Twyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Twyford Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 13 September 2011. Volume:675;Page:21189. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
10. 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Transport 
: Does he stand by all his previous statements regarding the preparedness of Auckland’s public transport systems for the Rugby World Cup? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 Yes. The Government completed a number of rail infrastructure upgrades that were necessary to increase the transport capacity service in Auckland. Having said that it is clear that last Friday the sheer volume of people attempting to use the services in the afternoon and early evening exceeded everybody’s expectations leading to significant operational issues. I can report to the House that I met this morning with the Auckland mayor Len Brown and representatives of Auckland Transport and I can report that they are committed to ensuring that additional capacity is made available over the rest of the tournament to cater for all eventualities. 
Phil Twyford 
: When he was advised by officials 18 months ago that Auckland’s public transport system would not cope with Rugby World Cup crowds and he said he was confident it would cope what was the basis of that confidence? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I think the member is referring to a report created by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority that indicated a number of things that needed to be addressed prior to the Rugby World Cup proceeding. All of those matters have been addressed including making available the amount of capacity the report anticipated would be required. Those matters also included dealing with parking availability; ensuring that the train fleet would be available increasing from 32 sets to 38 sets; ensuring that there was no shortage of additional facilities such as barriers bollards fencing and communication systems; and of course ensuring integrated ticketing was available to allow free travel for holders of match tickets. All those matters were addressed and were in place but again the amount of demand on Friday was unprecedented and was not anticipated by that report. 
Phil Twyford 
: When he said in relation to the same report that the Government had a lot of skin in the game did he mean that having appointed the chairman and a majority of the directors of Auckland Transport the Government would then be accountable for its performance? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: With regard to the directorate of Auckland Transport that was confirmed by Auckland Council after it was— 
Phil Twyford 
: You appointed them. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Yes and from the moment the council was elected it had the opportunity to change them. In any event the point I was making to the member before stands: all the issues identified in that report were addressed. So to the extent that people failed to anticipate the volume of people wanting to use the system last Friday that report failed to do so as well. 
Phil Twyford 
: Have the Auckland Transport directors whom he appointed performed in terms of getting passengers to the rugby in time to the standard he hoped for when he appointed them? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I think it is fair to say that all those involved believe there were operational shortfalls last Friday in delivering some people to Eden Park in Auckland. I do not think that is in doubt.