Media Release

21 March, 2007

Waitakere's bus/rail interchange officially opened

“A small bus/rail interchange for Waitakere but a major step for the Auckland region,” is how Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey – with apologies to Neil Armstrong - described the city’s new transport interchange, opened today.

Waitakere City’s “Baby Britomart” finally officially came into being with the opening of a new bus station in Railside Avenue, Henderson, alongside the recently opened double-platform railway station.

When Waitakere City Council decided to relocate its Waitakere Central civic centre to Henderson Valley Road, the intention was always to build new stops for trains, buses and taxis alongside each other, and link them all to the main CBD with an air bridge and escalators.

The aim was to promote public transport by putting bus and train stations in close proximity for customer convenience and to synchronise bus and train arrivals and departures so that customers can move seamlessly and conveniently from one form of transport to another.

This is a mirror – albeit smaller – of the transport interchange at Britomart, at the other end of the western railway line, in downtown Auckland.

Apart from promoting public transport between Waitakere and Auckland – with the goal of reducing traffic congestion - the new transport interchange is designed to make bus and rail a viable option for customers and clients doing business in Waitakere’s CBD (Henderson).

The council also encouraged its staff to leave their cars at home and find other ways to get to work. In eight months since the council moved to Waitakere Central, 36 percent of staff have chosen to commute by bus, rail, walking cycling or car pooling.

Less than one per cent did so beforehand.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey paid tribute to the Auckland Regional Council, Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) and Ontrack, for the roles they have played in bringing the new interchange into being.

“The bus and taxi station we opened today was a collaboration between the council and ARTA, supported by our good friends at the ARC. The whole complex – with the rail station and double tracking of the western line - also involved Ontrack,” says Mayor Harvey.

“ We have created together, the possibility of hugely improved public transport services in the not too distant future. This is a critically important step in reducing traffic congestion and the vast amounts of damage that that causes,” he says.

“Congestion costs the region a billion dollars in lost business – which is like a tax businesses have to pay before they make a cent in profit. That’s a millstone that forces up prices and drags down productivity and jobs. But it also pollutes the atmosphere, the soil and the waterways with carbon, chemicals and heavy metals. Someone has to pay the price of that as well, “Mayor Harvey says.

“And it separates families for hours longer than is necessary every day, while the cost of commuting on household budgets – often inadequate budgets – is money that can’t be spent on families. There are social costs that flow from that.

‘So, to paraphrase Neil Armstrong, this may be one transport interchange for Waitakere but it is a major step for the Auckland region,” Mayor Harvey says.

ENDS

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