Assisting economic development

The government's high level outcomes for land transport were first stated in the New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS, 2002) as five objectives. They are:

1. assist economic development
2. assist safety and personal security
3. improve access and mobility
4. protect and promote public health
5. ensure environmental sustainability.

The NZTS makes it clear that "economic development, social cohesion and environmental improvements must be progressed in parallel" (NZTS, p4). It provides guidance by stating that "achieving the government's vision for transport will lead to improved flows of people, goods and services within and between urban and rural areas, and between New Zealand and overseas" (NZTS, p10).

Since the publication of the NZTS, the Ministry of Transport, the NZTA and other organisations have provided their interpretation of the objectives and begun contributing to the process of achieving them.

Interpreting the objective

Since the publication of the NZTS, the Ministry of Transport, the NZTA and other organisations have provided their interpretation of the objectives and begun contributing to the process of achieving them.

Of particular importance to "assisting economic development" are the following:

1. 'Community Outcomes' are defined under the Local Government Act 2002. The Act requires a consultative process to ensure that the desired outcomes, including economic development outcomes, belong to the local community rather than the council.
2. The 'principles' and 'objectives' for land transport are detailed in the NZ Transport Strategy (NZTS, 2002) and reiterated in the Land Transport Management Act (LTMA, 2003).
3. Transport sector strategic directions (TSSD) are defined by the Ministry of Transport in the TSSD document (2005). The TSSD developed a set of directional statements to enable measurements of New Zealand's progress in moving towards an affordable, safe, responsive and sustainable transport system. The directional statements that are of particular relevance to 'assisting economic development' are
   • growth and development are increasingly integrated with transport
   • transport users increasingly understand and meet the costs they create
   • New Zealand's transport system is improving its international and domestic linkages including inter-modal transfers
   • the effectiveness of the transport system is being maintained or improved
   • the efficiency of the transport system is continuing to improve
   • the negative impacts of land-use developments on the transport system are reducing.
4. Government Policy Statements (GPS) express the Government's priorities for the New Zealand land transport sector. The first GPS is to be produced in 2008; thereafter it is expected to be produced or updated every 3 years.
5. The NZ'TAs approach, which is stated annually in its Statement of Intent (SOI). In its SOI 2007-2010, The NZTA "identified a number of trends that need to be addressed for the sector to progress towards land transport sustainability and safer transport on land". The trend statements of particular relevance to "assisting economic development" are
   • the proportion of business and household expenditure on land transport reduces (2007 only)
   • a higher proportion of freight is carried on rail and coastal shipping
   • freight industry productivity improves.

Achieving the objective

The NZTS 2002 states New Zealands economic development relies on a coherent, affordable, efficient and effective transport system to improve the flow of people, goods and services.  It further states the government has identified and funded priorities for land transport and services, including:

• Congestion: reducing severe traffic congestion, that is congestion that occurs regularly during the week, causes long time delays and has significant economic, social and environmental impacts
• Public transport: to improve funding and delivery of public transport
• Walking and cycling: to promote walking and cycling

The NZTS 2008 introduced the government's strategic approach which, amongst other things, emphasises the importance of demand management including:

• the management of travel demand and the level of supply to meet demand and maintain levels of service
• regulatory and voluntary approaches to achieving behaviour change in peoples transport choices.

In talking about delivering on the vision and targets, the NZTS 2008 states the government will apply increased priority to:

• Integrated planning
• Making best use of existing networks and infrastructure
• Investing in critical infrastructure and the transport sector workforce
• Increasing the availability and use of public transport, cycling, walking, and other shared and active modes
• Considering options for charging that will generate revenue for investment in transport infrastructure and services
• Using new technologies and fuels
• Maintaining and improving international links

Monitoring the outcome

NZTA and the Ministry of Transport have been assembling data and publishing it, to help track progress in dealing with the issues and to help decision makers with evidence-based planning wherever possible.  Publications include:

• Transport monitoring indicator framework developed by the Ministry of Transport to provide a national and, where possible, a regional framework for the robust and consistent monitoring of the NZ transport system www.transport.govt.nz/transport-monitoring-indicator-framework/
• At a glance reports a high-level overview of the contribution that land transport makes to the government's economic, social and environmental objectives for transport. www.landtransport.govt.nz/performance/index.html
• Regional summaries a high-level overview of a regions land transport system within the economic, social and environmental context of that region, and of the strategies that will drive transport in the future.  www.landtransport.govt.nz/performance/index.html
• Trend reports show progress against the 13 trend statements of the NZTA ww.landtransport.govt.nz/performance/index.html.