Auckland mayor calls congestion charge plans a ‘distraction’

The mayor of New Zealand’s largest city says plans to introduce a congestion charge are distracting from the provision of reliable public transport.

Speaking ahead of a parliamentary debate on the issue, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said the introduction of a charge on motorists would only work once every resident had access to reliable public transport.

“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.

“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.

“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.”

Cancellations

Thousands of bus services have been cancelled in the city amid a bus driver shortage.

“This year we have struggled to operate our full bus timetable because of the effects of the national driver shortage, which has led to far more cancellations than we would usually see,” said Darek Koper, Group Manager of Metro Services, Auckland Transport.

Last week, New Zealand’s Minister of Transport, Michael Wood, announced NZ$61 million (US$36.3 million) in funding for driver pay increases in the hope of attracting new talent.

But trains in the city are also facing problems, with a two-year disruption to services expected as a result of overdue track maintenance.

The debate about congestion charging in Auckland has been going on for many years, with numerous studies and proposals put forward.

The latest, a 2020 government report titled The Congestion Question, recommended the introduction of congestion charges on motorists,  ranging from NZ$1.50 for off-peak times to NZ$3.50 for peak periods.

Former Auckland Mayor Phil Goff had supported the introduction of a charge, along with the national government, who estimate it could lead to a 12 percent reduction in traffic.

Fees would be applied once within a two-hour window regardless of distance travelled, with no charges between 7pm and 6am.

Driver shortage

New Zealand is not the only country that faces a shortage of bus drivers – cities in the UK, US and Ireland have also experienced major service disruption issues over the past six months.

But other factors like software problems and the management of routes have also been behind the disruptions.

In Dublin, passengers have for months been complaining of long delays, cancelled services and so-called ‘phantom buses’ which appear in real-time on transit apps but never show up.

Last week, passenger interest group the Dublin Commuter Coalition and its counterparts in Cork and Galway wrote to an Irish parliamentary committee investigating the issues, warning that the public transport system was now at “crisis point”.

“For over a year, public transport users have been faced with long delays, cancelled services, and ‘ghost buses’ and, sadly, the situation is not showing any signs of improving,” the letter said.

“The problem is particularly acute on low-frequency routes where just one cancelled service may result in wait times of over an hour. We believe that this level of poor service is eroding trust in the public transport system and jeopardising the government’s goals to increase public transport usage.”

Speaking before the Irish parliament’s committee on transport earlier this week, Andrea Keane, Acting Chief Executive of Dublin Bus, apologised to customers for the decline in services.

“The reliability of Real-Time Passenger Information (RTPI) systems has unfortunately deteriorated in recent months, due to both software issues and a shortage of bus drivers,” she said.

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