Guzzling Gas or going Green: transport strategy update

Regional Councillor Paul Bruce reports on changes in the Transport Plan

Presentation to the Rotary Club of Wellington, May 2010

Tena koutou katoa!

According to Charles Finny, CEO of Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce, Greater Wellington is possibly the best performing regional council in the country, with highly dedicated staff, and a couple of significant plans produced during the recent triennium.

The major expenditure item has been the replacement of 1940’s trains, and the addition of some extra transit capacity.

However, as well as running the buses and trains, GW is the environmental manager of the region, does transport planning, water supply, flood protection, pest and land management, harbour safety, regional parks and forests, emergency management and funds a regional economic development agency.  Three years ago I talked to you about climate and weather.

Well, greenhouse gas emissions continue their relentless climb, as do signs of global climate change.

In fact we are following along the worst case scenario … in spite of what the climate deniers say!
The way we use energy and transport matters not only for sustainability, but also for our safety, comfort and health. The most dangerous thing we do in our lives is to travel in a car.  And two thirds of cyclist accidents are due to cars.

If you want to be really safe, then travel by train, they are doing so increasing numbers in Europe – the risk reduces ten-fold! Less hassle and you arrive safely at your destination.

Well, what about Wellington?

Our city hums with a vibrancy that comes from a denser inner core and the seat of Governance, and plenty of intellectual debate. And, we have other things, like a Sustainable Cities faculty (Otago University), the most used public transit system in New Zealand, and almost all our electricity about to be produced by a couple of wind farms. About 75% of public transport use, measured in passengers times distance travelled (passenger-km), is powered by electricity: trains and trolleybuses.

Thirty one percent of inner city residents no longer own a car, with 73% choosing to walk to work. A WCC 2006 survey, also showed 27% of trips in Wellington city between 1km and 2km were made by walking and cycling.

Yet, in spite of this only 17% of the wider regional population commute by public transport to the CBD, with about 70% commuting by car. But 70% of car journeys are not work-related: visits to the supermarket, sport, recreation, and for social occasions.

New Zealand has one of the highest per capita transport demand profiles, and is highly dependent on oil imports to support this demand. Thirty six percent of Greater Wellington greenhouse emissions come from petrol, diesel and aviation fuel.

This suggests that NZ would fare comparatively badly in response to high oil prices, especially lower socio-economic communities, with poor public transport connections. An interesting survey done at Griffith University shows how communities located in peripheral suburbs by cheaper housing suffer disproportionately from oil price increases. The same would probably happen here, in Wainuiomata, Porirua East, and Titahi Bay and so on unless there is strategic development of post-oil alternatives.

Oil Vulnerability in the Australian City – Griffith University

The sustainable response? Provide people with the opportunity to choose sustainable transport modes for most of their travel, generate services locally, increase efficiency of our services, give support to active transport and adjust our urban form.

Greater Wellington funds public transport

Our system suffers from decades of neglect. Trolleybus, and rail networks have been allowed to run down.  Since 1993 the National and Labour governments have invested roughly $14 billion in road maintenance and renewal and only $2 billion in rail improvements, so it is not surprising our railway lines are carrying less freight than the trucks on our roads.

Good news for Kiwirail today, making a modest profit, according to the half-year report [PDF].

96 new electric “Matangi” trains will start arriving from August this year. This has been accompanied by a year long upgrade of station platforms, signalling and electrification to Waikanae, with new double tracking. Work is continuing on providing real time information for bus and train travellers, with a pilot involving 25 buses under way at present.

Integrated ticketing is planned, but held up in order to coordinate with Auckland. NZTA has chosen Thales as the supplier for a national system.

At the same time, GW is reviewing bus efficiency on routes south of Wellington Railway Station.

A major deterrent to public transport use south of the CBD, has been the congested hub at Wellington Railway Station and along Lambton Quay. Multiple routes passing through this space, produces bus congestion, and poor timetabling.

A collaborative NZ/Australian transport study, directed by Prof. Gustaf Nielson, indicated the value of moving towards spoke and hub services (and sub-hubs) feeding into enhanced arterial transport routes, and I am very pleased to say the GW officers now believe that we can make significant improvements to the efficiency of our networks, which allow for increased frequency in outer areas, and less congestion in the CBD.

Roads of National Significance (RoNS)

However, these fine aspirations have been undermined by Government’s announcement of Roads of National Significance or RoNS, and has thrown into doubt the purchase of another 14 trains, that would allow for 3% annual growth.

Minister of Transport, Stephen Joyce, has outlined an additional $21 billion of investment in roads. The same National Infrastructure Plan lists only a further $0.7 billion investment in alternatives to roads.

It is indeed ironic that Prime Minister John Key can claim in Copenhagen, that NZ can’t afford to reduce GHE, yet National can find $2.2 billion public money for expenditure on non-performing assets in the Wellington region that saddle us with long term costs and more greenhouse emissions!

GW’s Regional Land Transport Strategy contains a vision that few would disagree with.

It advocates modal shift to public transport and active travel, and transfer of freight to rail, as a response to climate change, rising fuel prices, health, safety and security.

However, the key outcomes listed - Reduced severe road congestion (6.4.1), and the related outcomes - Maintained vehicle travel times between communities and regional destinations, and Improved reliability of the strategic roading network, have been used to justify the inclusion of the Transmission Gully project (8.1r, 10.2.1), the “Road of National Significance” (8.5d, 10.2.1), and Ngauranga to Wellington Airport Corridor (10.2.4). The timing of the Mt Victoria and Terrace Tunnel duplications and the widening of Ruahine Street have been brought forward in response to the inclusion of the Road of National Significance.

I also say, “non-performing” non-reservedly, as the cost benefit analysis shows that all the different components come out at well below One.  This means, the Government is planning to build roads that will have no net benefit to the economy, that is a loss will be made.  And the Transmission Gully road lies on an active fault line, and soil mapping indicates that the area suffers the same propensity for slips after heavy rains, as the coastal route.

The latest OECD comparison (2002) shows that New Zealand is already suffering from a very expensive transport network, with the highest vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT) per unit of Gross  Domestic Product (GDP) in the OECD:

Vehicle Kilometres Travelled by Road – MfE website

Each year in New Zealand, traffic-related air pollution is a contributing factor to 500 deaths, a similar number of deaths to road accidents. Car drivers and passengers have a death/injury rate ten times that of bus passengers.
There are also a lot of hidden costs, and one Ministry of Transport study, estimates that car and trucks only contribute 65% towards the total cost to the community.

For example, wastes such as used oil, batteries and tyres require careful disposal and cost New Zealand $3.8 billion. Road transport is also a primary source of harmful air pollutants in urban areas, and waterways are affected by contaminated run-off from roads.

Roading projects are funded from the National Land Transport Fund [Government Policy Statement GPS 2009/10 – 2018/19 May 2009 - PDF].  Some funding also comes from local authority rates.  So ratepayers are paying for a portion of the cost of the Roads of National Significance (RoNs).

While most trucks pay road user charges it is not generally enough to cover the cost of road maintenance and the remainder is funded from taxpayers contributions.  Road freight causes significant damage to roads and the most efficient means of transporting heavy goods is by rail.  So in effect, roads are subsidized three times, firstly by vehicle registrations, secondly by taxpayers and thirdly by rates.

Many of us believed that peaking oil prices would see a shift in the car friendly culture irrespective of which Government was elected. We did not imagine in our wildest dreams that the Government would begin raising billions of dollars to keep the whole structure going and would prefer that our children inherit an impossible debt just to feed this addictive use of mineral oil.

The RONS proposal will result in unnecessary road capacity and community severance.

They will increase traffic speed and feed more vehicles into already congested Wellington streets. New expressways, like Karo Drive, may well lead to further high speed accidents, making a mockery of the recently launched Traffic Safety program, aimed at getting speed down.

The Minister wants a racetrack, in a similar manner to Muldoon’s think big projects, and they seem to be placing all their bets on bio-fuels and electric cars to replace gasoline.

However, electric cars are expensive, their uptake will be slow, with resource constraints on essential materials necessary for both batteries and electrical infrastructure. The Hon Steven Joyce has in fact estimated that there will be 300 light electric motor vehicles in the fleet by July 2013, and only reach 5% of the vehicle fleet by 2020. (NZ Energy Strategy PDF).

As a Regional Councillor, I have been advocating a balanced approach and seek the funds needed to fix the key problems with the rail system – the North-South junction, the fixing of the missing rail link from Wellington Railway station, that is light rail through to the Airport, and looking at our Urban form.

Urban form – access rather than mobility

A recent Health Department report, Healthy Places, Healthy Lives: Urban environments and wellbeing, provides detailed evidence about the strong link between poor urban design and poor health, and the large burden that puts on our communities and health services.

If designed appropriately, urban form and transport can increase physical activity, improve air quality, reduce road traffic injuries, increase social cohesion, and achieve maximum health benefits from services and facilities. Urban form can also help create a sense of place.

Urban form is a key factor in reducing the need for fossil fuels.

All the territorial authorities except Upper Hutt are signatories to the Urban Protocol (March 2005). The Regional Land Transport Programme has a vision that acknowledges the need for better land use, that people live closer to their main destinations for work and play, more vehicles run on renewable fuels, and that peoples choices recognise the risk and impact of climate change and diminishing non-renewable resources.

A vibrant city will facilitate compact development around transport hubs -

• safe cycle ways on all arterial routes, and speed limit of 30km/h on shared roads.
• electric trolley buses and light rail
• freight to shipping and rail powered by a combination of solar, wind and bio-fuels. Coastal shipping is the most energy efficient way to move freight around the country, producing only 14 grams of CO2 per tonne-kilometre compared with road at 92–123 grams of CO2
• moderate density apartments allowing regen heat, smart transport design,  car share, passive solar aspects, savings in building design, community gardens
• connectedness through broad band, social access
• time share
• free cycle and swap of used goods
• clean air and good health
• demand management programs run through workplace and schools, to encourage active modes, school walking buses etc.

Projects such as dual rail tunnels from Pukerua Bay through to Paekakariki, can enhance the public transport network and take cars and trucks off the road.

Tram – Train

Brent Efford, a recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2003, to study transit in North America, says that extending the rail system into the CBD using tram-train would knock ten minutes off the journey time for thousands of commuters every day, the same time saving claimed for Transmission Gully, but at less than $100m – less than a tenth of the cost.

Let’s look at a schematic of a possible new tram-train network, connecting Johnsonville and Melling directly through the Wellington CBD to the airport. Of course this would be done in stages, and based on similar light rail developments in Adelaide, Melbourne and most recently in Christchurch, would cost no more than $20 million per km to lay down the lines.

Allowing an inland rail port at Waingawa in Wairarapa, would remove the need for heavy trucks to use the Rimutaka Hill road.

And we need more passenger connections – rail commuters are complaining of “Third World travelling conditions” and safety concerns on packed trains. Passenger counts of 1200 on the three peak morning services from Masterton to Wellington, outnumbered available seats last year (DomPost 12th March 2009).

And another way that John Key and Steven Joyce could give us real dividends is to ….

Active modes

… invest in cycle friendly infrastructure.  All TAs and GW have cycle plans specifying the need for safe cycling routes. In spite of this, change is slow and some times non-existent.  Riddiford Street was upgraded in January last year, with no provision for cyclists, though advance stop markings have since been added.

A cycle/walk way connecting Petone and Nguaranga was first mooted over 100 years ago.  Progress has been made here with the adoption of the concept of the Great Harbour Way by all TAs including GW. NZTA has also completed a study recommending a stand alone seaward track only between Petone and Horokiwi. We need political pressure to expand that to a fully fledged cycle way into the heart of Wellington.

Thirteen National cycle trails got the nod at the start of February to go through to the next stage for National Cycleway funding.  Wellington region was excluded!

Based on experience in other cities, a 3 to 5 metre two way track connecting Wellington’s two major cities, could lead to a 20 fold increase with up to 8,000 new cyclists.  This would significant number of cars off State highway 2 with corresponding benefits for us al.

The economic benefits are well established.

NZTA have found that a car driver shifting mode to cycling on a 5km commuter trip to work, brings $9,000 savings per year to the rider and the rest of the community.

A 10% shift back to cycling would bring savings of billions of dollars to the NZ economy.

30% of our land travel trips are for distances of under two kilometres.

Urban planner Richard Register recounts meeting a bicycle activist friend wearing a t-shirt that said “I just lost 3,500 pounds. Ask me how.”  When queried he said he had sold his car. Replacing a 3,500-pound car with a 22-pound bicycle obviously reduces energy use dramatically, but it also reduces materials use by 99 percent, indirectly saving still more energy.

Enrique Penalosa, Mayor of Bogota (Colombia), was responsible for numerous radical improvements to his city, and for its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks.

Penalosa, said that he had seen transportation systems where people had to walk or bike unprotected on highways and risk being killed, because figuring out how to move people who choose to walk, was less important than figuring out how to move rich people who had fancy cars.

“There are 1 or 2% kamikaze cyclists who will mix it with car traffic. If you paint a white line on the road, the number of cyclists increases to 5%. Then if you construct a special cycle way, protected from the traffic by shrubs, then 30 to 40% will venture out”

Broadway in New York has removed car parks, and traffic lanes, and created really popular cycle ways and broader sidewalks.

Overseas cities are no longer investing in accommodating the motorcar. They are promoting and improving their public transport. In cities such as Toronto and Seattle, there are moves to demolish freeways (motorways).

Moving our City with Free Public Transport

Bob Jones hit the mark when he called for a car free golden mile. However, there a number of other things that we should do to help people move more freely about town.  One of these is free public transport, and the other is reducing the number of car parks.

Wellington City Council provides, through a business levy, free carparking at weekends to encourage shoppers to come into the city, but this may well be counter-productive. It costs $1.2m in forgone parking revenue, and contributes to vehicle pollution and traffic snarl ups as cars search for parking spaces. It may also put some people off coming to town, and actually decrease retail returns.

Wellington City Council “free” weekend car parks cost a lot in foregone revenue, in fact three to four times more than the cost of inner city public transport weekend fares. Wellington is in fact, an extreme case in terms of provision of car parks, with the highest number of parking spaces per job, according to figures gathered from around the world.

We outrank Christchurch and Auckland, and well known US cities, Phoenic, Denver, and Detroit. In his book The High Cost of Free Parking, Donald Shoup estimates that off-street parking subsidies in the United States are worth at least $127 billion a year. What societies should be striving for is not parking subsidies, but parking fees, reflecting the costs of congestion and the deteriorating quality of life as cars and parking lots take over.

In a time of diminishing resources, this isn’t the best message to send out.

Instead, we should aim for fewer cars in shopping areas, which would improve air quality and traffic flow, and hence ambience and retail sales. It also can give an added pull to tourists.

Number of CBD parking spaces in 1996 per 1000 CBD jobs

(figures collated by Kerry Wood)

Wellington	1050
Christchurch	940
Auckland	650
Sourced figures:
Phoenix	910
Denver	730
Detroit	710
Perth	630
Houston	610
Los Angeles	520
Portland	400
Melbourne	340
Brisbane	320
Sydney	220
Copenhagen	220
Zürich	140
London	120
New York	60

Zero fare public transport services

Auckland	Free downtown bus loop, ‘City Circuit’
Christchurch	Free downtown bus loop, ‘The Shuttle’
Invercargill	Free downtown bus & free off peak buses
Adelaide	Free downtown tram route
Sydney	Free downtown city bus loop
Melbourne	Free downtown tram and bus loop
Chapel Hill , USA	Free area-wide bus services
Hasselt , Belgium	Free area-wide bus services

Bachels, M, Newman, P and Kenworthy, J (1999). Indicators of urban transport efficiency in New Zealand’s main cities. Perth: Murdoch University, ISBN 0 86905 669 7

Newman, P and Kenworthy, J (1999). Sustainability and cities — overcoming automobile dependence. ISBN 1 55963 660 2.

The High Cost of Free Parking, Donald Shoup estimates that off-street parking subsidies in the United States are worth at least $127 billion a year.

Why not look at shifting some of the business levy to cover bus fares in the central business district? This would tie in with Greater Wellington’s intention to move towards integrated fares, allowing people arriving from outer suburbs such as Hutt Valley and Kapiti Coast to proceed through to Courtenay Place without any extra cost. Greater Wellington already provides a free connecting bus service on the Kapiti Coast to connect with train services, and has found this measure to be cost neutral.

Overseas experience has shown that zero fare inner city public transport encourages people to test the alternative.

More about free public transport

“The Thrill is Gone”

There are signs of deeper shifts in consumer attitudes towards cars, notably among the younger people on which its future rests. Studies now show they will be less willing to spend on them than their parents –  Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, concluded recently that in the US “frugalism is the new cool”, according to Bob Carter, brand head in the country.

We do have ways to live more lightly on the earth that give joy and better health.  Our end game can be a delightful, cradle-to-cradle, pollution free environment.

Now is the time to wake up to irresistible cities, with light rail, Great Harbour cycle walkways, community gardens, energy efficient buildings, and the power of solar.

One last thing…. remember that

The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.

For more information

Contact Regional Councillor Paul Bruce
paul.bruce@greens.org.nz
phone: 04 9728699 cellphone:021 02719370