Auckland’s train stations are starting to sport new ticket and top-up machines as we enter a new era for the city’s public transport.
From October 28, rail passengers will start using the prepay, re-useable Auckland Transport HOP card, which will soon work across all our public transport, including trains, ferries and buses.
An integrated ticketing system is another step on our way towards having a world- class transport network, which gives people options about how they move around Auckland.
An essential link
The City Rail Link (CRL) is central to shaping Auckland’s future and realising a fully integrated transport system.
There is some misunderstanding about who will benefit from the CRL and I want to address this.
The CRL is not just about downtown. It is about unlocking the suburban rail network and unleashing the potential of our entire transport system.
Britomart is currently a dead-end. Trains need to reverse out, limiting the number of train services the terminus can handle per hour, per day.
If we do not build the CRL, planners say Auckland will need three-lane-wide bus corridors on every arterial route in and out of the city.
Our roads are gridlocked now and without action, it would get worse.
Electric trains
We will start seeing our new fleet of electric trains on Auckland tracks next year.
The new fleet and the CRL will double the number of trains we can operate across the rail network. The link will open Britomart and connect the west with the south and east, and vice versa.
Commuters across the network will get improved services and journeys that are more direct without changing trains.
With the CRL, a journey from New Lynn to the new Aotea Station will take less than half the time, and from Manukau to Karangahape Road will be a third faster than it is now.
Increased train services will be complemented by feeder-bus routes and better park-and-ride facilities.
It future-proofs our transport system, giving us potential to extend rail services under the harbour to the North Shore, and to the airport.
Rising population
Trains carry more people than buses, a key factor if we are to move the 2.1 million Aucklanders expected to be living here by 2040.
More people on trains mean fewer vehicles on the roads, and more room and better flow for buses, commercial traffic and private vehicles.
An integrated and efficient transport system will benefit our local economy, as workers and commercial freight are freed from time stuck in traffic.
This is all about options, giving Aucklanders real choice about how they move around the region to work and play.
We are also investing in roads, walking and cycle paths.
Funding options
Public transport patronage is at a 60-year high.
When people have options, they use them.
We also need to talk about funding options.
We need an informed and robust debate between Aucklanders, the Council, Government and private enterprise about appropriate ways to fund our plans.
That does not ignore the wider economic climate and the national investment needed to get Christchurch back on its feet.
We will have this discussion in the coming year in which I want all Aucklanders to participate.
In the meantime, in agreement with the government, we have started designating the CRL route and acquiring the limited number of properties we required.
All of Auckland needs this link. Without it, Auckland will go nowhere.
Len Brown is Mayor of Auckland
The futuristic Hop ticket machine
