Establishing a Transport Authority for Christchurch

As we all know Christchurch is well behind in transport infrastructure, particularly on a New Zealand scale. One considerable problem I have with developing public transport in Christchurch is it's administration. Right now, Environment Canterbury (Ecan) is responsible for administering public transport over the entire Canterbury region. I think this is both wrong and highly inefficient. The population of the Christchurch urban area is 386 100, making it the second largest in New Zealand. If you stretch the arms wide enough to include Rolleston, Lincoln, Rangiora and Woodend/Pegasus the population reaches roughly 420 000. Christchurch City Council administers a population of 372 600, around 80-90% of that population. The remainder of the population is administered by the Waimakariri and Selwyn District Councils.

What I am getting at is questioning the role of Ecan in operating, planning and designing Christchurch's public transport system. Given what I have outlined above it doesn't seem very logical. Furthermore, public transport is planned in consultation with all the Councils and other authorities and certain infrastructure such as bus lanes and the new transport interchange and park and ride facilities are the responsibility of the City and District Councils. The end result is one big mess, the City Council, which administers over 80% of the affected population, coming into conflict with Ecan as it tries to fit their plans into its own.

With Christchurch City Council and Waimakariri and Selwyn District Councils coming into conflict with Ecan in recent months, leading to a Central Government review of Ecan, it seems appropriate for me to explore the possible future administration of public transport in Christchurch. First of all I believe that a dedicated transport authority is needed, similar to the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA). ARTA, however, is under the control of the Auckland Regional Council and this is where I see a key difference. Any Christchurch Transport Authority should be under the control of the Christchurch City Council and, to a degree, the Waimakariri and Selwyn District Council's. Ecan, unlike the Auckland Regional Council, is huge in area and covers a significant rural community. I feel it is best for public transport, which is largely an urban concept, to be dealt with by more relevant urban authorities. Given that these Council's are responsible for the infrastructure anyway it will simply streamline the process.

So my idea is basically this:

• Establish a Greater Christchurch Transport Authority (GCTA)
• Give the GTCA the powers formally bestowed upon Ecan in regard to public transport
• The GTCA will be run by the Christchurch City Council and the Waimakariri and Selwyn District Council's

What I see this as doing is rationalising the whole process of developing public transport in Christchurch. It makes sense to have the body administering public transport being controlled by the authority which develops infrastructure and administers the urban population. As it is, the current set up is too complicated and full of too many potential conflicts. The most obvious solution, to me, is to simply get rid of Ecan from the equation altogether and replace it with an independent transport authority which answers to the Council's.