NZ Government to un-ban walking, due to fuel crisis

A leaked Cabinet paper suggests the government is looking at a range of extreme measures to support New Zealanders with transport challenges through the fuel crisis.

These include a surprise U-turn on former Transport Minister Simeon Brown’s world-first ban on walking, which we first reported on two years ago today.

The paper is entitled Discussion: Energy Emergency Zone – Nationally Urgent Transport Strategies. It presents a number of options under a general brief of being “as different from the previous government as possible, vibes-wise, especially in terms of not telling people what to do.”

It’s unclear whether this is one of the Cabinet papers discussed at the reported “flurry of meetings” last weekend. However, the copy we received is heavily annotated with comments in different handwriting, suggesting notes taken during a vigorous kitchen-table discussion.

(Some comments have initials, while others do not – like this, at the top of the first page: “no stupid questions, no bad ideas, chunk down the big rocks and operationalise them through the decision gates.”)

So far, none of the proposed measures have made it into public discourse, let alone been actioned. We look forward to your thoughts on which, if any, should be fast-tracked.

Un-Ban Walking

“This is likely to be relatively uncontroversial” says the Cabinet paper, noting the ban has been largely ignored by New Zealanders, and has proven impossible to enforce.

The paper suggests framing the necessary legislative update as “less of a U-turn, more of a smooth 180 designed to meet Kiwis where they were to begin with.”

It suggests a public information campaign to be led by EECA, with themes like:

• Most trips in cities are relatively short, but walking can be slow. Consider jogging, jog-walking, or Olympic-style speed-walking to make up time.
• Consider walking to the closest main road and flagging down any passing cars. It might be more practical and appealing to drivers if you do this with a couple of your neighbours at convenient intersections.
• If pushing a pram or a shopping cart, consider adding sound effects such as “brrrm brrrm” and “honk honk”, to underscore that your journey is both virtuous and essential, not just a frivolous stroll for no good reason.

A hand-written note in the margin asks: “Push Your Car To Work Day, is this a thing? SB”

Speedy Reversal of Speed Reversals

This section, sub-headed “An Inconvenient Truth”, lays out the evidence that reduced speeds save fuel as well as human lives, time, and capacity in the health system, and are thus more economically productive than higher speeds.

It therefore recommends an immediate blanket reversal of the coalition government’s blanket reversal of carefully targeted safer speeds, expanding this to include the state highway system as a whole.

The paper suggests framing the required legislative update as “less of a U-turn, more of a donut.”

A marginal note (unsigned) says: “Mmmm, donuts”

EV-PPP, ASAP

Described as a “stretch goal”, this item proposes updating the nation’s entire light vehicle fleet to EVs, to be funded via the projected billions earmarked for Roads of National Significance, hand-in-hand with finance from unspecified PPP partners.

With no clear path to mass disposal of the existing fleet, officials note the need for interim mass parking of redundant internal-combustion vehicles. They suggest converting motorway fast lanes (see above re speed reductions) for this purpose, as “they already function as linear parking lots at peak hours.”

A marginal note, in purple fountain pen ink, says: “If PPP partners not forthcoming, consider flogging off South Island to [illegible] to raise the requisite lucre? Time to grasp the nettle and undertake asset-recycling on the operatic scale, given we’re already sweating this asset by underfunding it, being a gargantuan liability, lo, since the seismic palaver. SJ”

CRL To Become CFL?

On the theme of mass conversion, this item notes the imminent opening of Auckland’s City Rail Link, and calls attention to recent flooding events.

Astonishingly, it seems contingency plans exist to convert the tunnels into a City Ferry Link: subterranean canals, to be plied by small ferries, ideally electrified, possibly gondola-shaped.

A marginal note reads: “Let your miiind start a journey through a strange new world…” followed by doodles of musical notes and what appears to be a mask of some sort.

The paper notes that this plan could, in theory, eventually enable uninterrupted one-seat cross-harbour-and-isthmus journeys from Waiheke all the way to West Auckland (the “Wa-Wa” line), once sea-level rise allows.

WFH On Rails

Following on from the above, this item outlines Auckland Transport’s decades-long struggle to reduce dwell times of trains at stations.

It says: “Customers wait for up to a minute at each station for the doors to close and the train to move on. This adds up to a substantial number of lost hours for work and study across the populace.”

Accordingly, it proposes a more economically productive use of daytime trains may be as “stationary classrooms and co-working offices”, especially as they already have free wi-fi.

To encourage greater buy-in of the concept, the paper suggests catchy names like “Teacher-Training”, “Office Stationary”, and “You Don’t Have To Be Chuffed To Work Here, But It Helps”. Amenities could include a barista or cafeteria area, and potentially a quiet car.

This proposal seems to have attracted a lot of enthusiasm, with multiple marginal notes on themes of:

• improved school attendance, especially for kids who love trains
• related, the likelihood this may appeal to certain industries more than others
• and, whether the stations can be used as al fresco meeting rooms, playgrounds, gyms or giant chalkboards aka “learning platforms.”

LNG-bikes

This item notes the growing calls for support to get e-bikes into the hands of New Zealanders who can’t otherwise afford EVs, but also the fact the government can’t seem to bring itself to mention e-bikes.

Instead, it suggests engaging Rocket Lab – whose founder Peter Beck once famously attached a rocket to a bicycle – to revisit Kiwi innovator Richard Pearse’s gas-powered bicycle, with a view to inventing a 21st Century LNG-powered bicycle.

It also notes the potential to incorporate Pearse’s “self-inflating tires” as a feature.

A marginal note queries whether hydrogen is an option for fuel and/or tire inflation, followed by a reply in all-caps “NOBODY MENTION INFLATION – NW”

Redacted item (aviation-related?)

In our experience, it is highly unusual for a leaked paper to contain OIA-style blackout redactions of whole paragraphs. However, a whole section has been painstakingly gone over with a black Vivid, aside from the words “Richard Pearse”, “bamboo”, “pedal-powered”, and “used to run an airline.”

We welcome your thoughts about what this item could possibly refer to.

Never forget #ceoNZ #nzpol ( 2023 )

— Chris Slane (@slanecartoon.bsky.social) 2026-03-30T21:21:11.661Z

Cook Strait Dangleway?

Another item addresses the Cook Strait ferry issues, under the working title of ‘National Overwater Backup Option Across The Strait’.

Apparently taking inspiration from the recently released fast-tracked proposal for a gondola system in Queenstown, it proposes fast-tracking a similar aerial cable-car across the strait, in a bid to provide redundancy for the failing boats.

An annotation in very neat handwriting says “as long as it doesn’t touch water, I’ll make sure there is funding – NW”.

“Attitude of Gratitude” Campaign

This item responds to a request for “low-cost ways to drill home for the public that there is no such thing as a free lunch or a free bus, given the government provides “generous subsidies” to public transport” – to the tune of as much as a fraction of a kilometre of a single Road of National Significance.

It proposes an amendment to the Land Transport Act, requiring all passengers alighting from buses to replace the traditional greeting “Thanks, driver!” with “Thanks, coalition government!”

In line with the low-cost approach, existing safety cameras inside buses will track compliance with the new rule.

The paper notes a few potential risks, including:

• risk of industrial action by drivers, who may feel taken for granted if not thanked regularly
• reputational risks of perceived government overreach and dabbling in “behaviour change”
• related: media risk of tricky questions about the difference between mandated expressions of fiscal appreciation versus, say, general positive exhortations to “be kind”.

Officials also highlight a “legit risk” that passengers may deploy sarcasm “in order to comply with the letter of the law, but not the spirit.” However, they conclude, “as the government has made clear, it can’t tell people how to live their lives.”

A handwritten note (unsigned) asks: “Wait… is this sarcasm?”

End of the RONS – for now?

Likely to be universally embraced as a logical move, this item proposes pausing the Roads of National Significance programme, “for now.”

To maintain public confidence and stakeholder satisfaction, it proposes Wellington’s Wētā Workshop be engaged to produce a set of “full-size, hyperrealistic informational billboards”.

These would be erected at each end of all proposed future RONS, to reassure the public that “the vision remains strong and the way ahead is clear.”

The paper says “example attached” – but strangely, the leaked version has the following image instead.

Finally: the Cabinet paper includes an Addendum consisting of a single page with a single line – Alternatively, Reduce Fuel Use by Funding and Promoting Alternatives to Driving?

It can barely be made out through a palimpsest of heavily scrawled annotations like “Yeah nah” and “lol as if” and “The last government that rallied collective action to tackle an unprecedented crisis won a historic mandate, so, no.”

Greater Auckland’s work is made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. We’re now a registered charity, so your donations are tax-deductible. If you’d like to support our work, you can join our circle of supporters here.

Share this