The plan
The Regional Land Transport Plan sets out Auckland’s transport priorities and investment programme over ten years, and is consulted on publicly before adoption. His submission analysed the 2024 draft against the city’s wider plans and policies, from the Auckland Transport Alignment Project and the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024 to Auckland’s Climate Plan.
The recommendations
- Integrated public transport: seamless connections between buses, trains and ferries, with real time information, in line with ATAP and the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024
- Active transport: more cycling and walking routes, bike sharing and secure parking at hubs, supporting the Auckland Cycling and Micromobility Programme
- Sustainability: more ambitious targets for electric vehicle adoption and the electric bus fleet, in line with Auckland’s Climate Plan and the vehicle kilometres travelled reduction programme
- Data driven decisions: predictive analytics, IoT sensors and smart traffic management to reduce congestion, supporting Smart Transport for Auckland
- Community engagement: regular forums, participatory workshops and digital consultation
- Economic appraisal: cost benefit analysis, long term financial planning and public private partnership
- Urban integration: transport hubs planned together with residential and commercial development
Why it matters
The submission applied the School’s smart city and mobility research to a live public decision. Its emphasis on integration, between modes, between transport and land use, and between data and decisions, reflects the argument that runs through his commentary on Auckland: the city’s problems are less about missing technology than about systems that do not work together. The RG UBE Lab published the analysis so that it could inform wider public discussion.
Contributing to public consultation
Public consultations on major plans attract many submissions from individuals and interest groups, but relatively few from researchers who can relate a plan to the evidence base. An expert submission can help decision makers test the plan against international practice and against the city’s own strategies, and it puts the university’s knowledge at the service of a public process rather than only of journals.