Greater Christchurch councils team up for rapid public transport future

Greater Christchurch councils are hoping to keep their light rail proposal alive, despite the axing of Auckland's light rail.

The Auckland project has been binned by the coalition government, with cost blowouts and extensive delays to blame.

Four councils - Christchurch City, Waimakariri, Selwyn and Canterbury Regional - and Waka Kotahi have formed a public transport expansion proposal for Greater Christchurch spanning the next 10 to 20 years.

It would begin by creating direct inter-district buses, before adding a possible light rail or rapid bus link through the city.

Some Ōtautahi locals were mostly on board.

"I would love to see light rail in Christchurch, I think it's a really good way of getting around," one person said.

"I mean, if people would use it, then yes," a woman commented.

"I thought it was a good idea right from Hornby through, it's a good way to bring people into town," another man said.

But when asked if they would use a rapid transit service, the residents were a little more hesitant.

"I don't know, I guess it would depend on how extensive it is and cost I think is the big one. If people are actually going to use it, then yeah, sure invest in it," the woman said.

"Possibly. Now I've got my old age pensioner ticket, I'm sure there'll be cheap trips on the train but it all depends on how much it's going to cost," another said.

Former Christchurch mayor Garry Moore believed starting early, like the partnership of councils had done, was the way to avoid huge price tags.

"It's really important to anticipate what is needed and prepare and invest in it before it becomes a crisis. Auckland's a disaster area and we don't want that to happen down here," he said.

The Garden City currently had no commuter trains and only six of its bus routes operated every 10 or 15 minutes, Canterbury Regional Council chair Peter Scott said.

"Christchurch does need the mass rapid transport system that we're talking about. Whether that be light rail, whether that be a dedicated bus route, whether it be those new tram systems that are coming along - it does need that public transport," he said.

Waka Kotahi Canterbury Regional Relationships director James Caygill said 7000 people had already given feedback on the plans.

"Most people agree the direction of growth should be focused around key urban areas, town centres and along public transport routes. Over half of people agreed with the route that we proposed, and when you looked at the responses from people who live along the route, that rises to 75 percent," he said.

So far, $3.5 million had been spent by Waka Kotahi on the initial proposal stages.

The design phase was set to begin later in 2024, if it gets government approval, and was expected to cost a similar amount.

"We haven't had a conversation with the new government or with [Transport] Minister [Simeon] Brown yet but the main thing from our point of view is to make sure there is a voice, because we've heard a lot of rhetoric about these things coming out of the North Island," Scott said.

"We don't want to be too far down the queue in terms of the conversations that we're having and we hope to have those by the end of January to mid-February."

In a statement, Brown said, "the current land transport policy offered a chance to look at future public transport investment in Christchurch".

But, "light rail was not something that was being actively considered at this stage," he said.