Congestion charging, parking and the role of public transport: MRCagney Newsletter, February 2024

Kia ora,

Welcome back to the MRCagney Newsletter for 2024.

I hope you all enjoyed our lovely and long overdue summer. We had two excellent interns, Chris and Ashley,?join us over the summer (more on that below). It provided a great opportunity for the team to reflect on how far the conversation has progressed on sustainable transport but also the areas where more work is needed. ?

2024 is going to be an interesting year with a range of challenges. There is no denying that the whole sector is collectively holding its breath to see what the new GPS contains. We are also progressively seeing local authorities around the country release their proposed LTPs for consultation, which will start to steer the conversation on where to from here.? ?

At MRCagney, through our evidence based work, we clearly see how important the relationship between land use and transport is, and how it shapes what people can access and how they travel.?Our aim remains to enable our clients to provide better transport choices that support the wellbeing of people and the environment.??

This month in our newsletter, we share some of our insights and thoughts on aspects that will be key topics this year - congestion charging, parking and the role of public transport.??

Ngā mihi,

Pippa Mitchell Managing Director MRCagney

MRCagney Event

Webinar: People, Places and Parking - with Steven Burgess and Scott Ebbett?

• What makes a great street??
• How do we know what people like and what needs to be improved??
• Is parking as important as local businesses make it out to be??

Join us in our live webinar to find out the answer to these million dollar questions and more. Last year Steven and Scott travelled around Aotearoa New Zealand, visiting towns and cities to talk all things people, places and parking. Find out what they discovered, how we can improve, and just how does NZ stack up against Australia and other places around the world??

??Topic: People, Places and Parking - a discussion about good places

??Date/Time: Thursday 14th March | 1.00 - 2.00pm

??Location: Zoom | Register here

We're looking forward to seeing you then!?

MRCagney People and Projects

Congestion charging and road user charges

Earlier this month Shane Martin, our Principal Economist, was a panelist at KPMG, alongside Stacey van der Putten (Auckland Transport) and Richard Threlfall (KPMG). Together they nutted out some of the more challenging aspects of what congestion charging and road user charges actually mean for people. It's a hot topic at the moment internationally as well as locally with Auckland, Wellington, and now Tauranga considering?the move.?

"In general, we think about the cost to ourselves (time, petrol, parking, maybe wear and tear), but we rarely consider the costs we impose on others. In theory, a congestion charge takes this cost we impose on other people and makes us consider it by making us pay for it. And doing this can change our behaviour."?

We'd encourage you to check out Shane's blog post here?if you're fuzzy on why congestion charging is a good thing for us in attaining more equitable outcomes for ourselves and the planet.?

Rethinking our public transport

February has been a busy month for Nicolas Reid, our Principle Public Transport Planner. He chatted with Newstalk ZB's Francesca Rudkin on the Sunday Session about how feasible a fixed link between the North and South Islands would be. A bridge too far, as it turns out. You can listen here or read up on Nicolas' thoughts in his blog post here.

Nicolas also put pen to paper to nut out just why Auckland's City Rail Link will fail - but in the best possible way.?

“Here’s the thing: the City Rail Link is almost certainly going to be overcapacity from day one, with crowding on the trains at peak times.?In the simple terms of popular transport discourse, it’s going to “fail” immediately... from day one, the City Rail Link will effectively double the number of trains that can run across the system.?

Read on here for more insights on the City Rail Link.

Summer Interns

Over the summer MRCagney were joined by interns?Ashley Redshaw, in his final year of a planning degree, and?Christopher McLellan, who is in his third year of studying civil engineering. They settled in quickly and each focused on supporting the wider MRCagney team across a diverse range of our projects, as well as their own projects. Chris explored the current use and collection of public transport metrics across the motu by regional?authorities, the title “Metrics that Matter”. Ashley explored how people currently access the city centre, researching trends in active transport in his project “Auckland City Centre Metrics”.?

We want to say a big thank you to them for their contributions, and haere rā as they head back to uni for the new term!?

Insights from Aotearoa, and around the world

Reducing public transport fares supports positive outcomes for low income households

A Christchurch study carried out by Otago University found that cheaper public transport had positive outcomes for low-income individuals, freeing up money for essentials such as food. Reported by RNZ, the study identified key significant outcomes. Whilst freeing up cash to purchase daily essentials may seem like an obvious positive outcome, some others were more surprising. People surveyed cited that they felt reduced anxiety around ability to find parking or get to where they needed to within the time limit allowed on transfer fares. Others felt stronger social benefits as they were able to connect with friends and family more regularly.

Dublin's new approach to traffic congestion

With a goal to reduce traffic in the city centre by 60%, Dublin is the latest city to take a strong stance against congestion in the city centre. With 80% of those consulted supporting the move, it’s further confirmation that people want their streets to be people focused, free of pollution, and safer to move around in.???

Under investment in England leads to fewer active mode trips despite health, economic benefits

It’s unsurprising to those who are passionate about active mobility and reducing car trips that outcomes across health, climate and the economy are improved when people walk and cycle more. A new report by the Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR) in England highlights some key insights, including ￡17 billion ($34.7billion NZD) in saving for the NHS by getting people out of cars and into active travel for short trips. Return on investment for roads in England is around ￡2.50 ($5) for every ￡1 ($2) spent. This balloons to ￡5.62 ($11.50) for active modes. A couple of excellent examples of the benefits that investing properly in different ways for people to move around can reap. For more information you can download the report here.

And finally, some resources you might find interesting

Something to read, something to attend and something to listen to!

??: Human Transit Revised Edition: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives by Jarrett Walker, often considered the transport professionals bible, this classic gets an update. Touching on new topics such as access to opportunity as a key component to measure transit outcomes, network redesign and planning for diversity.

??♀?: Salvador Rueda is coming to Aotearoa! Best known for conceptualising Barcelona’s Superblocks, he revolutionised street space by redistributing it back to people through traffic planning techniques. Once one of the most polluted cities in Europe, Barcelona now has significant?green space across the city, which has supported increased community connection and also reduced traffic in the city. Catch him in Christchurch on 7 March, and in Auckland on 13 March?- see you there!?

??: The Detail on Auckland Harbour Bridge. A great yarn for those of us who may not have all the context of the ups and downs on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. 170,000 cars and 1,000 buses cross the Harbour Bridge each day, how did it come to be, and what's next??

And that's a wrap!

If you have any questions, or want to discuss something further, please reach out via LinkedIn! Or you can get in touch with our team on [email protected]