Prime Minister Can Solve Auckland’s Traffic Woes

The Public Transport Users Association is looking forward to the Prime Minister John Key’s expected announcement tomorrow that the Government will bring funding for the City Rail Link project forward by two years. This move will allow full construction of the CRL to get underway in 2018, instead of the 2020 date the Government has previously advocated for.

Coordinator of the Public Transport Users Association, Jon Reeves, has welcomed the move. “Bringing construction of the City Rail Link forward will provide an important step change in public transport usage across Auckland. It will allow seamless travel throughout the Auckland rail network and reduce travel times to West Auckland by around 15 minutes. It will also allow for the recently marginalised Northern Explorer service to again depart from Britomart, and enable commuter rail services from Hamilton to arrive in the centre of the Auckland CBD”, Reeves said.

However, the PTUA is aware that the Prime Minister may also choose to promote the completion of the East-West connection between Penrose and Onehunga, at an anticipated cost of over $2 billion. The PTUA would view this call as the government bowing to the demands of the powerful trucking lobby. “An East-West truckway is not what Aucklanders want” Reeves says. “What Aucklanders have been crying out for decades is a fast rail service to Auckland International Airport. Building the Airport Rail line will move thousands of vehicles out of Onehunga and the surrounding areas by freeing up space for the trucking industry. Building an unnecessary East West truckway first, instead of an airport rail line, is taking a short-sighted approach and lacks common sense.”

Other important public transport projects the PTUA would like to see brought forward are:

- Extend electrification of the rail line to Pukekohe and Pokeno
- Extend electrification of the rail line extend from Swanson to Huapai to provide reliable and efficient public transport options for this rapidly expanding residential area
- Extension of the highly successful Northern Busway to Silverdale
- Construction of the Nor West Busway to Westgate
- Funding to build a busway from Panmure to East Auckland
- NZTA funding of public buses from Warkworth to Silverdale
- Funding of specialist Police unit dedicated to public transport

Fast-tracking these important public transport projects will deliver far better solutions to Auckland’s transport issues than throwing more money at plans for yet more unsustainable motorway expansion. For 65 years Auckland has been building motorways as the city has sprawled, and today the roads are more gridlocked than ever. Recent and future housing development in areas unsupported by good public transport infrastructure is only adding to the problem. Sustainable solutions that work to move people out of cars and onto reliable, frequent and efficient public transport are the only way forward.

The PTUA hopes to see some of this thinking reflected in the Prime Ministers announcement tomorrow.

ENDS

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