Transit NZ key link in land transport reform

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 320, 23 January 1990, Page 2

Transit NZ key link in land transport reform

The new Transit New Zealand authority is in charge of co-ordinating the roading system and public transport services of the future throughout the country. It is the key link in a mechanism designed to involve local decision-makers at district and regional level.

The local authority is best equipped to know about needs for roading and public transport in its own area and to consult the local people, according to the Ministry of Transport. Transit New Zealand replaces the National Roads Board and the Urban Transport Council bringing together planning for road construction and maintenance and public transport which until now have been in separate compartments. This drawing together is reflected all the way down the decision-mak-ing line, so local authorities can trade off needs in one area against needs in the other; to make their own judgements whether a traffic problem is best handled by a roading or public transport solution, or a combination of the two. Funds for roading and public transport, unless funded entirely by a local authority on its own behalf, will be drawn from a common pool, the Land Transport Account, maintained by Transit NZ. This in turn draws on funds collected by Government through road user charges, tax on transport fuel and motor vehicle registration performed by the Min-

istry of Transport. Roading and public transport projects decided in by the local

authorities and requiring funds through Transit NZ must be put out to open tender. Councils have their own works departments and many have their own transport operations. If these are to bid for Transit NZfunded projects in their local area, they must be set up as separate companies at arm's length from the local authority, to ensure fairness. The regional councils draw together a land transport program for their region out of the projects advanced by the districts. Transit New Zealand does the final reconciliation of all regional plans into a national plan, and then will be in charge of distributing the funds. The new planning and funding, together with a loosening of the regulations governing bus and taxi services, are likely to bring radical changes to public transport, with more competitive, efficient and cheaper services hoped for. The taxi industry has already been deregulated

- not without some pain and anger - and bus services will follow. Monopolies by bus companies on particular routes will be lost; the suburban bus will no longer have to stop at the edge of the city if it can put up a convincing case for a viable city service.

This need not mean all buses converging on the lucrative main routes and racing one another to pick up fares. Until 1991, the regional authority will still be able to refuse a license where a suggested service might affect the viability of an existing service. Even beyond that time - though MoT sources are disinclined to predict that far ahead - it seems authorities will still be able to exercise some disciplint through the regional plan. They are obliged, however, to choose the most cost-effective and efficient service for each section of the route. Those routes which attract no interest from potential suppliers on a commercial basis will be put out to tender with a subsidy attached. This may mean new types of transport emerging. If part of a route has enough custom to be commercially viable for a bus, and part has too little custom, the latter may in future be managed by an

This article is an explanation of the new structure for overseeing New Zealand's roading system. It is supplied by the Ministry of Transport.

Transit link

From page 2 operator with a fleet of taxis. Reorienting the whole of the road system is obviously a massive undertaking, and will not happen without hiccups, agrees Mr Tim Sanger, General Manager of the MoT's Land Transport division. "In the first planning cycle, this year, we will be very much on a learning curve," he says. "Next year, we will have learnt from some of our mistakes." It may take three years, he acknowledges, before the system is working completely smoothly.