3. Question No. 3—TransportSIMON COURT (ACT) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 3—Transport3. SIMON COURT (ACT) to the Minister of Transport: Does he agree with former Minister of Transport Hon Phil Twyford who said in March 2018 Solving Auckland's traffic gridlock is also important for the rest of New Zealand with congestion in the city between 2015 and 2017 estimated to have cost the economy between $1.3 billion a year in lost productivity" and has congestion become better or worse since then? Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Transport): Yes solving Auckland's gridlock is important. We agree with the estimate of cost that is included in the member's question and indeed Government Ministers have used those same figures. We also note major investments into State Highway 1 in north and south of Auckland as well as major improvements to the western ring route on State Highways 16 and 18 and continuing significant investments into the city rail loop have all made things better than they would otherwise be. That said it's interesting to note that Sydney which has a much bigger population than Auckland flows much better than Auckland because of their much better public transportation networks. We do agree—we believe that congestion is getting better in some parts of Auckland and worse in others. The areas that are getting worse include that the Auckland Harbour Bridge peak is getting longer and congestion in the north-western corridor is also a problem. We've just spent significant money improving that north-western corridor proving that roads alone don't solve the problem and further investments in public transport as well as roads will be necessary.Simon Court: How concerned if at all is the Minister about time delays of more than 50 percent compared to free-flowing conditions for over five hours a day along State Highway 1 in Auckland and what steps if any will he take to reduce congestion on the State highway network?Hon DAVID PARKER: As the member will be aware overcoming those challenges requires a combination of investment in roads in rail and in public transport as well as dealing with challenges like how do you deal with congestion. There is legislation that was approved unanimously at select committee to move towards transport pricing in Auckland. That legislation is currently opposed by the National Party notwithstanding the unanimous support for it at select committee—including from the then member of the select committee Mr Chris Luxon.Simon Court: Is it acceptable that Aucklanders driving between Manukau and Albany face delays greater than 50 percent compared to free-flowing conditions for 4½ hours a day—that's almost double the delays they faced in 2018—and should an efficient and effective road network be prioritised instead of socially engineering people out of their cars Minister?Hon DAVID PARKER: It's a false dichotomy. Actually people choose to use the Northern Busway because it is both more cost-effective for them and quicker. The Northern Busway a project of the prior Labour Government is probably the most successful public transport or transport project in New Zealand's history and it carries a substantial proportion of the peak flow in North Auckland including through the region to which the member referred.Simon Court: Will the Minister support ACT's policy to supercharge building toll roads operated by public-private partnerships (PPPs) Minister for New Zealanders who are fed up with waiting in traffic?Hon DAVID PARKER: The Labour Government supports tolling where it is appropriate including in respect of Penlink where that is being proposed. What we don't support is unwisely structured PPPs such as that at Transmission Gully negotiated by the last ACT-National Government which with an appalling allocation of risk left the Government facing enormous cost overruns that the subsequent Labour Government had to fund.Simon Court: Has Labour announced any new roads which might ease congestion or is it simply continued projects that were started by the previous Government?Hon DAVID PARKER: We've both continued projects and done new projects."