Justin Tighe-Umbers: National Road Carriers Association CEO on report which found congestion will cost Auckland 2.6 billion dollars a year by next year

Truck drivers say it will take more than just congestion charges to address Auckland's traffic woes.  

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is hoping for practical solutions to traffic after a report found congestion will cost the city 2.6 billion dollars a year by next year.  

The National Road Carriers Association says it supports congestion charges, as long as they're fair. 

But Chief Executive Justin Tighe-Umbers told Andrew Dickens it still needs a second harbour crossing and fixes to council roads.  

He says some parts of the motorway also need to be widened. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So congestion apparently costs Orkland's two point six billion dollars
every year and certainly, and that's by twenty twenty six,
that is next year. Obviously. This is according to a
report that Wayne Brown, the mayor, has commissioned, and he's
calling for a time of use charge to manage demand
on Auckland's roads. We know those as congestion charges. The

(00:20):
city has the worst congestion of any city in New
Zealand or Australia. Apparently people are spending twenty nine million
hours a year sitting in traffic. It's National Road Carriers Association.
See oh, justin Tiger, I'm business with.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Me, Hella justin morning, Andrew.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
How would road carriers feel about the congestion charges? Would
they welcome them if they get all the unnecessary cars
out of the system.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, look, that's right. National Road Carriers supports. Time of
use is about a tool and the tilkit for tackling congestion.
It's a major issue in Auckland. And I think the
win we'd be looking for out of time of use
in the city like Auckland is to peer back to
some like school holiday level traffic. I think that's around
about six percent reduction, and then what that enables for

(01:08):
track drivers is they can get their goods through faster
and they could probably do more turns in a day
and more runs in a day as well, So certainly
they support it as long as the pricing is price drip.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Is there too much attention paid on, say a new
harbour crossing when we come to wanting to fix our
problems when the problems are actually in other parts of
the motorways and also in the roads that the council controls.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, Look, it's all a system that has to be
managed in cohesion. So for Auckland harbor crossing, what's really
critical is that we have a second crossing put in
place so there's resilience. When you've got an older structure
and one that's having to be closed because it's too
windy or winds lanes shut down, we need extra resilience there.

(01:55):
There's no question in the level of traffic on the
motorway needs that getting it in the right place would
help congestion. But yeah, look Andrew, you're right, there's other
parts the motorway that need actually widening, and we have
three lanes narrow down to two, which was all enjoyed
on Hawai getting out of Auckland. They need to be
addressed as well, and that'll have a major factor in

(02:16):
terms of improving congestion.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
All right, justin we'll wait to see what happens and
whether this really does occur. Certainly I was driving around
in a rush Houra yesterday and the problem wasn't on
the boatorways. My god. It was a wirerail road, it
was a lake road, it was everywhere. It's suburban and
a little bit on the motorways as well. Good luck
if you're driving into work today.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
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