Auckland Council has appointed Mark Darrow to the acting chair of Auckland Transport, effective 1 November 2023.

Darrow will be in the role until the council selects a permanent chair to lead the Auckland Transport Board.

Darrow replaces Wayne Donnelly, who has been acting chair since 8 October 2022. Donnelly asked to remain on the board as the deputy chair until March 2024, continuing to provide his transport expertise to the board.

“We are very grateful to Wayne for stepping up to the chair role over the past year. It has been a year where Auckland Transport has started to show improvements as they work to implement the direction given to them by the mayor and councilors,” said Mayor Wayne Brown.

“At the best of times chairing the Auckland Transport board is a challenging job and Wayne has stepped up to this admirably for the last year. I thank him wholeheartedly for his efforts and continued commitment to Auckland. I wish him and his family all the best and am pleased he is staying on the board,” he said.

“In Mark Darrow, we have a highly skilled director with real-world experience in the transport sector and I have great confidence in him to professionally deliver on what Aucklanders need. He is well placed to steer Auckland Transport while we go through the process to select a new chair.”