NLTP - National Land Transport Programme

National summary | June 2007

Significant issues

There are formidable challenges facing the land transport sector if it is to find affordable ways to support the economic transformation of New Zealand, improve the health, safety and accessibility of New Zealanders, while at the same time addressing climate change and the local environmental impacts of land transport.

A major change of direction will be needed if the land transport sector is to meet the expectations that have been placed on it.

We set out below the issues facing the sector and responses to these.

• Growth in transport demand resulting from:
  • increased desire for mobility as household incomes increase
  • growth in the freight task and business services as the economy develops
  • the growing population of some communities
• Increased congestion on road networks resulting from:
  • the general preference for travel by private motor vehicles
  • the growth of dispersed communities, leading to the private car becoming the dominant transport mode, and increased travel to access employment, education and social amenities
  • the difficulty for transport authorities to implement road and passenger transport improvements to ‘keep up’ with demand
• Negative impacts on the environment and communities resulting from:
  • growth in emissions, contaminants, noise and waste from increasing road vehicle use
  • air pollution causing respiratory illnesses and increased dependence on motor vehicles affecting physical fitness
• Reduced accessibility and mobility for certain groups in society resulting from:
  • an ageing population and reduced mobility for older people and others in society who do not have a car or are unable to use one
  • increasing costs of public transport and providing mobility services for the transport disadvantaged
• Increased road trauma resulting from:
  • greater use of motorcycles and other fuel efficient vehicles
  • increasing walking and cycling
• Providing sustainable funding for the transport system:
  • to support operation and maintenance of current transport networks and services while also funding key strategic developments of the system
  • through new mechanisms to replace funding from traditional sources that is expected to slow as the vehicle fleet becomes more fuel efficient
  • to implement high cost strategic projects funded from many sources
• Ensuring continued performance of the transport system despite the occurrence of:
  • fluctuations in global fuel prices and changes to the $NZ exchange rate
  • short term responses to cost volatility by transport users, for example, by increases in passenger transport patronage following fuel price rises
  • adverse weather or traffic incidents on key strategic routes.

The issues described above are not new and they are certainly not unique to New Zealand. Traditionally transport authorities have responded by building new road capacity in an attempt to meet demand; by providing increased subsidies for public transport; and by mitigating the environmental impacts through, for instance, increased expenditure on landscaping and tunnelling of roads. This has become known as the ‘predict and provide’ approach.

The current approach is not sustainable

The predict and provide approach will not be sustainable in the long run for a number of reasons:

1. Improvements in the road system reinforce the tendency for people and businesses to move further away from the centre of urban areas, leading to increased growth in traffic levels and further demands for new road building.
2. Overseas experience suggests that supply side measures become increasingly unaffordable as time goes by. In New Zealand, the government has substantially increased land transport funding over recent years and has decided to consider allocating all revenues from fuel excise duties and road user charges to land transport in future years. However, traffic forecasts suggest that, even at this higher level of investment, congestion will progressively worsen in major urban centres over the next 20 years.
3. Even if further funding could be allocated by government in the years ahead, New Zealand has signed the Kyoto Protocol and has therefore committed itself to contributing to international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including C02 in particular. Figure 2 shows energy C02 equivalent emissions by sector and contribution by fuel type. Domestic transport is the single largest contributor to C02 emissions, and the sector’s contribution is growing at a rate of 4.2 percent per year.
   

   Figure 2: Energy C02 equivalent emissions by sector and contribution by fuel type (2005)

   
   Source: Revised New Zealand energy greenhouse gas emissions 1992-2005. Ministry of Economic Development. December 2006.
   
   A comparison of trends in energy CO2 equivalent emissions by sector over time, as shown in Figure 3, shows that transport emissions in New Zealand are growing at a much stronger rate than emissions in other sectors. Transport CO2 emissions increased from 8,633 kt CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 14,005 kt CO2 equivalent in 2005 (an increase of 62 percent over this period).
   
   If the transport sector is going to contribute to New Zealand’s obligation under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels, then the sector must find a way to reverse this currently unsustainable trend. This will require significant changes over the next decade or two in travel behaviour patterns, fuel choices, and energy consumption per kilometre travelled.
   

   Figure 3: Energy CO2 equivalent emissions by sector

   
   Source: Revised New Zealand greenhouse gas emissions 1992-2005. Ministry of Economic Development. December 2006.
4. Pricing and regulatory measures may be introduced by governments in the years ahead to reverse this trend but, in any event, there will be an inevitable trend towards rising fuel costs in future years. There is worldwide consensus that oil supplies will peak at some time in the next 50 years. When this occurs it will lead to the price of oil increasing to perhaps four or five times its present level. Nobody knows whether this will happen suddenly or whether there will be a gradual price increase over many years. Over this period there will be a switch to non-fossil based transport fuels, but these are also likely to be relatively expensive compared to the price of fuel today.

Once the era of ‘cheap’ car travel is over, demand for public transport will increase, but the costs of serving dispersed patterns of development with public transport will also be very high. The inescapable conclusion is that the costs of moving people and goods around will be higher than it is now. This has major implications for the ability of the land transport system to contribute to the government’s economic and social goals for New Zealand in the long term.

Towards greater safety and sustainability

Land Transport NZ’s statutory functions include the promotion of land transport sustainability and safe transport on land. We interpret the word ‘promotion’ to indicate a proactive, non-passive role in influencing the direction of the land transport system towards one that is more sustainable and safer than the present one. We interpret a more sustainable safer land transport system to be one with the following attributes:

• Low energy
• Affordable
• Non-polluting
• Able to be provided long-term
• Safe and secure (vehicles and practices)
• Reliable and efficient
• Able to meet needs long term
• Compatible with liveable cities

Land Transport NZ has identified a number of trends that need to happen if the sector is to progress towards land transport sustainability and safer transport on land. These are set out below:

• CO2 emissions from land transport reduce
• Fatal and serious injury crashes reduce
• More people choose active and shared modes of transport
• The availability and use of shared transport, passenger transport and services for the transport disadvantaged increases
• People drive in a way that uses less energy and is safe in the conditions
• The commercial and private vehicle fleets become more energy efficient, safer and have improved environmental performance
• Commercial transport operators adopt management practices that promote safety, use less energy and reduce emissions, noise and vibration
• A higher proportion of freight is carried on rail and coastal shipping
• Freight industry productivity improves
• Development patterns of towns and cities reduce the need for people to travel
• Development of towns and cities, design of networks, and operating rules provide a safe and convenient environment for walking, cycling and other personal travel options
• People use private vehicles less at congested times
• Traffic flows more efficiently with greater reliability on the road network.

Moving towards a future that can be sustained involves many contributions. Bringing about the optimum mix of contributions to sustainable land transport and safe transport on land requires thinking ahead, good judgement and effective partnerships.

Land Transport NZ’s overall approach

Land Transport NZ’s overall approach to meeting its statutory objectives and the government’s priorities within the environment outlined above is to prioritise funding, assistance and advice to activities which:

Improve the way the land transport system is planned by:

• Reducing the need to travel
  • Encourage appropriate integration between land use and transport planning, especially in urban and peri-urban areas, to consolidate new development around public transport nodes, to improve walking and cycling routes, and to make it safer and easier for people to access jobs, shopping, and leisure facilities.
• Encouraging better connected transport solutions
  • Assist and advise approved organisations on transport planning to improve integration between the activities and plans of different transport authorities to achieve strategic focus in identifying long-term solutions.
• Facilitating more efficient commercial transport
  • Work with the Ministry of Transport on regulatory reform aimed at improving the efficiency of freight logistics, and facilitating inter-modal transfer between road, rail and coastal shipping.

Improve the performance of land transport networks by:

• Developing and managing transport networks
  • Invest in road, rail and coastal shipping networks, with an emphasis on improving reliability, safety and effectiveness of existing networks
  • Selectively fund new links that focus on completing networks and improving connections to transport hubs, freight terminals, ports and airports
  • Increase emphasis on measures to improve the management of traffic flows such as ramp metering and sophisticated signalling systems
  • Encourage road controlling authorities to consciously prioritise scarce road space to favour high occupancy, high value vehicle use.
• Providing greater choice of modes
  • Invest in public transport services and the infrastructure to provide an attractive alternative to the motor car, and to improve accessibility and mobility for those who do not own cars or cannot use them
  • Increase investment in walking and cycling infrastructure to provide healthier and safer ways for people to make shorter trips.
• Obtaining better value for money
  • Review the process used to allocate funding in the NLTP to ensure sustainability is addressed through strategic planning rather than simply ‘adding things on’ to existing activities
  • Reform procurement procedures for activities funded through the NLTP to ensure best value for money for government funds, and to encourage competitive and efficient transport operators and suppliers
  • Improve investment planning in conjunction with sector partners to secure greater certainty from the NLTP
  • Ensure the scope of proposals is reviewed as part of project assessments.

Improve the way the land transport system is used by:

• Influencing travel choices
  • Promote and fund travel planning initiatives to encourage people to share cars, use public transport and walk and cycle
  • Facilitate and fund neighbourhood accessibility planning to identify small scale infrastructure improvements that will improve connectivity at a local level
  • Promote practical ways transport users can improve their safety, save money and help the environment
  • Promote vehicle safety and fuel efficiency as key factors influencing vehicle purchase.
• Promoting road safety
  • Deliver information and education campaigns to promote safe use of roads
  • Develop and implement land transport rules for vehicles and road use
  • Fund and coordinate road safety activities across agencies including those delivered by the NZ Police, local authorities and community groups.
• Policing or enforcement targeting road safety
  • Focus road policing on the delivery of strategic enforcement to address risky behaviours associated with driving at excessive speed or while fatigued, drink and/or drugged driving, not wearing restraints, and dangerous driving
  • Provide advertising and other social marketing in support of road policing – addressing risky road use
  • Consult on, plan and develop road safety education and road policing programmes in accordance with the direction provided by the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC)
  • Invest in NZ Police technologies and people to deliver activities designed to achieve road safety and wider land transport outcomes.
• Regulatory interventions to improve performance
  • Undertake development and enforcement of land transport rules relating to vehicle emissions, fuel consumption, and vehicle safety and noise
  • Improve the operator compliance regime to achieve higher standards of safety, environmental and energy performance, including development of an operator rating system and implementation of taxi enforcement activity.
• Managing demand through pricing
  • Develop tolling systems for new roads in collaboration with sector partners
  • Work with the Ministry of Transport to review the road user charging system and to develop road pricing and parking policies.
    

 

Page created: 26 June 2007