The agenda for next week’s meeting of the Council’s Transport Committee includes an interesting item on transport monitoring, which looks at how Auckland’s transport system is performing in comparison to a number of targets that were set in the Auckland Spatial Plan. Of particular interest out of the information, in my opinion, are the following matters:
- Confirmation of a continuation of really high public transport patronage growth in Auckland over the past few years
- A bump in the proportion of people entering the city at peak times who are doing so by public transport
- A pretty big jump in the number of people using rail to enter the city in the AM peak
- Some initial details about how absolutely fantastic the new bus network that Auckland Transport is working on may well be
First, let’s look at PT patronage totals:
All up this is a 38% increase in public transport patronage in the last six years, or a 36% increase in the last five years. These increases are certainly well ahead of population growth and highlight how misleading relying on 2006 Census data or 2006 travel preferences will be, when trying to predict what might happen in the future. The world really has changed since then for public transport in Auckland.
Another table looks at public transport versus private transport modeshare in the AM peak along various “entry points” to the city centre. The 2011 numbers here totalled up to a 54/46 mode split in favour of private vehicles, but in 2012 things had evened up quite enormously:
What’s particularly fascinating about these numbers is looking at how different streets compare with each other. While Grafton Bridge’s high PT modeshare is the result of it being bus only, Fanshawe Street, Karangahape Road and Symonds Street all carry well over half their passengers during the AM peak by bus. Put another way, the 35% of people travelling along Fanshawe Street in the AM peak use up two lanes of space while 65% of people use up just the one lane. Therefore Fanshawe Street would need to be nearly six lanes in each direction to carry the same number of people if they were all to drive.
The number of people entering the city centre on the train also jumped in 2012 (though this is just from a single day survey):
While rail patronage to the city centre in the AM peak has clearly grown massively since Britomart was opened in 2003, in recent years I think patronage growth has been even faster for trips not to the city centre. This highlights the importance of referring to the City Rail Link project’s benefits (higher frequencies, more stations accessible without a transfer, opening up access to new parts of the city centre) which go beyond simply easing the capacity constraints at Britomart. Of course the main impact of those constraints is to limit our ability to efficiently operate additional trains on the network, which hurts everyone.
There’s plenty of other interesting information about ferry patronage and different bus flows along different city centre routes (and how that’s changed over time) but the last thing I want to highlight is something that really stuck out at me and relates to the new bus network that we keep hearing great things about:
It seems like either the Auckland Plan target was not nearly challenging enough, or it was simply never anticipated that Auckland’s bus network could be improved to such an extent through largely reallocating existing resources. In any case, I guess this is pretty good news. Maybe the target will need to be updated to something truly challenging, like having 75% of the population within walking distance of a frequent service by 2040.
We do complain a lot about PT on this blog, and rightfully so as Auckland has a very very long way to go in building a system we can be proud of (my trip to Vancouver really highlighted this fact!) However, excellent progress has been made in the last few years and looks like will also be happening in the next while. It’s important to celebrate success.
Here’s the latest US figures, a place with low very petrol pump prices compared with other western nations, a lot of very sprawlly urban form, and outside of some older cities often pretty poor PT provision:
http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2012/Pages/120604_Ridership.aspx
Public Transportation Ridership Use Surged in First Quarter 2012
Nationwide Increase of 5.0% with Nearly 2.7 Billion Trips Taken
Public transportation ridership surged in the first quarter of 2012, as Americans took nearly 2.7 billion trips, an increase of 5.0% over the first quarter of last year, according to a report released today by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This was the fifth consecutive quarter of U.S. public transit ridership increase, as 125.7 million more trips were taken than the first quarter of 2011.
All public transit modes saw increases and several saw significantly high increases. Light rail use increased by 6.7 percent and heavy rail use increased by 5.5 percent. Some public transit systems throughout all the areas of the United States reported record ridership for the first quarter. (i.e. Ann Arbor, MI; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Fort Myers, FL; Indianapolis, IN; Ithaca, NY; New York, NY; Oakland, CA; Olympia, WA; San Diego, CA; and Tampa, FL).
“High gas prices were part of the reason for this large first quarter ridership increase,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “More and more people are choosing to save money by taking public transportation when gas prices are high.
“As we look for positive signs that the economy is recovering, it’s great to see that we are having record ridership at public transit systems throughout the country. In some regions of our nation, the local economy is rebounding and people are commuting to their new jobs by using public transportation,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy, noting that nearly 60 percent of trips taken on public transit are for work commutes.
Pointing out that there are multiple reasons for the high ridership increases in the first quarter, Melaniphy said, “There are a number of reasons why more Americans are using public transportation. For example, public transportation systems are delivering better, reliable service and the use of real time technology, which many systems use, makes it easy for riders to know when the next bus or train will arrive.
“As Congress is negotiating a federal surface transportation bill that is now more than 2 1/2 years overdue, our federal representatives need to act before the June 30 deadline to ensure that public transportation systems will be able to meet the growing demand,” said Melaniphy. “It’s obvious from the surge in public transit ridership in the first quarter that Americans need and want public transportation.”
To see the complete APTA 2011 ridership report, go to: http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2012-q1-ridership-APTA.pdf
2012 First Quarter Ridership Breakdown
Nationally, light rail (modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys) ridership increased 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Twenty-five of twenty-seven light rail systems reported ridership increases. The ten light rail systems with the highest rates of growth were located in the following cities: Memphis, TN (45.7%); Salt Lake City, UT (34.1%); Seattle, WA – King County DOT (19.4%); Boston, MA (12.6%); Cleveland, OH (10.7%); Houston, TX (10.3%); Seattle, WA – Sound Transit (10.3%); Los Angeles, CA (9.9%); Sacramento, CA (8.5%); and St. Louis, MO (8.2%).
Fourteen out of fifteen heavy rail heavy rail (subways and elevated trains) systems reported ridership increases. Overall, heavy rail ridership increased by 5.5 percent nationwide. The ten heavy rail systems with the highest first quarter increases in ridership were in the following cities: Cleveland, OH (12.2%); San Francisco, CA (9.7%); Chicago, IL (8.9%); Baltimore, MD (7.8%); Boston, MA (6.4%); Jersey City, NJ (6.1%); New York, NY – MTA New York City Transit (5.6%); Lindenwold, NJ (4.7%); New York, NY – MTA Staten Island Railway (4.5%); and Miami, FL (4.2%).
Nationally, commuter rail ridership increased by 3.9 percent in the first three months of 2012 with twenty-two of twenty-seven commuter rail systems reporting ridership increases. Five commuter rail systems in the following cities saw double digit increases in the first quarter: Anchorage, AK (43.8%); Oceanside, CA (19.2%); San Carlos, CA (15.0%); Portland, OR (11.1%); and Seattle, WA (10.8%). The five commuter rail systems that reported the next highest increases were located in: New Haven, CT (9.7%); Stockton, CA (9.4%); Los Angeles, CA (8.9%); Salt Lake City, UT (8.5%); and Nashville, TN (8.4%).
Large bus systems reported an increase of 4.6 percent nationally. Bus systems in the following cities showed the top ten increases: Saint Louis, MO (15.6%); Dallas, TX (11.9%); Arlington Heights, IL (11.1%); Boston, MA (10.6%); Oakland, CA (10.5%); Ft. Lauderdale, FL (8.7%); Newark, NJ (8.0%); San Antonio, TX (8.0%); Washington, DC (7.9%). and Cleveland, OH (7.8%).
Bus systems in urbanized areas with populations of two million or more grew at 4.5 percent. Growing at an even higher rate of 5.1 percent were bus systems in urbanized areas with populations of 500,000 to just under two million.
Demand response (paratransit) ridership increased by 7.0 percent and trolleybus ridership increased by 3.8 percent.
Yes, Peter there is some good news here, no doubt about it. The change for the better in Auckland’s PT system is certainly heartening to see.
Yes, I am one of the many who gripe at the often haphazard way new technology, processes and services are being put in place in improving Auckland’s rail network. We will get there in the end I know…it’s just frustrating that often times, we don’t have to go through all this mess at all as there is no necessity whatsoever to repeat the mistakes others have already made / corrected overseas.
That said, I get excited even just seeing photos of the wiring going up along the Western Line and the now-completed wiring on the Onehunga Line. Compared to when I was growing up with a then dilapidated rail system, this is significant progress and I still to this day find it hard to believe after so many, many years of car dominance, that such an upgrade of Auckland’s suburban rail network is happening at all. When I see with my own eyes, masts and wiring stretching across the estuary from Meadowbank all the way into the city, I will feel then, that Auckland has finally arrived in the “20th” century….and that is something I know I will most certainly experience within the next 12-18 months!
The power of this blog to influence transport planning for the better in Auckland is another good aspect of the overall PT system development and I believe the various contributors to ATB are doing a great job there.
Let’s pause for a moment thus, to celebrate the progress made to date and steel ourselves for the forthcoming rounds in the ring as we punch our way forward to realise a “21st” century PT network for our city and surrounds over the coming decade.
another erason census trasvel to work data is inadequate is that it doesn’t capture all trips, I did a comparison of JTW with the ARC’s CBD cordon count data for (probably) 1996 and work trips were something like 60% of all bus trips on Fanshawe Street, suggesting a very high proportion on non-work (probably education related) trips in the AM peak
when I was at Auckland City we tried to coordinate major councils around NZ to lobby Stats to include trips to school in 2006, but as each council had a different proposal on the quantity of data, it was easy for stats to dismiss it, shame as all it needed was to add your place of education with your place of work and a bit of extra coding
In reading through the agenda document for the 5 Sept meeting, what is the reason the committee wants the public excluded when there is discussion on the Regional Public Transport Plan? It’s not clear to me why.
Most likely they are being briefed on the plan being developed but as it would include more detailed information about things like the new bus network, they won’t want the general public knowing about it until it is ready for consultation.
I suspect it is also that such detail would have a specific commercial impact on certain listed companies, or at least be the source of significant uncertainty over future contracts …..
So Famshawe St is Aucklands busiest PT corridor. You would think a bit more effort would be going into improving bus priority right into the CBD. There isn’t even bus priority all the way to Britomart.
Yeah, the fanshawe St stats actually annoy me a little. It should have a bus lane, pure and simple. And surely so should the harbor bridge, at peak times at least…..
Fanshawe actually does have bus lanes the full length inbound and most of the way outbound, it’s the Sturdee-Customs St section that is sorely lacking.
Still, it just shows the priorities. 65% of people on buses, one third on cars, and they can’t even allocate 25% of the four outbound lanes to buses properly.
Peter you actually the agenda missed something.
Put it this way, if this particular project is not complete by the time the CRL is open then we basically get no where as we are still stuck in a key particular area.
You know what it is?
Don’t worry, more posts on the transport committee are coming.
Had to laugh at the Grafton Bridge mode share statistics – which suggests that approximately 50 cars are breaking the bus only rule? Time for Auckland Council to get their cameras out again methinks …
Stu they could use the lane before 0700.
I thought these figures were for the AM peak? Which would be after 7am?
Perhaps the ‘Private Vehicle’ is a bike? Seriously, is cycling and walking counted anywhere here?