In the history of Auckland’s many transport blunders, not building a busway along the Northwestern Motorway at the same time the motorway was being widened and interchanges rebuilt, when the need was clear and the success of investments like the Northern Busway were already understood, is up there with some of the worst we’ve had.
Fixing that mistake is going to take a lot of time and money and the first step was implementing the interim rapid transit service on to the Northwest, the WX1. It is already showing to be a great success and exceeding expectations and usage in March alone was up 24% on the March last year. The service is due to get better too with electric double deckers expected soon.
However, the long-term solution has always been a proper dedicated corridor, like the Northern Busway. There have been various investigations for this in the past, such as an indicative business case in 2017 but this iteration of the project was kicked off back in 2023 under the previous government and thankfully has been continued by the current one. Yesterday Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced that it has taken a step forward with the NZTA board endorsing an investment case for the project.
“The northwest of Auckland is home to 90,000 people and is one of the city’s largest planned growth areas. By 2051, an additional 100,000 people are expected to be living in the area, with 40,000 new homes, and 40,000 new jobs based there. Delivering faster, more frequent, and reliable public transport is essential and will ensure the transport network can accommodate this growth and ensure people can get where they need to go quickly and safely,” Mr Bishop says.
“Currently, people in the northwest don’t have reliable public transport options, and 60 percent of residents commute out of the area. Most people travel to work by car, more than any other area in Auckland, and the Northwestern Motorway regularly suffers from congestion and delays.
“Identified as a priority in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024 (GPS), delivering the Northwest Busway will be a game changer, and will build on the success of the Northern Busway, City Rail Link, Eastern Busway, and other public transport improvements across Auckland.
“The Northwest Busway includes a park and ride station at Brigham Creek and stations at Westgate, Royal Road, Lincoln Road, Te Atatū, Point Chevalier and Western Springs. It will be able to move up to 9,000 passengers per hour in each direction – the equivalent of four motorway lanes. It will also provide a reliable 25-minute journey time from Brigham Creek to the city centre – all day, every day.”
There’s nothing new or revolutionary about what’s proposed above, in fact it’s very similar to what was proposed in that 2017 business case, but the funding for consenting and property acquisition means it has progressed further.
“The staged construction programme in the investment case prioritises benefits to West Aucklanders sooner and focuses on more people benefitting from faster and more reliable journeys, as quickly as possible, while building on the hugely popular WX1 service,” Mr Bishop says.
“Work is already underway on a new station at Westgate, funded separately by the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group, with the first stage, which will serve local bus services, expected to open in mid-2026.
“Funding of around $116 million has also already been approved by the NZTA Board in late 2024 for early consenting work and strategic property acquisitions for Brigham Creek and Lincoln Road stations. Depending on further funding availability, construction of the Northwest Busway could begin from 2027.
“Stage 1 will see new stations at Brigham Creek and Lincoln Road as part of a $330m – $380m package of work. Stage 2 will include the separated and bi-directional busway from Brigham Creek to Te Atatū, along with the stations at Royal Road and Te Atatū, the second stage of Westgate station, and the city centre connection at Newton at an estimated investment of $4,100m – $4,600m*. The Point Chevalier and Western Springs stations are to be delivered as a third stage.
“NZTA will be engaging with stakeholders and landowners to discuss what the Northwest Busway means for them and next steps. Further design and investigation work will be carried out in the coming months, ahead of lodging Notices of Requirement. The project will now seek to obtain statutory approvals for the project, likely via the Fast Track Approvals Act.
…..
“Built in stages, the Northwest Busway delivers a strong case for investment with Benefit Cost Ratios of 6.3 for Stage 1, and 2.2 for Stage 2. Incremental delivery is expected over multiple National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) periods, spreading the investment to enhance affordability, and provide a strong pipeline of work for the construction sector into the future.
“This is a common-sense project that will be transformational for the Northwest of Auckland. We need to get on with it, because congestion will only continue to get worse, current public transport will become overcrowded, late and unreliable, and economic growth and productivity in the Northwest will go backwards if we don’t.”
| Estimated investment | Benefits | |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 Brigham Creek station and Park & Ride Lincoln Road station WX1 improvements | $330m – $380m* | Benefit cost ratio 6.3:1 $6.30 of benefits for every dollar spent Serve around 4,500 passengers per day |
| Stage 2 City centre connection at Ian McKinnon Drive (Newton connection) Te Atatū station Royal Road station Busway from Brigham Creek to Te Atatū | $4,100m – $4,600m* | Benefit cost ratio 2.2:1 $2.20 of benefits for every dollar spent |
| * The estimated investment envelopes assume the project is delivered in the next 10 years and factor in 30% for escalation and administration. | ||
| Stage 3 Point Chevalier station Western Springs station Busway between Waterview and city centre | NZTA will seek statutory approvals for the project, likely via the Fast Track Approvals Act, but this stage is not expected to be delivered in the next 10 years. | |
Wow, a BCR of 6.3 for stage one is impressive and certainly better than we’ve seen for any of the Roads of National Significance – notably the two RoNS announced over the past few days made no mention of their BCRs. Even stage 2 with a BCR of 2.2 looks good even though it’s over $4 billion.
Building in stages makes sense and is how most big projects get delivered and yet it feels like we’re just discovering it again after a few years of mega-projectitis where we were told we have to build entire projects in one go, even if bits aren’t needed for 50+ years and could easily be delivered later.
I suspect Lincoln Rd is up first in stage 1 because the most obvious location for it, the radio tower site, also just happens to be for sale.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about what’s been released is the suggestion that at the city end the busway would connect to the city via Ian McKinnon Dr. What implications does that have for getting buses through the city.
It’s good to see this project is still progressing but it would be even better if we had more information, such as specifically where stations are proposed to be. I think it would be good for the NZTA to talk about how the busway eventually gets extended past Brigham Creek and on to Kumeu.
Processing...
“Even stage 2 with a BCR of 2.2 when the e”
The above seems incomplete.
Thanks, fixed
$4B+ for stage 2 is totally ridiculous. Yes we have seen expensive projects in NZ recently, but this just goes to show how much of a rort these are for whoever is clipping that ticket!
The original North Shore Busway was thought to be on the pricey side back when it was built for around $200m – even accounting for inflation that’s less than half a billion. Now we want to spend over $4B for what?!
Granted inner city land prices are higher and we would probably need more aerial ramps etc but unless they are tunneling this thing that figure makes no sense.
Now if it was $4B for the entire project and all the way to Kumeu then yes maybe.
$5b is just crazy, is it going to be elevated across the causeway?
For that money just make it light rail from the start. This is where it having dominion road running is frustrating because they could just plug the city end of it into tracks on Queen Street
This. How we not afford light rail for this cost and timeframe? Kumeu to K road.
Also is bus traffic in the city no longer a concern?
100%
It’s going to be shoulder running on the causeway, even when all construction is completed in 2040 or so 🙂
I love construction cost inflation 🙂
Also Kumeu really needs an interim solution, the traffic between there and Westgate is absolutely crippling from 6am onwards
Some kind of bus lanes on SH16 are needed, could they not repurpose the wide median as some kind of tidal bus lane during peak times?
Very happy this is going forward but still don’t understand how it can take this long and cost this much.
We’re spending the money for light metro etc. for the benefits of a busway. That said, something is better than nothing, so happy they’re going to do something. Can’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
There probably is hidden in the budget rebuilding the interchanges to Diverging Diamonds or something far more efficient to get the traffic on/off the motorway. Likely some widening and massive property purchases.
Presumably LR would cost a lot more than this given this proposal requires minimal changes on the causeway.
I’m the furthest you could be from a National Supporter, but over the past 20 years they’ve certainly done more for Auckland in terms of transport infrastrcuture than, and probably the rest of the country as well. Labour and Greens need to up their game and move past just talking up big solutions.
What? They removed the transit lanes from the NW causeway widening. And that’s just one example of their on going obstruction of transport projects other than more roads. Even this announcement is more of the same might happen could happen one day stuff. Note no actual funding is there apart from a few property acquisitions and more planning. After years of planning.
Labour:
Northern busway
Project DART
Rail electrification
Eastern busway
National:
CRL
NW busway (hopefully)
I think Labour lead the way, although CRL was pretty significant.
National delayed the CRL wasting millions. They also deleted the Beresford st entrance and shortened the platforms. So they don’t get much credit for that either.
Also I forgot for Labour:
3rd main
Puhinui interchange and SH20B transit lanes (although disappointing they are T3 not bus lanes)
Why not change this project to light rail? We could spend $500 million on consultants, buy one property then in eight years time abandon the project completely with nothing to show for it. It would be great.
At last the project that should have been following the Waterview Tunnel, instead of just the road widening that we got. NW cycleway was a later (and therefore more expensive) add-on, likely to be disrupted to fit the busway in. The only good news is the radio transmitter site becoming vacant. Not so, trying to find land at Te Atatu for an interchange station. Rosedale station may give ideas for how to manage Royal Rd and Te Atatu, Pt Chev and Western Springs.
This would be orders of magnitude cheaper if it reallocated NW traffic lanes.
Doing so would also reduce vkt and create significant modeshift, furthering our emissions reductions and accessibility goals. The significantly reduced vkt would improve safety throughout local streets, a benefit they’re eschewing.
Decarbonisation done properly delivers a better transport system at a much lower cost. What they’re proposing here is simply applying expensive sticking plasters on a car dependent system. They’re sticking plasters that will certainly help individuals, but it’s not the well-conceived network-wide improvement we should be able to expect.
This.
Much quicker and less disruptive too.
And the saved billions could be spent on really making the public transport service attractive, meaning the remaining private vehicle lanes would have less traffic and everybody wins. (Refer back to yesterday’s post: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2025/04/23/fares-fair-in-the-sunshine-state/)
Its the time that gets me.
We built a new 4 lane, 11km Manawatu-Tararua motorway over the Ruahine Range, in some pretty challenging terrain. 7yrs from route confirmation to opening.
This is flat, leveraging an existing corridor and while a bit longer in distance, is taking over 50% longer in time. Surely property acquisitions don’t add that much extra time if done simultaneously with other tasks.
As a non-Jafa, I look forward to reading about the progress – and debacles – of the Auckland transport systems, but reading about the North-Western Busway (sorely needed), I can’t help but wonder where the discussion in Greater Auckland is about whether the ever-expanding metropolis is actually a good idea. It seems that the various article authors have an inbuilt assumption that all growth of Auckland is inevitable and, by implication, good, and therefore what can we do to shoehorn more people into a limited supply of once-productive land. Where is the discussion about whether Auckland SHOULD continue to grow at the same rate? Is the growth in the right place? Should it be directed to elsewhere in the country? Is it always efficient to be retrofitting mass transit systems into existing cityscapes? Etc, etc.
I think it is inevitable. There are very few examples of state driven population management around the world that have been successful.
I think this blog constantly argues for increasing density in the city centre which is really low compared to other cities with the same population and against increasing the sprawl.
Is it even possible to “redirect growth elsewhere in the country” ? Population growth is largely driven by immigration, and immigrants want to live in Auckland.
Isn’t Hamilton growing at a faster rate than Auckland? Surely some redirection is possible, e.g. by increasing funding for hospitals and staff in the South Island which would of course attract professionals but also could keep people in the regions with better access to health care.
It would probably make it more attractive as a retirement destination. And there would be socioeconomic flow-on effects from that. Some good some bad.
Relatedly, and in the other direction, I think the Government may have reduced the potential growth of Wellington, by cutting a lot of public sector jobs there.
Maybe at the edges but people generally go where either the jobs or leisure opportunities are.
Hamilton is growing rapidly (as is Tauranga), but so is Auckland. And it’s an immutable law that central government will only spend money on public transport projects in Auckland or Wellington.
“Isn’t Hamilton growing at a faster rate than Auckland? Surely some redirection is possible, e.g. by increasing funding for hospitals and staff in the South Island”
I am not an expert, but historically, my perception is that “encouraging people to settle elsewhere [than they were planning to]” by govt subsidies and policies is about as successful as govts getting people to have more kids (when a govt is worried about people not having enough kids).
Why the strange comparison? I guess both where you live and whether / how many kids you have are such fundamental factors for people – and factors they have some control over – that offering some money or other incentives one way or the other often doesn’t do much. You have to use pressure that a western democracy simply can’t (and shouldn’t!) use to change those behaviours.
So I think in terms of where people live, it’s better to play to revealed preferences (which are places like Auckland, and preferably the inner suburbs, thank you). Yes, SOME people want to go somewhere else, and that’s fine. But it ain’t surprising many want to go to the very same place, and that only changes over decades, if at all.
Sure, I don’t want to see that pressure or a government assigning people to cities.
But building more sprawl effectively forces people into sprawl.
Building denser inner city centres attracts people to these centres.
Providing opportunities and infrastructure elsewhere offers possibilities and directs growth to these places. The hospital was one example as it was handled very poorly by the current government. If they would fund a new big research centre or port infrastructure in Napier along with other improvements, people would move there or stay there longer. If they closed Waikato University, a lot of people would leave Hamilton.
So I don’t understand why you are saying there are no ways to direct growth to different places. Obviously, this is not something that works within 1, 2 or even 5 years.
John – those effects would be minor at most. You could build a new university in New Plymouth and you might grow the population by 10,000 but it would do diddly squat to the population of Auckland.
It would also likely be a sink of money as there wouldn’t be much of a reason for kids from around the country to head there and it’s unlikely private sector funding would move from other more centrally located universities.
So this is meant to move 4 motorway lanes worth of people and we cannot just take an existing lane to make this easier, cheaper? the costs are getting ridiculous, it’s like asking a three year their favourite number. Between this and the northern expressway (ie world’s most expensive road ever presumably) what money is left over for anything else
with any luck they might be able to include upgrading the cycleway at Western springs and Carrington Road to something like the Te Atatu interchange i.e. no need to wait for a pedestrian crossing. I doubt it though.
in an only slightly related way I’ve recently started working in town again and noticed there are electronic signs on the way saying how long it takes by bus, car and cycle to get into the cbd and they’re almost always the same number or only slightly different at around 30 minutes from waterview. I used to ride to the CBD from near enough to the Glendene roundabout and it only took 45 minutes …who is calculating these times? the cycle is about 20 minutes from Waterview I think? and on an ebike is probably between 10-15 minutes provided you don’t have to wait at the western springs lights too long
It’s the same on Tamaki Drive, with the estimated cycle times to the city sign at St Heliers. Google maps bases cycling direction at 16km/h, I assume AT does the same.
I average about 28km/h along Tamaki Drive on my cheap commute bike, bike fly past my, probably doing 35.