Auckland’s centre-right mayoral candidate Viv Beck wants a rollout of express bus routes, rather than the proposed $14.6 billion light rail system.
In another part of Beck’s transport policy, she believed that there could be an express bus network within ten years, by pushing some projects forward and starting cheaper alternatives for others.
Beck said light rail is no longer viable at this point and suggested bus lanes across the isthmus to the central city as a workable solution for the next decade or more.
For the growing Northwest, Beck proposed a segregated bus lane to Westgate, which she said would cost $2.5 billion and could be built in five years with little disruption.
READ MORE:
* Hopeful Auckland mayors dismiss gondola proposal as ‘aesthetic pollution’
* The $313 million Northern Busway extension in Auckland is ready for use
* Auckland 2038: a city on the move but not (so much) at the wheel
Ricky Wilson / Stuff
Buses on bus lanes or a network of bus lanes are Viv Beck’s preferred approach to rapid transit. (file photos)
Beck’s plans for the Northwest would require a leap forward over work begun on a $50 million temporary bus lane, utilizing existing highway berms with new interchanges at Te Atatu and Lincoln Rd.
Other elements include the advancement of $110 million in upgrades to the northern bus lane currently planned but not funded, and the bringing forward of the Airport to Botany bus for rapid transit.
“It’s about building a good high-speed transit network, one that people in all parts of Auckland can benefit from,” Beck said.
“My plan is to open up much more of Auckland to real and attractive alternatives to public transport, and to build a network that can serve the city well into the future.”
Beck said a longer-term option for the light rail route to Mt Roskill and Mangere could be a light rail or high-speed bus service at street level to Mt Roskill, and improved bus lanes to the airport.
Todd Niall / Things
The maiden journey through the extension to Auckland’s Northern Busway on May 6, 2022.
That would keep costs much more realistic,” Beck said, than the light rail project she expected to cost more than $15 billion.
She said bus projects like Airport to Botany, and through the Northwest, could be future-proofed to become light rail at some point in the future.
Other candidates’ views on transport include a commitment to free public transport from Efeso Collins, endorsed by Labor and the Greens, and Leo Molloy who wants a 12-month trial of the idea, funded by the regional fuel tax.