Auckland Council’s Planning Committee has unanimously agreed to continue working on the Congestion Question project, the joint council and central government study into whether congestion pricing should be introduced in Auckland.
At its meeting on Thursday, the committee approved of Auckland Council and Auckland Transport scoping the work for the next phase of the project, together with central government partners – the Ministry of Transport, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, Treasury, and the State Services Commission.
This would include plans for comprehensive public engagement about the implications and options of congestion pricing and further work to consider the potential social inequity impacts and how these might be addressed before any final decisions can be made.
Chris Darby, Auckland Councillor and Planning Committee chair, says it is unsustainable for Auckland to continue widening roads as a solution to reducing congestion.
“We are locking ourselves into big ticket spend on roading infrastructure which comes with multibillion-dollar price tags imposing huge costs on Auckland ratepayers and taxpayers,” he says.
“We are in a spiral of spending and demand management, through a congestion pricing scheme, is the tool to break us out.
“Congestion pricing is not a revenue gathering scheme. The clear purpose of this project is to manage traffic demands on our roads and reduce congestion by up to 12 percent to levels the city experiences during school holidays. Associated benefits also include lowering greenhouse gas emissions to help Auckland meet its climate action targets.
“Any further work will include deep community engagement. We will seek the views of all Aucklanders which will be critical to making this work and do more analysis of the social impacts on people across our city and find the solutions.
“The introduction of any congestion pricing scheme also needs to coincide with the completion of more public transport alternatives, such as the City Rail Link, new busways across the region, electrifying rail to Pukekohe and electric ferries,” says Councillor Darby.
The scope of work to be considered in the next phase of the Congestion Question project will be finalised before a joint decision between the council and central government is made to proceed with the third phase of the project.
More information about The Congestion Question is available on the Ministry of Transport website here.