Opinion: Auckland Transport has delivered, but politics have derailed it

This news was first published on The Post on Thursday 9 October 2025.

The government’s recent decision to strip Auckland Transport (AT) of key functions has been framed as “returning power to the people.” Yet this decision to dismantle will have a long-lasting impact on Auckland’s transport governance, and we must consider its implications.

Why was AT created?

AT provides and maintains Auckland’s transport services and infrastructure, roads (except motorways and state highways), footpaths, public transport, parking, cycling and harbourmaster services. It is responsible for integrated planning, designing and implementing transport systems in Auckland and maintains over 7500 km of arterial and local roads. In 2009, before AT’s establishment, Auckland’s transport governance arrangement was described as “disjointed” by a Royal Commission.

Auckland underwent extensive local government reform in 2010, becoming a super city under a single unitary authority Auckland Council(AC). Transport was the major issue driving these reforms. Under the governance of seven city and district councils and a regional council given authority through various Acts of Parliament, transport was disintegrated, inefficient, and expensive. The fragmented, politicised, and inefficient transport related decision-making compelled the John Key-led National government to corporatise council services, establishing CCOs such as Auckland Transport (AT) with majority shareholding or trustee votes accruing to the Council, which has the power to appoint boards of directors and chief executives.

In short, AT was created to overcome fragmentation and provide a single, professional, city-wide body to plan and deliver transport services and infrastructure.

AT has delivered efficiency and growth

AT is responsible for the region’s transport infrastructure and services, using about half of the council’s rates to manage over $15 billion of assets. Its financial performance record shows that this has not been wasted.

In 2012 AT’s total assets were around$13,854 million. By the end of 2024 they had grown more than 100% to $28,752 million. Its liabilities also grew, but from just 2.6% to 3.1% of total assets, indicating a strong financial position. AT’s financial flexibility (measured by highly liquid assets) grew from around $189 million in 2012 to $749 million in 2024, an increase of more than 250%.

AT’s income also rose, from $755 million in 2012 to $2.7 billion in 2024, with surplus recorded in every year since 2013 (in 2012, AT reported a deficit). Even during the Covid-19 period AT reported surplus. Personnel costs stayed low at 8–10% of total revenue.

Service delivery has also improved over time. In 2012, total public transport boardings were 71 million, rising steadily to over 100 million in 2019. Covid caused a sharp fall however by 2024 boardings had recovered to 87 million. Capital expenditure also more than doubled, from $591 million in 2012 to nearly $1 billion in 2024.

These figures point to an organisation that overall has delivered efficiency and growth.

Vertical and horizontal tensions

Since the first Auckland mayoral election in October 2010 transport-related policies, projects, and decisions have been central topic in the campaigns of both Labour and National affiliated candidates. There has always been tension between left-inclined mayors and right-led central governments and vice versa, mainly on policy directions and funding issues. AC and AT are professionally and financially dependent on central government agencies for setting the transport policy direction and implementing mega-projects.

Despite these tensions and dependencies, AT has delivered transport mega-projects including rail, busways, tunnels, roads and cycle paths by lobbying for transport projects to align with central government priorities and through strategic partnerships with NZTA. The relationship between AT and NZTA evolved after co-producing the Auckland Transport Alignment Project, which identified strategic transport projects for Auckland. But reliance on central government funding continues to reduce AT’s ability to reallocate and realign programmes over the longer term. Our research suggests that if AT was given funding autonomy it would deliver integrated transport more effectively.

There have also been horizontal tensions between mayors and AT’s board and management. Our own research in 2015 suggested AC and AT structures could take up to a decade to become fully efficient, as institutional change requires new cultures, practices, and processes. The relationship between AC and AT became cooperative after some initial tensions, but the new legislative announcement shows this relationship remains fractious.

Transport decisions are inherently political, and AT’s failure to build strong coalitions left it vulnerable to intervention. The government’s new legislation reframes this as a question of democracy, but in practice it sidelines AT role as an integrated transport agency and a record of efficiency in favour of short-term political control, raising the risk that Auckland slips back into the fragmented and politicised arrangements the super city reforms were meant to overcome.

What next?

AT needs political backing, cross-sector multilevel policy, and funding autonomy. Decisions should be politically supported but professionally informed. Strong leadership is key alongside better technical and spatial intelligence to understand the long-term challenges. Fiscal devolution is also essential, without it Auckland will always depend on central government priorities, limiting its ability to plan and deliver transport effectively.

New Zealand must now ask what transport governance should look like in Auckland, and elsewhere, and how Te Tiriti o Waitangi should guide us in building future institutions. The challenge is not to take over AT, but to evolve it into a model that is both efficient and democratic.

Dr Imran Muhammad is a professor of transport and urban planning at Massey University's School of People, Environment and Planning and has published research on transport policy, planning and governance in New Zealand.

Dr Fawad Ahmad is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University's School of Accountancy, Economics and Finance and has published research on financial reporting, auditing, and political institutions.