PT Plan: Unaffordable for Auckland, Unavailable to Many

Len Brown has nailed his colours firmly to the mayoral mast in this, his second term of office, declaring, “My number one priority is to bring forward the start date for the Central Rail Link to 2016….”

Central Government has indicated support for the project (cautious support) but is firm on a start date of 2021, unless a number of public transport patronage targets are met which could bring the start date forward. Nevertheless, Mayor Brown in true little red hen fashion, is doing it himself. Auckland Council has already purchased properties worth $35 million along the route.

I write here as a former Chair of Transport (North Shore City for 3 years, Auckland Regional Council for 3 years), and as a strong supporter of public transport investment. While the Mayor’s determination is laudable, his lack of experience in city-building is on display, and the risks that arise from his actions and aspirations (presuming they are supported by councillors) will be borne by the city and its citizens – not by him or them. These risks include putting our few transport eggs into one basket thus ensuring good public transport services remain unavailable for decades to those outside that basket; hoisting Auckland’s debt level even higher and foisting debt repayment obligations on future generations; and tempting foreign investors into the scheme by sacrificing civic assets like Queen Elizabeth Square.

I am not the only commentator increasingly concerned by the Council’s fixation on this very expensive project. The pro-PT transportblog writes on May27th: “…the council are getting to a point where they are going to need to make some tough decisions on what projects they actually build. Carrying on trying to do everything simply isn’t possible so the council will need to prioritise what they do. This is something we’ve been saying for some time and is a basis to many of the things we advocate for including the CFN (Congestion Free Network) and walking and cycling….” (NB: Matt L comments that Transportblog believes the CRL is "the most important project".)

The City Rail Link (CRL) is a 3.5 kilometre rail tunnel under central Auckland that is projected to cost $2.8 billion to construct. Its route and construction method is illustrated in the image below which also shows the locations of the three proposed stations.

The CRL project will bring a number of benefits to Auckland. These are listed below:
1) To increase the capacity of Auckland’s rail network by turning Britomart into a through station and adding another rail entrance to the city centre from Mt Eden.
2) To ease the pressure on the city centre’s roading network by reducing the level of future increases in buses and cars.
3) To significantly reduce travel times on Auckland’s rail network.
4) To allow higher train frequencies to be operated on all lines of the Auckland rail network.
5) To provide sufficient capacity in the rail system for future extensions (eg rail to the airport, Avondale-Southdown line.) to be possible.
6) To stimulate business activity in the city centre and other rail served centres and generate agglomeration benefits including increased development density.
7) To stimulate higher intensity residential development around the rail network and reduce the need for Auckland to grow via urban sprawl.
8 ) To enable and support a more efficient and effective bus network.
9) To improve rail access in the city centre.
10) To allow trains to be routed through the city centre and offer one-seat rides between centres on different sides of Auckland.

However, the CRL is a massive project that improves just one of Auckland's transport networks – the rail network. It will have a huge impact on Auckland CBD during construction because of the cut and cover sections through Queen Elizabeth Square and up Lower Albert Street. It will offer major opportunities for land development – including the Downtown Precinct which abuts Queen Elizabeth Square. And it comes at enormous cost.

So it needs to be right. It is more important that it's planned right, than that construction gets started in 2016. And it is critically important that its construction takes its place in the queue with other important public transport network improvements.

This Auckland Transport map depicts the proposed Frequent Network which would/could have services running at least every 15 minutes 7am to 7pm 7 days a week. What it amounts to is a strategic re-organisation of Auckland bus routes in particular. It has largely been agreed after detailed consultation. Parts of the South Auckland network have already been improved.

The transport objective underpinning this plan is the establishment of frequent services right across Auckland. Not just on Rail and the Northern Busway (which you can see in black). NB: The proposed CRL is not shown on this map, but its route is more or less from Britomart, via K’Road to Mt Eden station (shown as the purple star).

Given the affordability of the CRL, the low hanging fruit public transport priority needs to be to deliver the frequency and promise that can be obtained from the new frequent bus sections of the network, which require modest investments in key sections (bus priority lanes, other priority measures such as priority signalling, some network interchange stations, extended lanes, corridor widening, and additional bus stops and shelters).

I understand that all of these bus network corridor improvements have been planned and await funding in a package of works that will cost about $200 million, but that this package is being stalled because of the perceived priority of the CRL. Under the mayor’s current direction, the CRL project is becoming a black hole. All consuming. Surely it's a priority for South Aucklanders to benefit from the promised frequent bus service.

The political problem that I see is that the pressure to "start CRL in 2016" (especially in a substantial way) threatens a tight public transport budget. And threatens to delay the rollout to wider Auckland region of frequent bus services that might not be "world class", but they will be a lot more reliable and attractive alternatives to car than the bus services available now. And the packages of work required a whole lot more affordable for Auckland Council than trying to get the CRL off the ground all by itself.
 
And as for the rail network and patronage targets, I am advised that the new electric trains don't just look good running on their newly electrified lines. They carry more passengers than the ones they replaced. In fact they carry on average about 50% more passengers per train set than the equivalent trains they replaced. What this means is that the existing rail network (without the CRL, but with electrification and the new trains) can carry about 50% more passengers/hour now than before. That's a significant increase in capacity which at the present rate of patronage increase will take some years to be taken up – allowing time for other public transport priorities.

Bearing that in mind, and the opportunity begging for improvements to bus corridors, surely it is the right thing to do to protect the budgets for those improvements and prioritise them, get them done over the next couple of years, complete the planning for CRL, and maybe go ahead with foundational tunnel works which will permit the Downtown Precinct development and Queen Elizabeth Square works to proceed without much delay. And plan to build the CRL in stages.

Which brings me to the proposed sale of Queen Elizabeth Square.

This picture is from the Britomart Railway station building. Queen Elizabeth Square is mainly taken up with a bus interchange and a small paved area with a few struggling Kauri trees. The proposed CRL starts here, runs under QE Square, and turns left up Albert Street. A single developer – Precinct Properties now owns the HSBC tower (in the centre of the picture, and the Downtown Shopping Centre to the left. Auckland Council officers have assessed the Square as being “windy, shaded and unattractive” and come up with a plan to sell the paved area to the developer for a $60 million contribution towards the CRL cost.

But here’s a better idea.

Auckland Council plans to replace the Britomart bus interchange with three smaller interchanges around the edges of the CBD.  This creates a wonderful opportunity for Auckland to transform Queen Elizabeth Square into a waterfront civic square across a pedestrianized Quay Street from Queens Wharf. The perfect place for a modern tram interconnecting the bus interchanges, Wynyard Quarter, Ferry Terminal, Central Railway Station, Queen Street, and Universities.

Then finish the CRL.