Smart Transport Solutions
Kia ora, ngā mihi kia koutou kia ora.
It is a privilege to address you today to discuss smart transport solutions.
I want to acknowledge the roles you are playing in your communities, saving your local railways from closure, advocating for cycle ways, safer roads or better walking infrastructure, trying to stop motorways from being bulldozed through homes or campaigning for better public transport. On behalf of the Green Party and future generations: thanks.
As we head into the general election, transport issues are vital to our future.
Quite simply when it comes to transport this, Government with Steven Joyce as Transport Minister is on the wrong track, or perhaps I should say motorway.
This Government is creating monuments in concrete and asphalt to 1950s style transport thinking.
The Roads of National Significance, or Motorways of Significance to National, projects, which dominate the transport budget are memorials to old fashioned thinking locking kiwis into a car, truck and oil, dependent future.
As Wellington debates an appropriate sign at the Airport, I'd like to propose instead of the Wellywood sign, a gigantic statue of Steven Joyce near the proposed-Basin Reserve Flyover, to remember him, the Colossus of Roads.
In this speech I intend to
- Explain the Green approach to transport
- Look at the motorway-dominated transport budget
- Explain the smart transport solutions the Green Party is pushing for
Before I begin I would like to acknowledge Phil Twyford, it is an honour to co-host this event with Phil, and his colleagues from the Labour Party. While we have disagreed on many transport issues in the past — and still do on some issues — I'd like to acknowledge Labour's change in transport views over the last few years for the better, and their assistance in co-hosting this conference.
The Green approach to transport
Firstly the Green approach to transport. We believe our government is wasting our scarce national resources on uneconomic motorways locking us into a car, truck and an oil dependent future.
At a time when New Zealand is borrowing 50 billion annually it is fiscally irresponsible to pour more than $19 billion into uneconomic and unnecessary motorways and state highways.
We don't have to sell state assets to cover our costs; we just need to re-direct some of our transport funding.
I ask where the balance is when for every $1 the Government spends on bus, rail, walking or cycling from the National Land Transport Fund they're planning to spend almost $6 on building or maintaining roads.
Under the recently released Government Policy Statement, the ten-year funding plan for land transport, the total spend on new and improved State Highways for the next ten years is $13.7 billion on average, but over the same period in the same plan, only $372 million is planned to spend on new public transport infrastructure. That's 36/37 times as much! The Transport Budget is massively skewed. 39% of the total land transport fund will go towards state highways to the detriment of local roads, police road safety, transport planning and public transport infrastructure.
That only $372m, or 1% of the National Land Transport Fund will go towards building new public transport infrastructure essentially means projects like light rail for Wellington or the CBD rail Link in Auckland will likely stay just a dream under a National Government. Our cities cannot do it alone, given this Government removed and is opposing transport revenue options.
Walking and cycling come off particularly badly, receiving just 0.7% of the total transport budget, even though more than 10% of New Zealanders currently walk and cycle to work, and many more would if it was safer.
This Government is treating taxpayers' money like someone borrowing to invest in a CD store at the dawn of the IPod. These projects lock us in to old ways of getting around and constrain smart alternatives.
The Government Policy Statement allows for an increase of only $90 million in subsidies for public transport services over the next 10 years.
This is on top of serious Government induced funding shortfalls, rising rail track access charges and changes to the farebox policy, raising fares.
This is despite 21% growth in the last year in Auckland's rail patronage. Public Transport services will receive only 10% of the national land transport fund. This suggests that the government wants to constrain the high growth rates achieved in the last 5 years.
So despite traffic being down, petrol prices up and public transport patronage through the roof, this Government is still betting on motorways.
We've heard this Government loudly trumpet they're spending more than Julius Vogel on roads. However Vogel looked to the future in his investment decisions, we could be too: Investing in integrated transport options, fast modern public transport - bus rapid transit, light-rail, and underground rail; and walking, cycling and tele-commuting choices but this Government looks to the 1950s, like Vogel borrowing to build bullock-tracks
The Green Party believe in smart transport investments that balance roads with sustainable transport options that will "future-proof" our transport system so that it is more affordable, efficient, and versatile.
Out of Government the Greens have achieved
- Electrification of the Auckland rail network.
- Saved the Overlander and Johnsonville trains and Wellingtons trolley buses.
- Better vehicle efficiency standards and
- Worked with the current Government on the National Cycleway.
The Greens are not anti-car or anti-road. We love to drive. We're pro-transport choice. We don't want to stop all road investment - just stop pouring billions into white-elephant motorways that will make congestion worse.)
Motorway-dominated communities
Many of you are actively opposing the controversial Roads of National Significance about to bulldoze their way through Kiwi communities.
The 7 Motorways of Significance to National dominate the transport spend and are expensive - $13 billion over ten years, and many uneconomic under the Government's own benefit cost ratios, that's without measuring the true costs, the externalities: like road safety, climate change, and obesity.
There's no joined-up transport thinking. The Government talks about Roads of National Significance when they should be looking broader at transport corridors of significance.
The OECD report, referenced in the National Infrastructure Plan shows there is no correlation in New Zealand between motorways and economic growth. Yet it shows there is a positive correlation between investment in other types of roads and rail.
Recent research in the United States shows that the economic stimulus spending on public transport created twice as many jobs per dollar spent than motorways, because more money was used on people than land and machinery.
We hear from the Colossus of Roads that the motorway projects are good for creating jobs however that makes no sense when it costs between $500,000 to $1 million to create one motorway job.
Even Don Brash in his latest 2025 taskforce report said of Transmission Gully, there was no evidence the project would provide a net benefit to the economy"
Many of these projects aren't even needed, for example the Western Link Road was the communities preferred option over the Kapiti expressway, and North of Auckland the Campaign for Better Transport Lifesaver Highway would cost considerably less and do considerably more for road safety in the short term than the $1.7B 'Holiday Highway"
Essentially the National land Transport Fund is the Minister's own discretionary fund to play with and make political decisions with that have been rammed through under a shocking process that's why I call them roads of Significance to national.
They run through iconic and important Communities of national significance.
These roads benefit trucks primarily, and are Roads of Trucking Significance. It's no surprise the Road Transport Forum was also National's largest donor in 2008 or that Kiwirail is investigating closing 4 rail lines.
They lock us into increasing greenhouse gas emissions, already up 70% since 1990 in the transport sector, as if the climate wasn't of national significance
This Government is woefully and wilfully ignoring the price of oil.
None of their business plans took into account volatile and rising oil prices nor the huge impact current high prices are having on Kiwi's car use. We have seen road traffic decline over 3% over the last year.
Unlike many businesses, councils and Government, our Government has no plan, or even a plan to start planning, to reduce our dependence on oil, which accounts for 16% of our imports, and 99% of our transport fuel.
The Government is borrowing money to pour into these motorways which are based on a fuel of declining significance.
These Roads of Significance to national won't even help motorists stuck on our crowded roads.
Building roads to deal with congestion is like dieting by extending the belt buckle - it's the "Los Angele solution" - it didn't work there and won't work here.
We're likely to see increased Induced Traffic, for example we know from an Official Information Act that the Transmission Gully motorway is estimated to see 20% extra peak usage, and increased congestion from Linden to Wellington Central and negatively impact public transport patronage (lowering passenger trips by rail by 13%)
These Roads will increase sprawl significantly and lower urban housing density (meaning higher infrastructure costs, household commute costs and constraining public transport). They are solutions for the 1950s not the Twenty First Century.
Smart transport solutions
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are at a turning point.
If we keep doing what we always did, building more motorways and spending most of the transport budget on motorways for trucks, we will not get a different outcome.
We need smart transport solutions.
The Green Party will continue to make smart transport solutions a priority and I am pleased to announce today three specific points.
We have a plan that reduces government debt and reduces wasteful spending on unnecessary motorways. Instead we plan to invest in smart transport like light rail in Wellington and Christchurch, CBD rail loop in AKL, and better walking and cycling
- 1. This starts with a cutting spending on unnecessary motorways.
We have a plan that reduces government debt and reduces wasteful spending on unnecessary motorways. Instead we plan to invest in smart transport like light rail in Wellington and Christchurch, CBD rail loop in AKL, Rail freight.
We need to end the Government's politicisation of transport planning and instead invest in projects with good business cases that contribute to New Zealand's current and future resiliency and sustainability.
Borrowing to spend on more motorways is fiscally irresponsible.
Motorways such as Transmission Gully and Puhoi to Wellsford wouldn't make the grade of a sensible economic analysis. The funds should be redirected towards local road and safety improvements but the vast bulk of the saved funds need to go elsewhere.
- 2. Investing in smart alternatives
Auckland
In Auckland the Green Party would fund at least 60%, or $1.4 billion of the major missing piece of Auckland infrastructure, a CBD Rail Link. We would also put forward another $250 million towards the cost of additional trains to run on the enhanced network.
The Link would transform the rail network, whose patronage grew over 20% in the last year, allowing further future development like rail to the Airport and North Shore would unlock the network's constrained capacity and transform the CBD.
Primarily it would benefit motorists by taking cars off the road massively benefiting the regional economy.
The Government is holding Auckland back, despite the clear call by the people of Auckland for the rail link, the strong business case and plain need for the loop now, not in decade's time.
We would introduce legislation to allow Auckland Council to raise revenue through land value uplift tax, parking reform and charges, and eventually a congestion charge.
Wellington
In Wellington and Christchurch, the Green Party would fund at least 60% or $300 million for each of these other transformative transport projects, Light rail to link up our cities.
We are champions for rail in parliament, and love it because it's efficient, better at relieving congestion, safe, environmentally friendly, and lastly economically beneficial.
Cycling
The Green Party will also make $75m extra a year for walking and cycling 2012-2016 and $100 million extra from 2017-2022 to turn our towns and cities into liveable, safe, great places where people can easily walk and cycle. That is enough money to complete thousands of kilometres of high quality bicycle lanes.
We would like to do this primarily though increasing the Financial Assistance Rate for these projects to 100%, meaning they are paid 100% by central government. `This will empower local communities to make their own plans and decisions and raise their own money/provide their own solutions.
It would also allow the Model Communities programme, which has been so successful in Hawkes Bay and Taranaki, to be rolled out across New Zealand.
- 3. Saving money
Earmarking funds from transport to be spent only on transport, hypothecation, only encourages old ways of doing things to be perpetuated. Government does not hypothecate in other parts of the economy and there is no argument to continue this practise in transport.
It's not smart and risks future generations experiencing spiralling costs if road usage declines.
If we do things smarter we shouldn't need to borrow billions as a nation to fund motorways.
The Greens smart transport plan would save the taxpayer billions whilst investing in needed public transport infrastructure, local roads, safer roads and better walking and cycling.
For example we could spend $6 billion to finish those state highways we have already begun building, invest in the above smart transport projects and other public and active projects and still save the taxpayer up to $3.5 billion.
A smart transport plan is balanced, resilient and sustainable - both economically and environmentally.
Summary
The Green Party are smart transport champions.
Unfortunately I don't have time to talk about our coastal shipping plan, the urgent need to save and invest in our regional rail lines, Complete Streets, modifying the fuel tax and road user charges to future proof our transport system, Parking reform or our desire to let Regional Councils own bus fleets and control all network route and service planning.
On November 26 party vote Green for a transport plan that is balanced, resilient and sustainable.
We have a plan that could reduce government spending on unnecessary motorways by up to 8 billion and puts that money into essential smart transport projects instead such as the CBD rail loop, and light rail systems for Wellington and Christchurch.
We need real transport leadership and a balanced approach to transport spending but all we've got under National is a monument to the 1950s, the colossus of roads.
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