What transport improvements matter most for AA Members?

• In Northland, more than 7 in 10 Members (72%) said smoother roads and fewer potholes is a top priority – the highest of any district. Northland Members experienced the highest rate of safety impacts due to poor road conditions, with 76% reporting at least one incident such as a near miss or vehicle damage. 
• Taranaki (67%), South Canterbury (64%) and Southland (64%) also wanted more focus on improving road surface quality.
• More urban areas were less likely to see road maintenance as a priority – less than half of Auckland (38%), Otago (38%) and Nelson Members (39%) wanted smoother roads prioritised.

• Taranaki and Hawke's Bay have the highest demand for a focus on safer roads and drivers (50% each). Both also have above-average dissatisfaction with other drivers' behaviour (42% and 44%, against 38% nationally). Both districts have similar satisfaction rates with road layouts and speed limits; their concern seems to be linked to driver behaviour rather than roads per se.
• Northland also follows this pattern, with 48% wanting safer roads and drivers. This reflects both their high levels of dissatisfaction with the safety of drivers on the road (45%), as well as poor ratings of road safety factors across the board.
• Wellington has the lowest demand of any district (34%) and one of the lowest dissatisfaction rates with other drivers (30%).
• Bicycle riders, who are more exposed to other people's driving than most road users, are somewhat more likely to want this prioritised (47%) than the national average, while bus, train and e-scooter riders are somewhat less likely (35–39%).

• Auckland Members are by far the most likely to want congestion prioritised (52%), followed by Nelson (49%) and Bay of Plenty (45%) – and drivers in these kinds of areas are also the least satisfied with congestion itself, with just 28% of all drivers satisfied with congestion overall, one of the lowest scores for any aspect of car trips.
• Fewer than 1 in 10 Southland Members (9%) see congestion as a priority, likely reflecting how much less traffic there is to navigate.

• Central city Members were more than twice as likely to want parking availability and affordability prioritised (36%) as rural Members (14%). Central city drivers were also the least satisfied with both parking availability (37%, against 52% rurally) and cost (21%, against 28% rurally).
• Otago has the strongest demand for better parking of any district (41%), with Wellington (33%) and Taranaki (32%) not far behind.

• Rural Members report worse safety experiences than city walkers, but aren't more focused on fixing it – if anything, they are slightly less likely to want safer walking to be a priority (13%, against 18% in central city areas). This likely comes down to walking infrastructure being less common in rural areas in the first place, and rural Members simply walking less overall (42%, against 63% nationally).
• Northland breaks this pattern. It has the highest priority of any district (20%), likely due to its poor safety record for pedestrians across the board. For example, Northland had the lowest satisfaction for how well walking routes are designed for pedestrian safety (50% satisfied, against 59% nationally), as well as road crossing safety (51% satisfied, compared to 61% satisfied nationally).

Cyclists' strong desire for safer cycling routes tracks with their relatively high dissatisfaction with unsafe driving.

• Two out of five cyclists (42%) are dissatisfied with the safety of other road users' driving – a similar level of concern to drivers themselves (38% dissatisfied) – but the stakes are much higher for cyclists, who have far less protection if something goes wrong.

• Just 22% feel safe cycling on roads with no dedicated cycle lane, compared with 43% on roads that have one – a gap that comes down entirely to whether a lane exists. Drivers and car passengers also see this as a gap; just 39% are satisfied with how well road layouts protect cyclists and pedestrians, and nearly a third (30%) are dissatisfied.

• Members who travel by bus or train are far more likely than average to want more frequent or reliable services prioritised (39% and 46%, against 26% nationally).
• Age matters just as much as which mode Members use – 40% of Members aged 18-34 want it prioritised, against just 17% of those aged 75 and over.
• Auckland and Wellington Members are more likely than average to want public transport improvements prioritised (31% and 34%, compared with 26% nationally). This isn't because they're dissatisfied with public transport – in fact, both districts record some of the highest satisfaction levels in the country. Instead, it reflects how heavily people use it.
• Nearly 3 in 10 Auckland Members caught a bus in the past four weeks and 13% used a train, while in Wellington 38% used a bus and 27% a train. That's well above the national averages of 20% and 8% respectively. Where public transport is widely used and generally works well, Members are more likely to see further investment as worthwhile. Wairarapa’s strong demand for improvement – the highest of any district at 47% – lines up closely with what Wairarapa's own train users experience: only 17% are satisfied with train frequency and 25% with punctuality, substantially lower than Auckland or Wellington train users (60–70% on both measures). This may help to explain why Wairarapa Members are focused on better public transport.
• In districts where public transport realistically isn't a viable option – Northland, North Otago and Southland among them – Members are more focused on the infrastructure they actually rely on, like roads, than on a service that isn't part of their daily life. Rural Members overall are less likely to want public transport prioritised (21%) than those in cities and towns (27–29%).