Northwest Busway Makes Progress

By Matt Lowrie

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.

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“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.”

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 when the e

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.

The first stage of Westgate Bus Station is already under construction.

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.

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