Auckland Transport shake-up: 'There's not much room to get worse ...

Wayne Brown says his promise to shake up the city's transport is great news for residents - but some are worried it is risky.

Auckland Transport will be stripped of its decision-making powers to focus on running public transport, while a new Regional Transport Committee will tackle policy and planning.

Just hours after the announcement, Aucklanders told RNZ the transport issues they wanted to see fixed as soon as possible.

"The roads," said one man. "They're terrible, potholes, the surfacing is horrendous.

"And the speed needs to go back up to pre-Labour speed-limits," he added.

"Cycle lanes, completely," one woman said.

"I used to cycle to work quite a lot, nowadays I just don't risk it, because I used to be able to go early, got children now, have to go later, don't want to face the traffic."

The transition meant Auckland Transport would focus on delivering bus, train and ferry services.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown did not pull any punches.

"Delivery is one of the most important things for them," he said.

"I think that it will only be better... there's not much room to get worse to be honest."

Transport Minister Simeon Brown said the move put Aucklanders in the driver's seat.

"What we're taking away is the issues around policy, and planning, and strategy," he said.

"That's where many of those decisions have been frustrating Aucklanders, where they see an agency not reflecting their views."

Matt Lowrie, director of the Greater Auckland transport advocacy website, was sceptical.

"Often the best decision is not always the most politically popular one, and Auckland Transport hasn't always used their independence properly to make sure those decisions are made well," he said.

"But, this means that a populist decision might be chosen over an evidence-based decision simply because the politicians don't want to upset people."

Under the new model, local boards would have authority over certain transport decisions like setting speed limits and approving things like cycleways and pedestrian crossings.

Lowrie said this may be risky.

"The thing that quite concerns me is the local boards having much more say in outcomes on local roads," he said.

"There are some local boards that are very good and do look at evidence-based issues, and there are others that are quite the opposite, and so we could have quite a mixed bag of outcomes as a result."

Minister Brown told Morning Report the long-term plan developed by the transport committee will be approved by Cabinet, functioning like a regional deal.

He said this will make Auckland Transport delivery-focused, and make decisions accountable to the public.

"This was actually what was started under the last National government, which was the auckland transport alignment project and that was to have the council and the government working together..."

Asked about whether there would be a risk decisions made would be populist rather than evidence-based, Minister Brown said it was about democracy.

"Ultimately it's about democracy and you know voters actually have a say on these things and that's the reality in terms of what happens on a local street in a local community, the voters of that community should be able to have a say."

Devonport-Takapuna local board chair Toni van Tonder said the transition made good sense.

"I think we're going to be quite excited to be able to collaborate better and help to co-design and shape some of these projects, so that they reflect the community aspirations a bit more fulsomely."

But there was still a way to go, as the changes to Auckland Transport required new legislation to make its way through parliament over the next 12 months.

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins told Morning Report without studying the details he was broadly supportive of the move.

"But I do think Auckland Transport needs a real shakeup and I do think it needs to be a partnership between central and local governmnet."

Asked why Labour did not do this, Hipkins said the party was keen to progress conversations the mayor had started with them.

"The new government have done it, credit to them, let's get on with it."

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