Consultation with staff at Auckland Council and Auckland Transport has opened today, marking an important milestone in progressing changes to the way transport is planned, governed, and delivered in Tāmaki Makaurau.
CCO reform was first signalled in 2024 and has subsequently seen the functions of Eke Panuku Development Auckland and the economic development function of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited moved into Auckland Council. Auckland Transport, however, is created by legislation, which meant structural changes required new legislation.
Parliament last week passed the Local Government (Auckland Council) (Transport Governance) Amendment Act 2026, making three core changes:
Transport governance and planning arrangements will move to Auckland Council, including the establishment of a new Auckland Regional Transport Committee, jointly governed by Auckland Council and central government.
Auckland Transport will solely focus on the delivery of public transport services.
All other transport functions, including Road Controlling Authority status, will move from Auckland Transport into Auckland Council.
Auckland Council Chief Executive Phil Wilson says today’s proposal for staff follows months of work by teams at both organisations to understand the opportunity that exists and create proposed structures for each organisation that sets them up for success.
“Auckland Transport has made strong progress for Aucklanders in the last 15 years, and the current model has delivered many benefits for the Auckland region and our communities”
“We now have six months to transition to our new model that will build on those successes but will fundamentally change both organisations. In doing so, we’ll create clearer accountability, better integration of land use, transport and infrastructure planning, a stronger partnership with Government, improved delivery and efficiency and a more co-ordinated approach to customer and stakeholder engagement.”
Mr Wilson says moving more than 1350 people from one organisation to another is a huge effort, and making these changes is about setting ourselves up to deliver better outcomes for Aucklanders.
“We have deliberately set out to organise the functions transferring to council in line with the council’s existing organisational strategy. At the same time, we have taken the opportunity to make improvements within and between directorates given the impact that the transport functions will have on the organisation,” says Mr Wilson.
“We have proposed new Transport and Infrastructure Delivery directorate where transport, stormwater, development, engineering, assets and technical advisory will be grouped together as well as proposed changes throughout the council’s organisation in areas such as strategy, policy, urban development, property and shared services.”
Mr Wilson says that for the public transport CCO to be successful, the proposal ensures that the organisation has the skills, expertise and resources to fulfil its critical role in delivering reliable public transport services to Auckland, while making more use of shared services across the council group and increasing the level of integration between the two organisations.
The proposal will be open for consultation with staff until Monday 25 May. Final structural decisions are likely to be made around July, with the new structure to be in place around October.
Throughout this process, transport operations and public transport services continue as usual.