Will 2026 be the year that Auckland gets its mojo back?
Have Aucklanders fallen out of love with Auckland?
While Wellington often takes the heat for New Zealand's current sense of national stagnation, Auckland is in its own deep funk. As Erin Johnson reports in Stuff, the latest Ipsos Quality of Life Survey, released in April, found nearly a third of Aucklanders felt their quality of life had worsened over the past year – the highest among all eight surveyed cities. The most common reason, by far, was financial strain, with half of all respondents calling out the cost of housing as unaffordable. Traffic congestion, lack of parking and overflowing rubbish bins topped the list of frustrations in Aucklanders' own neighbourhoods.
Small wonder, then, that Aucklanders are voting with their feet – not just crossing the Tasman in record numbers, but moving south in search of affordability and a better lifestyle. As The Press reports (paywalled), more than 10,000 Aucklanders relocated to Christchurch between 2018 and 2023. Top reasons for making the move included less stress and the ability to buy a home and still afford to live.
A city stuck in neutral
This sense of drift is captured starkly in the brand new State of the City report, which compares Auckland with cities like Brisbane, Copenhagen and Vancouver. Writing this morning in The Spinoff, Duncan Greive says the report's downbeat vibe is unmistakable. 'Across the three reports of 2023, 2024 and 2025, the city feels stagnant and decaying,' he writes. Mark Thomas, chair of the organisation that funds and commissions the report, is more specific: 'Weak economic performance, inadequate skills and innovation development, and disjointed and delayed planning are causing Auckland to lose ground, with the risk of falling further behind.'
Auckland ranks well for resilience and diversity, but falls behind on experience, prosperity and 'place' – that is, the overall livability and coherence of the city and its suburbs. 'For all its history, cultural diversity and incredible twin-harbour location, Auckland is a city which feels stuck,' Duncan writes, summing up the report's overall theme. Amid this gloom, hopes are increasingly pinned on two long-awaited infrastructure projects: the City Rail Link (CRL) and the International Convention Centre, both now scheduled to open in 2026.
A midtown miracle?
As Garth Bray and Dileepa Fonseka recently reported in BusinessDesk (paywalled), there's growing confidence that the CRL, and particularly the new midtown Te Waihorotiu station, will be a catalyst for revitalisation. The area surrounding the station – a long-underwhelming swathe of the central city – is seeing a flurry of investment, with Auckland Council economist Gary Blick identifying 18 developments worth billions within a five-minute walk. Among them is the $450 million Symphony Centre, being built directly above the new station.
Once open, Te Waihorotiu is expected to be the country's busiest train station, serving up to 50,000 passengers an hour at peak. It's not just about transport: the surrounding streetscape is being redesigned for wider footpaths, greenery and outdoor dining – a deliberate push to reshape how people experience the city centre, Bray and Fonseka write. The long construction disruption has taken a toll, but there are now tangible signs that a new phase is beginning.
Pedestrian power wins on Project K
In another hopeful development, Auckland Transport appears to have backtracked on controversial changes to Project K, the urban realm upgrade around the CRL's Karanga-a-Hape station. As Connor Sharp reports in Greater Auckland, after a fierce public backlash, AT has returned to a plan closer to its original, people-focused vision. The updated design – due to be voted on by the Waitematā Local Board today – restores pedestrian-friendly measures on Cross Street, retains a cycleway on East Street, and revives a plan to block rat-running traffic on Upper Mercury Lane.
Councillor Richard Hills says the new plan will help reinvigorate the Karangahape Road area while making the entrance to the new station both vibrant and welcoming. 'It's not perfect, but it's a good result if everyone sees it as a compromise,' he says. In a city that too often struggles to deliver on its promises, Project K is a win for the urbanists – and a reminder that Aucklanders haven't given up on the place just yet.
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AT actually has bought two new electric ferries, made here in Auckland, and they'll soon be in use. It also has two hybrid electric-diesel ferries on the way and it's been rolling out the charging network to service all four boats. But, AT's Stacey van der Putten told the council, more ferries will be needed by 2028 and 'modern diesel' offers the best option for cost and reliability, at least for now. Especially as the Government will not help fund electric ferries. AT board chair Richard Leggat added, 'It comes down to dollars'. Then he said it comes down to reliability. 'If we have a ferry out [of action], we lose consumer confidence.' Both appeared to worry that e-ferries may be less reliable, although neither produced any evidence for this. The first of two fast ferries that will be used by Auckland Transport. Designed by EV Maritime, they're being built at the McMullen & Wing shipyard in Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell Councillors all around the table were sceptical of the cost and reliability arguments and asked to see the evidence. Michael Eaglen from EV Maritime, which designed the new e-ferries Auckland is getting, told me after the meeting that a comparative analysis of electric and diesel was a good idea and most of the work had already been done, by his company and by AT. 'Life cycle analysis shows that carbon-fibre electric ferries have much lower emissions intensity on a whole-of-life basis than any form of aluminium ferry, or any form of diesel or hybrid ferry,' he said. He didn't think there was any substance to the suggestion e-ferries are less reliable. Some councillors suggested the new diesel ferries could be made 'electric-ready': able to be converted at some point in the future. Eaglen doubts the value of that, too. 'EV Maritime, and I think both Fullers and AT, have all looked at this and all found it to be demonstrably unattractive. Simply put, you wind-up building bad diesel boats, which later become bad electric boats.' Hills reiterated his point, mentioning 'New South Wales, Brisbane, British Columbia, Seattle' and 'many Chinese cities' as places where electric ferries are running successfully. His '70% of all new ferries' figure comes from Clean Technica, a clean-energy information service. He could have added Norway: it has about 70 highly functional e-ferries. Or spelled out that in Sydney they've committed to a fully electric ferry fleet by 2035. Given all this, Hills wondered, why would AT think e-ferries are less reliable than diesel ferries? Who's AT been talking to that it would suddenly back away from electric ferries? More to come on this. Falling in love with ferries again Ferry popularity in Auckland compared with other public transport modes. In better ferry news, they've become Auckland's most popular form of public transport. Stacey van der Putten produced a graph at the council meeting showing that in the March 2025 quarter, ferries enjoyed 92.3% customer satisfaction. It's the highest mark they've reached for at least 10 years. Buses were at 91.3% and trains at 88.1%. The graph makes the benefit of improving services very clear. The rail network had low and erratic support until electrification was completed in 2015, after which its popularity soared. The rollout of new bus services the following year had the same effect. Ferries, meanwhile, endured years of instability from 2017 until the end of 2023, but then their popularity rose sharply too. Trains, on the other hand, took a dive during the maintenance closures and major disruptions of recent years, before bouncing back a bit this year. AT also reports the ferries currently have 96.4% punctuality and 96.8% reliability. Restaurant Month menus are live Meals for different price points and special drinks to accompany them: all part of the fun in Restaurant Month. Bookings are open. Photo / Supplied Restaurant Month is less than two weeks away. The special menus of participating restaurants are available to view online and Heart of the City reports that bookings are up 88% on the same time last year. This year's theme is 'Don't Try This At Home'. The full programme, with options for meals at $35, $45 and $55+ price points and a whole lot of special one-off events, is here. The great Karanga-a-Hape rethink rethink On the streets around the Karanga-a-Hape Station, the original pedestrian-focused plans will now proceed. Photo / Simon Wilson Last week Auckland Transport (AT) announced it had revived its original plans for a pedestrian-focused precinct around the new Karanga-a-Hape railway station, part of the City Rail Link. On Tuesday, the Waitematā Local Board endorsed the decision, 4-3, with the City Vision members and independent chair Genevieve Sage voting for it and the C&R members voting against. This overturns a decision to abandon those plans in favour of a more car-focused approach, and brings to an end a remarkable episode of urban planning of the city. The original plans included a pedestrian mall on Mercury Lane, between Karangahape Rd and the station entrance just past the old Mercury Theatre. The revised plan made it easy for cars to pass through. The original has now been largely restored, although in a slightly peculiar way. Bollards will be in place at each end of the block, but technically it will be a shared space, with vehicles still able to enter and exit the street, by triggering the bollards to be lowered. AT calls this 'consultation by doing': if the street is used overwhelmingly as a pedestrian mall, that will lead to it becoming one. But if it's not, then the bollards might stay down. Once the CRL opens next year, the theory goes, the users of the street will vote with their feet, or their car horns. On Cross St, which runs east from the station entrance, the original plan reduced the parking and widened the footpaths. The revised plan removed almost all the pedestrian-friendly features and made it a street for vehicles. The final plan ensures there is enough parking for service vehicles while restoring the footpath extensions and adding better lighting. The original also retained the cycleway and north-only roadway on East St. The revised plan removed the cycleway and made the road two-way for cars, but the final plan reverts to the original. The Karangahape Rd Business Association and the City Centre Advisory Panel both told AT they would prefer a 'modal filter': a barrier halfway up the street, so vehicles could drive in and out from either end, but could not drive through. This is a way to support local traffic while stopping rat running. AT couldn't see their way to allowing that. But the council and its new Urban Development Office have both expressed interest, which means it could happen later. When the original plans were consulted on in 2023, more than half of submitters 'strongly agreed' they would improve the precinct and their own lives, and that rose to about three quarters when the 'agreed' numbers were added. That indicated strong public support. These views reflected a larger issue: that after all the investment in the CRL, catching the train and using the railway station should be a safe and rewarding experience. But earlier this year, due to opposition from some retailers and some residents in a nearby building, AT withdrew the proposals. It then faced a barrage of complaints from people wanting the original plans and the original consultation process honoured. After all, what's the point if it's just going to be ignored? This week, after more 'stakeholder engagements', AT accepted that logic and largely restored the original plans. Inside the new Karanga-a-Hape Station, part of the City Rail Link. Photo / Auckland Council 'We take feedback from the community seriously, which is why we took time to revisit the design and engage widely,' said Jane Small, AT's group manager of rail infrastructure. 'In a public project like this, it is challenging to satisfy everybody completely. 'We have worked hard to balance the different perspectives in the local community, and ensure the project aligns with plans and aspirations for Auckland's city centre, maximising the positive impacts of the City Rail Link.' Councillor Richard Hills led the effort inside the council to push AT into a rethink. He says; 'This result is so much better than where we were a few months ago. It's not perfect but it's a good result if everyone sees it as a compromise. 'It will encourage safe entry and exit to and from the new world-class station for the thousands of people who will use it each day, which will also help invigorate the Karanga-a-Hape business and residential areas'. Greater Auckland's Connor Sharp, who led the public campaign, says; 'It's vital to remember the key lesson here. We don't have to accept plans and promises being watered down, backed away from, and broken. 'When we choose to speak up, we can make a difference and change things for the better'. Bus drivers who go above and beyond Auckland Transport has a reward scheme for drivers who go above and beyond. Photo / Dean Purcell Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson told her colleagues on council a story this week about a bus driver who had helped every passenger in the pouring rain get safely off the bus and into covered shelter. 'Going above and beyond,' she called it. She said Auckland Transport has a scheme to reward drivers who go above and beyond, and anyone who sees it happening might like to let them know. Aucklanders like Government most We like him in Auckland: Christopher Luxon, local lad and Prime Minister. Photo / Mark Mitchell Aucklanders are much fonder of the Government than the rest of the country is, according to a Freshwater Strategy poll released this week. Nationally, a mere 29% of us think the country is 'heading in the right direction', but in Auckland it's 48%. This mirrors the result of the 2023 general election, where the National Party was more popular in Auckland than in the rest of the country. The unfavourability ratings are similar: 54% of the country thinks we're heading in the wrong direction, but only 38% of Aucklanders think that. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is also more popular in his home town than elsewhere. His net favourability rating is –1% here, but –27% nationally. No word yet on whether there's a settled view of who should be playing in jerseys 6, 11, 13 and 14 for the All Blacks. Midtown programme update An artist's impression of what Victoria St will look like after the completion of the Midtown upgrade. Midtown, the central city area around the Civic and stretching a block or two down Queen St, is still disrupted by roadworks. Some of them are because of the City Rail Link and some are because Auckland Transport is giving Victoria St a makeover, but perhaps the biggest disruption is caused by Watercare, which is replacing some very old pipes. They have a tunnel boring machine down there and it's a tough, complex job. Queen St used to be Te Waihorotiu stream, which became more or less an open sewer as the city started to grow. Then the stream was walled off and over a hundred years of pipes, cables and other paraphernalia were buried beneath the road. Putting in new pipes means they have to work their way through all that, digging out what's not wanted and taking care not to disrupt what's still in use. In the meantime, with Queen St, Quay St and Victoria St more pedestrianised, and with Wellesley St destined to become the main crosstown route for buses, Auckland Transport has produced a map showing the easiest ways for cars from the east to get across the city. Auckland Transport's map of the best routes to use to drive across the city centre. Essentially, it suggests drivers should not try to use Wellesley St, Victoria St or the western end of Quay St, but should take Customs St or Mayoral Drive and Nelson St. Going round is quicker and easier than trying to go straight through. At the council meeting where this was discussed, councillor Mike Lee complained that the roadworks 'are doing a great deal of harm to the city centre'. Councillor Chris Darby responded that those roadworks are 'future facing work for the city centre for generations to come'. 'Dystopia!' shouted Lee. Councillor Richard Hills told him there's a pipe being replaced on Victoria St that's 13m deep, and that the work was necessary because there are 18 development projects in the central city and they need good infrastructure. 'Remember Quay St?' he said. 'Everyone complained when that work was being done, but we needed to do it. A 100-year-old seawall was replaced, basically the front of the city was falling off. 'But look at how good it is now, look at how popular it is. Midtown will be the same.' Councillor Andy Baker said he had just one word to say to everyone who complains that Auckland is fixing its infrastructure: 'Wellington'. To sign up for Simon Wilson's weekly newsletter, click here, select Love this City and save your preferences. For a step-by-step guide, click here.
