‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ - CRL set to lift the region
John F. Kennedy’s much-quoted words apply to the predicted benefits of Auckland’s City Rail Link (CRL) across the Auckland region.
According to Auckland Council’s Principal Transport Advisor George Weeks, it’s because CRL will improve transport connections to all of Auckland’s town centres.
Weeks says that Auckland is like any city in the world; it has a hierarchy of town centres. He says CRL will strengthen all of them.
“Benefits for the city centre, by far the biggest employment centre in Auckland, have been well articulated. But look at Manukau, Henderson and Takapuna. They will all be better-connected post-CRL too with the wider transport network improvements. And the more accessible our town centres are, the better the city works,” says Weeks.
These insights and others are shared in a new Q&A with George Weeks, who is a former Urban Designer at Transport for London and has been living in Auckland for nine years.
The Q&A illustrates how Auckland Council’s investment in this major infrastructure project will deliver a significant return on the council’s 50% stake in the project, across the region.
Weeks brings his urban design experience to the conversation and gives examples of what makes cities efficient, easy to get around and pleasant to spend time in.
He supports the view that CRL will enable the Auckland region to become more connected which in turn will support a more liveable, productive, modern city, attracting top talent to live and work here.
Weeks gives a glowing report card for Auckland Transport’s bus system which he says is well placed to play a key role in an efficient integrated transit network.
“We've built a short length of tunnel to make our whole system substantially more efficient.
“By turning a terminus station – Waitematā Station - into a through station, we’ll be able to increase train frequencies into the city centre and throughout Auckland in the long term. So that's outstanding news. Frequency is the absolute key of public transport,” says Weeks.
Auckland Transport information shows that people travelling from Henderson to midtown by public transport at peak times in the morning post-CRL will save 24 minutes in travel time. It will become a direct route with no changes from train to bus.
Equally, travel times across town will reduce. Travel time by train from Henderson to Sylvia Park will reduce by around 20 minutes, no longer requiring transfer between services.
Further practical examples of anticipated benefits - for Papakura, Glen Innes and North Shore communities - are discussed in the Q&A.
“If more people can reach key employment centres, then it makes more sense to develop, invest or open a business there.
“When the stations open, I think people will be surprised with what they see. They are very beautiful, immaculate, 21st century structures of the kind we’re just not used to,” says Weeks.
Read the full Q&A with George Weeks at OurAuckland.
This is part of an occasional Q&A series with urban and economic development leads within the Auckland Council group, looking ahead at the region-wide benefits of City Rail Link.