The super city's newest mayor wasted no time levelling a raft of criticism at Auckland Transport (AT) and laying out his "expectations" of the Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO).
In an open letter today, Brown told AT chair Wayne Donnelly that he had been elected to "fix our transport network" and that from now on the CCO "needs to exercise better judgement".
He outlined a wide range of grievances including the AT's emphasis on providing public transport, the social and economic disruption caused by unnecessary road cones and lane closures, the sale of council-owned car parking and criticised road safety projects with low "Benefit Cost Ratio".
He called on AT to "demonstrate to me, the new Governing Body, the Independent Māori Statutory Board and the public that AT accepts the need to far more deeply understand how Aucklanders live".
In response, Interim Chief Executive Mark Lambert said AT agreed a new approach is needed to better understand the needs and expectations of local communities.
"We are committed to giving Aucklanders genuine choices about how they travel across our city," said Lambert.
"Over coming days our leadership team and Board will be closely reviewing the expectations set out by the Mayor in his letter today and we will prepare a formal response addressing the priorities raised."
SHARE ME