Productivity in Auckland could be boosted by at least $1.3 billion per annum if use of the roading network could be optimised.

A New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) report commissioned by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), Auckland International Airport Ltd, Infrastructure NZ, Ports of Auckland Ltd, and the National Road Carriers Association took a detailed look at the social and economic costs of congestion to Auckland‘s lifestyle and economy.

The report found if Auckland traffic could move on average between 50.5 km per hour to 56.8 km per hour during weekdays it would benefit the Auckland economy by nearly $3.5 million per day.

The funding organisations all agreed the size of the productivity prize and liveability gains for Auckland and the scale of the problem demanded action. They are united in the view there is a pressing case for decongestion measures to be introduced in Auckland now, not in the 6 to 10 year time frame currently being contemplated by both central and local government.

“What business is telling us and what we‘re seeing in the numbers is that congestion has worsened exponentially in the past three to five years,” says EMA CEO Kim Campbell.

“Our EMA members who took part in focus groups put the productivity loss in the 20% to 30% bracket so what the figures show is the average productivity loss across the entire population of Auckland.”

Some of the highlighted costs were:

• Hiring 20% more staff to carry out the same volume of work

• Trucking firms making fewer runs over fixed routes over longer time frames to deliver less volume of product with a near 30% productivity loss

• Service firms establishing depots around the city, at significant cost, to meet service promises i.e. one-hour replacements or deliveries

• Trucking firms refusing to deliver to some parts of the city described as black holes for their vehicles.

National Road Carriers Association CEO David Aitken also highlighted lifestyle issues caused by congestion as a fundamental difficulty for recruiting in the freight sector.

“The road freight sector has seen increasing congestion for some years. The fact that travel times have increased 47% in just three years and is only going to get worse if we don‘t do something is a clear sign we need to be thinking about solutions and taking actions now. Productivity has declined in an already tight market.

“Five years ago a truck driver could make a living on about 50 hours per week, but now with congestion that‘s up to 70 hours a week and people want to spend time with family rather than sitting in Auckland traffic. At a time when it‘s hard to get drivers, we are losing them as they don‘t want to be sitting in congestion all day.”

Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley says decongestion is critical to freeing the movement of freight and realising New Zealand‘s economic potential.

“NZIER‘s report is a rather eye-watering assessment of the costs to New Zealand of Auckland‘s congestion problems,” he says. “An annual productivity loss of in excess of $1 billion is a serious problem that requires urgent attention.”

The report said 16.2% of New Zealand‘s freight movements were within Auckland and 25% of freight had an origin or destination there.

“So we are talking about a significant chunk of the overall logistics picture,” says Shirley. “This report is particularly useful because it encourages evidence-based decision making and goes beyond the usual political whims that so often contaminate discussion around transport.”

The report made it clear there was no single silver bullet to deal with Auckland‘s congestion issues and would require a combination of multi-modal solutions and demand management strategies.

“Roading projects such as the East-West Link, a third or even fourth main rail line, central rail loop and congestion charging all have a role to play in freeing up traffic and freight movements,” says Shirley

He congratulated the organisations that commissioned the report, particularly National Road Carriers, for highlighting how pressing the need is to deal with Auckland‘s congestion issues.

“The Road Transport Forum implores local and central government to speed up the implementation of such initiatives. Congestion charging, for example, is something that could be accelerated right away. As the report highlights, the need for decongestion measures is now, not in 6 to 10 years‘ time.”

Infrastructure NZ CEO Stephen Selwood says the actual productivity gains may be even higher as the model only measured congestion on weekdays, whereas business was a seven-days-a-week operation.

Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson stressed the report showed a need for a multi-faceted approach to reducing congestion to boost productivity.

“Congestion is making life worse for all of us, so we need to act now. There is no one answer to the problem, we need to attack congestion with everything we‘ve got: investment in road, rail, public transport, technology, demand management and so on. We also need to be much smarter and think further ahead in how we plan transport for the future.”