Tolls and congestion charges (often called ‘road pricing’) are considered one of the most promising ways to reduce both traffic congestion and overall private vehicle travel in Auckland. Auckland Council is supportive of introducing some type of road pricing, and Auckland’s Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway (the document which guides our regional approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport) includes an action to introduce “Equitable and impactful pricing of the road network”.

There are a few barriers which are currently preventing the introduction of road pricing in Auckland:

Central government needs to pass legislation to enable it.

At present, there is no legal way for Auckland Council to charge users of the roading network. Introducing road pricing requires a law change from central government. However, suggestions of charging people more money to drive are often politically unpopular, and politicians may be sensitive to this.

Road pricing impacts low-income users the most.

Road pricing is inequitable – meaning that people who already face difficulties paying for transport will be the ones who are most affected by a small increase in the cost of driving. However, it is important to remember that the existing transport system is also highly inequitable. A lack of alternatives to car use means that people who cannot drive are at a big disadvantage over those who can.

By using money raised from a road pricing scheme to fund better alternatives to driving, we can create a transport system which is fairer for everyone. The challenge is that when we introduce a road pricing scheme, those better alternatives may not yet be in place, and this could create problems for some people – especially those on low incomes.

More information on investigations into road pricing for Auckland can be found at The Congestion Question from the Ministry of Transport.

This is a possibility, however it may not currently be a priority. Options to improve access to small wheeled devices like bikes and scooters (often collectively referred to as ‘micromobility’) are continuously being investigated and implemented, however there is a need to increase the scale at which these are delivered if we want them to have a large impact.

Auckland’s Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway includes action to “Further incentivise the uptake of micromobility, including e-bikes” and “Incentivise the uptake of micromobility through local initiatives, e.g., e-bike libraries, free trials”.

Recently, Auckland Transport has begun rolling out a more wide-reaching bike hub program. Bike hubs are locations where people can purchase low-cost recycled bicycles, and bring their own bike to help get it repaired or maintained for free, and most recently in partnership with Waka Kotahi and EcoMatters, there are now opportunities for Aucklanders to trial e-bikes for a period of up to 2-weeks to see if an e-bike might work for them.

The major limitations on expanding access to micromobility are funding, and public and political support. For many, e-scooters are not seen as a ‘serious’ transport solution, and e-bikes are often seen as something that will be used for recreation rather than transportation.

International evidence suggests that this is not the case. E-bike users typically use their bike for around 18-35% of the trips where they otherwise would have used a car, including in North American cities which are similar to Auckland in terms of their transport systems. While there is limited research on the use of e-scooters, they are a promising technology which may offer an attractive way for people to make short trips without the use of a larger vehicle.

Another view on e-scooter use can be found at the C40 knowledge hub on E-Scooters and Climate Action: Contributions and potential risks.

Auckland as a region could choose to increase rates enough to fully cover the cost of operating our public transport services. Based on the existing public transport services, each household in Auckland would likely have to pay on average around $1100 extra in rates each year (some households would pay less or more than others depending on the value of the property). This works out to around $410 per person in Auckland.

However, free public transport may not be the most effective way to improve our public transport system. Many of the people who catch public transport have the ability to pay, and the revenue raised from these fares allows us to provide better quality public transport services.

For most people, it is important that public transport is fast, frequent and reliable. If we were to raise additional money to improve our public transport system, it could be better to improve the frequency and reliability of services, rather than to provide free fares. This would likely result in more people choosing to use public transport rather than driving.

Free public transport has great benefits for equity, where people on lower incomes are able to move around more easily if any cost is removed. For this reason, it may be a good idea to target fares-free or low-cost public transport fares to those on lower incomes, such as youth, elderly, disabled people and those currently out of work.

Another view on free public transport can be found at the Greater Auckland blog Will free public transport help achieve our goals?

The difference between how much low-income people and high-income people spend on transport is one part of what we call ‘transport equity’. Ideally, we would like to have a transport system in Auckland where everybody can access the things that they need without it placing a large burden on their household finances.

At the moment, our transport planning is not very effective at measuring and including equity outcomes. The first thing we need to do is ensure that equity is a key consideration when making transport-related decisions. The most effective way to reduce transport costs for most households is to enable them to live with one fewer car by improving alternatives to driving.

Active modes of transport are the most cost-effective way to move around. Walking has nearly no cost (except perhaps a pair of shoes) and a functional second-hand bicycle can cost someone a few hundred dollars and last for years. More than half of the trips that Aucklanders make are less than 6km in distance, which is an easy 20-minute bike ride.

The main reason why bicycles are not seen as a useful mode of transport in Auckland is because we have not provided a safe and connected place for people to ride where they do not feel intimidated by traffic. This is particularly true for vulnerable people like children, elderly and disabled people, who also often have low incomes. Creating a network of bike paths which provide a safe space for all people to ride would be one of the most effective ways to reduce transport costs for low-income earners.

Walking and cycling may not always be a practical way to meet somebody’s transport needs. In addition to safe places to walk and cycle, it is important that public transport services operate frequently in the places where house prices are cheaper, as these tend to be the places where low-income people live.

We also need to provide discounted public transport fares to low-income people. At the moment, Auckland Transport offers reduced fares for children, tertiary students, super-gold card holders (those over 65), some people with disabilities and community service card holders. Find out more about fare concessions here.

Read the summary report Equity in Auckland’s transport system here (Low-income people specifically on pg.12-13, policy recommendations from page 30).

There are many different processes which collectively determine what does and does not receive funding when it comes to transport projects.

At the highest level, the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport sets the over-arching policy direction and determines where the largest source of funding (the National Land Transport Fund or NLTF) is allocated. The GPS is generally reviewed every 3 years and is largely determined by the Minister of Transport and Minister of Finance, so it is politically influenced.

At a regional level, transport investment is scheduled in the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP), which has historically been developed by Auckland Transport. Prioritisation of what is funded in the RLTP includes assessing different projects based on their alignment with the GPS as well as regional strategic objectives, like our Vision Zero (road safety) targets and the Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway (climate) targets. These decisions should also be made in line with the Mayor’s Letter of Expectation, which gives Auckland Transport political direction on how they are expected to perform.

In the past, decisions have ultimately been made by officials within Auckland Transport, who interpret the variety of plans, strategies and political direction to form the RLTP and prioritise investment.

When the cost of car ownership and maintenance is taken into consideration, public transport is generally lower-cost than driving. However, as many Aucklanders already own a car and may need a car for many of the trips they take, an individual trip may be cheaper by car than by public transport.

Ideally, Auckland could become a region where car ownership is not considered necessary to enjoy a high quality of life. This would reduce transport costs and help to address other transport issues like air pollution, traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, Auckland needs to have more frequent and reliable public transport services and high-quality walking and cycling paths which enable people to move around easily without a car.

Read this MoneyHub article on The Real Costs of Owning a Car in New Zealand.

For another view on the costs of car ownership, read Timothy Welch’s piece To get New Zealanders out of their cars we’ll need to start charging the true cost of driving.

Different projects have different total costs and can vary greatly. To provide a rough estimate, we have taken a variety of different projects and estimated their cost per kilometre. Footpaths are not often constructed as a stand-alone project, so their costs are more difficult to estimate (footpaths are usually constructed as part of wider street construction projects).

As a rough estimate, the following costs are based on known completed project costs from around New Zealand. For the sake of comparison, an additional qualifier – people per hour – has been included. This describes how many people can travel on 1 kilometre of the facility type each hour (note that the speed at which each mode travels will differ significantly – somebody driving on a motorway is moving much more quickly than somebody walking on a footpath).

Stand-alone bus and bike paths are much more expensive than ‘integrated’ bus and bike paths, where the bus or bike facility is provided on an existing road or as part of an overall street delivery project. For example, if we were to replace on-street car-parking with a bus priority facility, this would be much cheaper than constructing a project like the Northern busway, which requires an entirely new ‘road’.

Often, the cost associated with bus and bike facilities is a cost which is incurred because it has been decided that space must be maintained to park cars on the street. If it is decided that we must keep all the car parking, then a much more expensive facility will need to be constructed beside the existing road.