The Minister for Auckland, Transport, and Local Government, Simeon Brown, has announced plans to restore Auckland Transport’s accountability to elected Councillors. Commenting on this, Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman, Sam Warren, said:

“As the only council-run transport system in the country without democratic accountability, it is clear that Auckland Transport’s current system is unfit for purpose. It’s a failure, and an expensive one at that.

“Given its refusal to make proper savings by cutting wasteful, ideologically-driven pet projects and its inability to improve the quality and efficiency of its core services, Auckland Transport being left to mark its own homework clearly isn’t working.

"Mayor Brown was elected to get on with cutting waste. Allowing him to take better control of CCOs is an important step forward in cutting a culture of wasteful spending and promoting greater local accountability to Auckland ratepayers."

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