part of the mix in the future, but right now is a distraction from the immediate issues of dealing with Auckland Council’s $270 million budget hole and the city’s public-transport crisis.

The Mayor was commenting ahead of today’s special parliamentary debate on the report of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on its Inquiry into Congestion Charging.

"Congestion charging could only make sense once every Aucklander has the option of catching a bus or a train that they know will show up on time, every time – and we are two years away from that, at the very least,” Mayor Brown said.

“Auckland’s immediate transport focus is solving our public-transport crisis by getting our existing public-transport services back into a credible state, including through the shake-up at Auckland Transport (AT).

“If Wellington-based politicians want to help Aucklanders, they need to let more bus drivers into the country and deliver faster funding for important public-transport projects, most especially the Northwestern and Eastern busways that Aucklanders want given the success of the Northern Busway.

“Congestion charging might be a useful tool in the future if integrated with an operational public-transport system, but right now is just a distraction from addressing the immediate crisis we face.”

In recent weeks, AT has cancelled 1000 bus services because of the national bus-driver shortage, Auckland commuters face two years of disruption to the train network because of poor planning by KiwiRail, there are endless but as-yet undisclosed delays and cost blow-outs for the City Rail Link, central government is still working on the route and business case for its light-rail project, and transport agencies need to know Auckland Council’s intentions for the port before sensible long-term decisions can be made about the region’s roading and rail networks.

Mayor Brown said any future congestion charging regime could not be a “revenue grab” but part of a more strategic approach to managing Auckland’s transport system through technology and integrated networks.

He acknowledged it was good to see Parliament planning ahead for when Auckland has a functioning public-transport network.

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