In Transit - October 1997 - No. 85 - Financial reporting database - AIMSUN modelling - ATMS trial

 The October 1997 edition of In Transit focuses on:

• Launch of the PROMAN project financial reporting database to track spending on all projects
• AIMSUN2 modelling software used in Mecca, may be used in Auckland
• Some evidence that NZ drivers appear to be more aggressive than those in some other countries
• Trial of ATMS to commence on Auckland motorway network
• Stormwater drain burst near Newlands Interchange project
• Electronic tolling to begin in two years with Melbourne Citylink project.

Land transport funding reform in the late 1980s

This post contains a series of newspaper articles from 1988/1989 about discussions on land transport funding reform.  I have a large number of articles from the 1980s and 1990s on these issues which I will include as posts collectively on similar topics from time to time.

2 June 1988 the Evening Post reported on what then Labour Transport Minister Bill Jefferies was considering, which would subsequently result in the merger of the National Roads Board (which by this time was a branch of the Ministry of Transport, following the wind up of the Ministry of Works) with the Urban Transport Council.  The National Roads Board was the decision-making body for central government funding of roads, with extensive local government representation by region. The Urban Transport Council determined central government funding of public transport, which at the time primarily consisted of grants for capital spending to local bus enterprises.  The merger was intended to enable tradeoffs in spending of roads and public transport.  This would ultimately result in creation of Transit New Zealand as a single land transport funding and state highway management agency(hence the name). 

This undated article from around the same time also reports on the intention to deregulate the taxi industry.  It reports in more detail on the restructuring of road functions, with the Ministry of Transport holding the road design and contracting functions, and the road safety education and enforcement roles.  It as noted that while road building and maintenance received funding from RUC and fuel tax, public transport subsidies, safety education and road safety enforcement came from general taxation.  Ultimately all of this would get funded from the National Land Transport Fund.  

The article also notes interest in reviewing public transport monopolies, and using taxis to provide evening services in some communities in place of scheduled public transport services.  

15 August 1988 Evening Post report is a criticism from the AA that road user taxes had been diverted to the Urban Transport Council and the Ministry of Transport, and that this had compromised funding for road safety infrastructure improvements.  The report noted funding had been approved for a median barrier between Johnsonville and Tawa on SH1 north of Wellington (Johnsonville-Porirua motorway) and widening Upper Hutt's River Road which had been the site of multiple fatalities.  It notes failures to fund some additional median barriers.

This undated report from 1988/1989 is one of the earliest reports into New Zealand considering whether technology would enable free-flow road pricing, following a trial in the Netherlands.  The technology is described as using roadside monitors with pre-purchased stored value cards, with number plate recognition cameras.  The Minister at the time, Bill Jefferies describes it as being at the investigation stage, where's Opposition spokesman Maurice McTigue said fuel tax worked well and was fair, and tolling could only be justified for a specific project where alternative funding was needed.

Following that earlier article, road pricing was ruled out by both the Labour Government of the day and the National Opposition.  Minister Jefferies instructed that "no work" was to be done on road pricing.  The AA was opposed because it said $600m of fuel tax was diverted to the Consolidated Fund, at the rate of 21.4c/l.  The MoT's land transport division general manager Allan Kennaird said it was not considered for funding roads, but to manage congestion.  He described the work as being to "keep our ear to the ground",. as it appears the idea was thought as having more support politically than it has.  

In Transit July 1994

In Transit No 54 July 1994

In Transit No 54 July 1994

In Transit No54 July 1994

In Transit No.54 July 1994

In this issue:

• Expansion of competitive tendering to all minor and ancillary work, including that for local authorities, and including what is needed for Local Authority Trading Enterprises to be eligible to tender for such work.
• "Adopt-a-Highway" programme for local communities to support landscaping highways
• Removal of the designation for the Christchurch Northern Arterial
• Electronic road pricing trials in Singapore

The latter two points may be of more historical interest. 

Christchurch Northern Arterial designation removal

The removal of the designation which was originally for a motorway is significant as it meant that there was next to no likelihood of a motorway/expressway heading to the northern edge of the Christchurch CBD. No doubt had it remained, there would have been some resistance to a motorway extending to Bealey Avenue.

The reason for the removal was that Transit NZ believed Cranford St would be adequate to meet demand over the long term along with a belief that an arterial road that included the cost of removing the housing on the designation would be unlikely to be economically viable. It was noted that the designation would remain to the north (in largely rural land), which of course was subsequently used for the Christchurch Northern Corridor motorway extension.

The designation was one of the many motorway designations placed in New Zealand cities in the 1950s and 1960s, except of course in Auckland, many were built, whereas Christchurch's Northern Motorway in the 1970s was at the city outskirts and largely consisted of a bypass for Kaiapoi.

Singapore Electronic Road Pricing trials

In 1994 Singapore had been operating a manually enforced paper-based congestion pricing cordon in its CBD since 1975, but at this point was trialling electronic road pricing to implement wider corridor based congestion pricing using electronic On Board Units, with prepaid smart cards for payment. These trials led to full implementation of the ERP system in 1998, which remains the world's most efficient and effective congestion pricing scheme.