The Trouble With Transport
The Trouble With Transport.
Joseph Harper.
Been annoyed by a bus recently? Been held up by a late train? Troubled by difficulties on your bike route? Considering ditching your car, but terrified of that the over-complicated timetable you'd be reliant on? Joseph Harper looks into the state of public transportation in Auckland.
I'm going to tell you a story. Or maybe a couple of stories. They're fictional. Sort of. I suppose I hope there are elements of recognisable truth in there. I suppose they're sort of parables? Let's just read them first and perhaps we can find some sort of moral afterwards.
Jonathan catches the bus.
Jonathan works in the city. But he lives in the sweet acres of Waterview. Usually he drives his mean as, red Honda Civic in to the city every morning. But today he decided to catch the bus instead. 'It'll be a gas." he thinks. He goes and waits at his bus stop. Three busses drive past, none are "in service". A bus arrives, but it's white, and he was told to catch the green one, so he waits on. He's confused by this bus and asks another person waiting whether that white one would be okay? They say yes, and also tell him he can hop on the 027, the 063 and the 154. Jonathan can't remember any of these numbers, but waits politely. A purple bus arrives. It's not the one he was waiting for but he gets on because the other passenger tells him it's going to the city. Unfortunately, this bus seems to cost more than he was expecting to pay (he had looked up the fare on MAXXX.co.nz the night previous). He has a pass, but it's for the other bus company, and this purple one won't accept it. He doesn't have enough change, so he gets off and waits for his green bus, which eventually arrives.
Jonathan sticks to his Honda in future.
Jenny on the train.
Jenny is catching the train today. She has a job interview in the city at Wendys on Queen Street. She's pretty nervous. She has tied her hair in a bun, and ironed a pants suit especially. Her interview is at 12pm, so she's catching the 11am train which arrives at Britomart at 11:20am giving her plenty of time to walk up, and possibly grab a mocha or bagel. It's 11am now, so the train should be here any second. Trains are punctual. They run on tracks. There's no traffic on tracks. So trains are punctual. The station (Avondale) has lots of other people waiting for the same train. Jenny sits on a bench and looks down the tracks. Time goes by. It's 11:15am. The train is late. Lucky Jenny left early. She might miss out on that bagel, but she should get to her interview on time. The train doesn't arrive until 11:35am Jenny is stressed out and angry. Her bun is all split ends and frizz. She jumps aboard the train and sits down. The conductor comes to collect Jenny's fare. She hands over her coins. "This isn't enough." says the conductor.
"Oh." Says Jenny. "But that's the student price. I'm a university student.""That doesn't count." Says the conductor. Jenny takes back her coins and hands over a $20 note. The conductor scowls at her for giving such a large bill, and to spite her, gives all her change in 10 cent pieces.
Jenny doesn't get the job.
Joe bikes.
Like all our other hypothetical commuters, Joe works in the city. This week he decided he's going to leave the Fiat Bambina in the garage, and ride his bike to work. Here's are quick run-down of his week:
- - Monday: Joe makes it to work, but not without getting a major sweat on. His place of work doesn't have a shower, and he didn't think to bring a change of clothes. Bummer.
- - Tuesday: Joe barely manages to swerve out of harm’s way as a woman (in Auckland's lane-less and un-cycle-friendly CBD) opens her door without looking behind her.
- - Wednesday: First, he rides over some of last night’s broken beer bottles and gets a puncture. He fixes it, but the lack of a proper dedicated cycle way into the city means that Joe has to ride down a busy road and is at times inches away from cars. A driver, uneducated on how to drive safely alongside cyclists, gets too close. He hits Joe. Joe's bike and body are crushed by the car (a Nissan Skyline, with tints).
- - Thursday: Quiet day.
- - Friday: Joe's body is cremated and his ashes are sprinkled over the domain's cricket pavilion.
The moral here is fairly obvious. Public transport in Auckland is in a state of disrepair, for a city of Auckland's size and population, this is unacceptable. This is proven by the fact that Auckland has one of the lowest rates of public transportation in New Zealand. There are many problems with the current set-up and you, the students of Unitec (and citizens of Auckland) know it. Surveys done by In Unison, as well as those carried out by the government, and city council, have shown extraordinarily low satisfaction levels in terms of the quality of our public transportation system.
So what exactly is the problem?
I spoke with Green party MP and transport spokesperson, Gareth Hughes, on the subject.
"It has improved greatly over the last five years. However, it is still very poor...There is a myth that Aucklanders won’t use public transport because they love their cars or the city is too spread out. The reality is that Aucklanders generally don’t use public transport because the public transport options they have are so bad (expensive, unreliable, infrequent, far away, hard to use) they might as well not exist,” says Mr Hughes.
The main problems, as far as Mr Hughes sees it (and almost all of Auckland's most popular and widely read transport enthusiasts and bloggers (Josh Arbury's Auckland Transport Blog being the most interesting and exhaustive) agree with him) are as such:
- We need to build the CBD rail tunnel, to allow people easier and faster access to and from the CBD, as well as greatly improving the efficiency and capacity of the Auckland rail network.
- We need more dedicated bus-ways (an example of these being the one running northwest from the CBD), and we especially need them in the central city, where busses are being held up by traffic congestion.
- An integrated ticketing and timetable system between all bus, rail, and ferry companies.
- Better facilities for cyclists and walkers. Including dedicated cycle-ways, and more education for both drivers and cyclists on how the two modes of transportation can co-exist.
What's so great about public transportation?
There are countless benefits to having a well run public transportation system. Here's a list of some of them from Gareth Hughes:
- Less congestion.
- Cleaner air.
- Less noise pollution from cars.
- Better health for citizens (lower rates of asthma, lung disease, obesity).
- Tends to lead to more compact urban design which has a lot of benefits.
- More people out on the street walking and cycling.
- People feel safer (as more people around).
- Greater sense of community as houses are not so spread out, people see each other walking to school etc
- Neighborhoods that actually feel nice to live in and move around (because they are built for pedestrians, rather than being dominated by parking buildings, six lane roads and eight lane motorways).
- A good public transport system which is heavily used will use a lot less fuel, per person moved, than a private car.
- Less accidents, crash statistics show public transport is one of the safest modes of travel in NZ.
What is to be done?
The integrated ticketing system is an idea that has been generating momentum.
"You should have one card you can use on all buses, trains and ferries that you can charge up using cash, your credit card, your cellphone, or online. And the fares should be consistent, so that it’s easy to guess how much each trip will cost." says Hughes.
Integrated systems are in place in all the locations with leading public transportation systems, such as Vancouver, Canada and Zurich and Switzerland.
Right now, in Auckland, an integrated system is difficult to introduce due to some completely privatised bus services. Hughes explains, "Right now some of our bus services are run as totally commercial services – which the council has no control over - and others are contracted out by the council. It’s a confusing situation that makes it really hard for councils to bring in integrated ticketing and timetables or ensure a good level of customer service and punctuality. It’s also often more costly for the rate-payer as they end up subsidising the off-peak services, while private bus/ferry companies pocket 100 per cent of the profits from the peak hour services."
Price is another problem with our current public transport system. It is seen by many as too expensive. In many cases, what should be a cheaper alternative is actually significantly more expensive than driving. Hughes feels public transport should receive greater subsidisation from our government. “There are a lot of benefits to subsidising public transport (health, environmental, safety, economic) that the government refuses to recognise. There are also a lot of hidden costs that private cars and trucks impose on our economy. I would like to see much higher subsidies going into public transport and at least a 50 per cent discount for all students."
Cycling is a hugely beneficial pursuit, good for the person riding and the environment they are riding in. Unfortunately, many would-be cyclists fear the pursuit is unsafe, a mindset sadly backed up by accident statistics. This could be helped two-fold: With more dedicated cycle-ways running throughout the city; cyclists will not only be safer, but they'll also have a much more pleasant ride, which in turn encourages more cyclists and a cycling culture. The second step is education.
Drivers need to learn to co-exist with cyclists. To know how much berth to give them when they drive past, how to recognise cycle signals etc. As well as this, greater cycle education for children in schools will lead to future generations of well versed and learned cyclists.
There are some positive changes already taking place in the public transport sector. Our rail system is set to receive a big boost in efficiency once electrification is completed in 2013. It will lead to not only a more sustainable and environmentally friendly rail network, but also one that is faster, quieter and more reliable. There's more work to do though. A line that runs to south to the airport and Manukau city, as well as north to Takapuna and the North Shore would be beneficial, as well as making trains more frequent, and building the previously mentioned CBD rail tunnel.
What can you do about it?
Here are four tips from Gareth Hughes, on what you can do in terms of transportation that would benefit you, and your city:
1 - Buy a bike It will save you heaps of money as you won’t have to pay for buses, petrol or parking. Bikes are also often faster than driving or public transport, especially during rush hour. They’re great for the environment and you get a really toned butt.
2- Choose to live close to where you work/study It will make getting around so much easier and be good for everybody else in the city.
3- Give the train or bus a go – If you live too far away to walk/cycle. It may not be as expensive, slow, unreliable or crap as you think.