As we celebrate the ongoing construction of Section 4’s spectacular over-water boardwalk, many official channels are calling it the “final stage” of Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai (the Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive shared path). But here at the Meadowbank & St Johns Residents Association (MBSJRA), we know the job isn’t done. As we made clear in our 2026 AGM recap and our advocacy to Minister Simeon Brown, this transformative path cannot reach its full potential until it is connected directly to our community via Gowing Drive.
Disappointingly, despite years of community advocacy and an ideal window of opportunity when the rail line was fully closed for rail network rebuild works, Auckland Transport failed to execute the link. Now, after land has already been acquired to enable this direct entrance, the project has been placed on hold due to budget constraints. This deferral leaves an entire generation of local children missing out, meaning they wait for a connection that might not arrive until after they have finished their schooling.
To show the Orakei Local Board, Auckland Council and decision-makers exactly what this link means to locals and the wider community, we recently polled our community. The data we gathered tells an overwhelming story of a neighborhood eager to ditch cars, protect their kids, and unlock active transport.
What the Data Tells Us
From 55 comprehensive responses, the urgency for this connection is undeniable:
- 89.1% want it to make accessing the shared path easier.
- 85.5% want a safer and easier way to get to local schools.
- 78.2% see it as an essential route for local leisure and active exercise.
- 76.4% want to get cars off the road to ease worsening neighborhood traffic congestion.
In Your Own Words: Why We Need the Gowing Link Now
While the charts give us numbers, the raw comments provided by residents give this campaign its true heart. Local parents, grandparents, and commuters highlighted the intense barriers created by the current funding deferral:
- A Vital Lifeline for School Students
Currently, hundreds of children living on the far side of the rail tracks are forced into cars or onto unreliable buses. As one local resident shared:
“The school bus that services Selwyn from Gowing Drive is frequently full and drives straight past students. Kids then have to get driven by parents or catch an uber… Connecting Gowing will mean many more students walk, bike, or scoot.”
Another parent noted the staggering time-saving benefits a direct line would bring:
“Our son rides to Selwyn College and a Gowing Drive connection would unlock this ride and save 50% of the time. It also means he will be able to meet his other friends… and start their day with positivity and connection.”
- Purewa Cemetery is Not a Long-Term Solution
While alternative suggestions have floating shortcuts through the local cemetery, families have made it clear that safety and accessibility are compromised without a direct underpass or bridge:
“As a family we strongly support access to the shared path via Gowing Drive. We are not comfortable with the safety of accessing the path via the Purewa cemetery and have long awaited the opportunity for our kids to use the path for access to schools.”
- Easing Dangerous Suburb Congestion & Vehicle Reliance
Leaving the Gowing connection disconnected forces users to travel nearly a kilometre out of their way just to enter a path they can physically look at from their streets. Residents argue that completing this “no-brainer” link is the single best deployment of local rates:
“I’m 65 so I don’t want to cycle from Gowing Drive… as the streets are narrow, buses travel on the roads, and there’s a big hill. If the Gowing access goes through, I can safely access the path for walking and cycling to stay active.”
What’s Next? Help Us Push It Over the Line
Auckland Council and central government have repeatedly stated that encouraging active transport is a core priority. Land has already been acquired to build this direct entrance—leaving it incomplete is a critical gap in what is otherwise a world-class asset.
How you can support the push:
- Email the Decision Makers: Use your own words to tell the Ōrākei Local Board why this project cannot be left behind on the long-term plan.
- Spread the Word: Share this data with your immediate neighbors on Gowing Drive and the wider Meadowbank area.
- Join MBSJRA: If you haven’t already, sign up for our monthly newsletter or chip in a $15 annual membership to support ongoing urban infrastructure advocacy.
Let’s make sure our collective voice is too loud for the Orakei Local Board and Auckland Council to ignore. The connection is mapped, the community is ready, and it’s time to build it!
All responses to the poll here:
“I am not affected directly by this as I don’t live nearby (I live on Maungarei Rd) but it is such a no brainer that this connection should be completed, and I fully support my rates going towards it.”
“The school bus that services Selwyn from Gowing Drive is frequently full and drives straight past students. Kids then have to get driven by parents or catch an uber because by the time the bus has gone past it’s too late to bike or walk the long way. Connecting Gowing will mean many more students walk, bike, or scoot to Selwyn. The side benefit of this will be less congestion on St John’s Rd.”
“From a public policy perspective, getting more people out of cars and onto cycle ways and into trains should be top priority. Especially where the hard work has already been done and the property purchased. Please do this, Auckland Council!”
“My grandchildren and I cannot access the shared path without walking miles and yet we can see it. What is the point of a shared path if it is disconnected from such a huge residential area that is adjacent to the path. Absolutely crazy!”
“It is way overdue”
“I think that our Local Board is either not committed or not up to the job”
As a family we strongly support access to the shared path via Gowing Drive. We are not comfortable with the safety of accessing the path via the Purewa cemetery and have long awaited the opportunity for our kids to use the path for access to schools.”
“It’s a real missing link. There are hundreds of Selwyn and St Thomas’s kids who live on the far side of the rail tracks who could walk to and from school. It’s like having s highway bypass a town but not provide on or off-ramps to it.”
“I am not a resident but a regular visitor by bike and train to visit friends and family and 100% support this connection. Also ….. Please consider public toilets along the existing route as it is a huge distance to hold it in especially for older and younger walkers.”
“Gotta love the trail I think if used properly it can really do wonders to support development”
“The Gowing Drive connection is the missing link to many families using the shared path and using Meadowbank station. The bus service is hourly off peak and only 30 minutes during peak hours. This infrequent service and lack of access to the path means that it is often easier to drive to the station. The roads to access the shared path are narrow and without separated cycle lanes means that it is easier to drive than cycle to the path. Fancourt St in particular is steep and narrow and on a bus route, with only room for one vehicle at a time when cars are parked on either side of the road. With speed limits now at 50km/h in this neighbourhood means that any collision is more likely to be fatal. Gowing Drive also has a history of drivers travelling at excess speed.”
“Im 65 so I dont want to cycle from gowing drive to the cycle path as the streets are narrow, buses travel on the roads and lots of cars plus a big hill. If the gowing access goes through I can safely access the path for walking and cycling to stay active”
This is essential – we live on Gowing Drive and have kids. We use the path frequently on our bikes and well as running and walking and it’s annoying we have to get to St. John’s road or past purewa. There is a huge amount of residents that live in and around Gowing. So many more people would use the trains and leave their cars at home. Please link us up.”
“The Gowing Drive access to the pathway is an essential access desperately needed for local schools & access to the train station. Currently catching the train to Te Waihorotiu isnt a viable option for me as it is a 20 – 25 min walk to train station from Gowing Drive, the 782 only comes hourly and often doesn’t link up with train times.”
“Our son rides to Selwyn College and a Gowing Drive connection would unlock this ride and save 50% of the time. It also means he will be able to meet his other friends who come from the Meadowbank end and ride together.
What a great way for teenager young men to connect on their way to school and start their way with positivity and connection.”“Our family would also use the shared path a lot more – great to be out there with our 2 younger ones biking and adventuring.”
It expands the neighbourhood play area significantly which is good for many.”
“Please help our community connect with more. It should save a fair amount of increased traffic if we keep building key connections like this.”
“Glen Innes, Meadowbank and Orakei are becoming real cycle centric places.”
“As someone living on Gowing Drive who attended St Thomas School and Selwyn College, the Gowing Drive connection would be incredibly and a safe way for kids to get to school. If the path was a thing when I was at school I would’ve walked to and from school everyday.”
“While I can appreciate this may feel important for some people, I don’t feel the cost can be justified in the current climate. Maybe a shortcut through the Cemetery could be prepared as short term fix. It’s an extraordinary amount of money to save a few hundred people a few minutes extra ride back towards existing access points.”
“We need this path built as soon as possible.”
“A safer connection from Stonefields and Saint Johns to Selwyn would make travel to school by bike a lot more attractive to local residents and their children. This would also allow parents who currently drive Selwyn children to school to also choose to use public transport or cycle to work themselves.”
“Adding more connections to the path is a no-brainer and is a perfect use of rates money. I advocated for this to be completed when the train line was out of action for 6 months a few years ago so it was a shame it wasn’t done then. But I still think it is worth completing. It needs to be safe and inviting to use during the day and at night if it is an underpass.”
“There was an Auckland council survey / local board survey a while back that should have a number of clear responses from the community wanting this. It remains a hugely disappointing thing that this connection was not achieved when the train line was out of service for more than a year – complete loss of opportunity, which now when (if!) this is ever done, will need to be disrupted again. We have a generation of children missing out on the benefit of easier access to their schools, my eldest is now 15 and we have lived in our home since he was 1, attending st Thomas and now selwyn. It is sadly realistic at this point he will complete his schooling before this connection is created. 🙁 “
“We are in support of adding a Gowing drive connection to the shared path. We use it all the time but it’s such a hassle to walk all the way up the the pony club to access it”
“Can we please make it happen ASAP?”
“I would like my child to be able to get to St Thomas’s school via the Gowing connection. Look at the school zone, so many kids live close to this connection! The next available connection is quite far away in the wrong direction, and out of the school zone.”
Traffic is very very busy and this would mean we could reduce the amount of kids being driven to school.”
“As a family we would also use it to connect to the CRL and Orakei, and use the path for exercise.
“It make so much sense, please make the connection!”
“100% the Gowing Drive connection needs to go ahead, it will open up so many people to readily access the path, making the most of the investment, and creating all of these benefits for the community”
“I can not believe we are still waiting for this connection!”
“We would find using the train much more accessible and our children can get to school quickly, safely and without is having to drive them”
“We are urgently requesting that the proposed path entrance on Gowing Drive, connecting Meadowbank to the Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive shared path, be reinstated as a priority project.”
“We understand that this access point was placed on hold due to budget constraints. However, its absence is creating a significant barrier for residents who would otherwise rely on this valuable transport link. Currently, the nearest entry point for Meadowbank residents is near the cemetery, almost one kilometre out of the way. This forces users to travel in the opposite direction before doubling back to reach their intended route, despite land already having been acquired to enable a direct entrance at Gowing Drive.”
“This missing connection is not a minor inconvenience, it is a critical gap in what is otherwise an excellent piece of infrastructure. The impact is especially evident during school hours. A direct Gowing Drive entrance would enable many local families to safely walk or cycle to St Thomas’s School and Selwyn College. This would significantly reduce vehicle congestion during peak drop-off and pick-up times, improving safety for students and easing pressure on surrounding roads.”
“Encouraging active transport is a shared goal across council and government. Delivering this relatively small but highly impactful piece of infrastructure would directly support that objective, while also enhancing accessibility, safety, and community wellbeing.”
