Submit on the 2012 GPS
Since the release of the “Engagement Document” for the 2012 Government Policy Statement (GPS) on transport funding I have written a couple of posts (particularly this one) on the document – and what I think of it. The Ministry of Transport have been pretty quiet about things (not surprising since I imagine they’re utterly embarrassed by it) but everyone actually has the opportunity to make a submission by May 27th.…
12 Comments Road lobby wants to waste megabucks
I must say sometimes I really struggle to understand the logic behind many of central government’s transport decisions in recent times. Cutting back funding for public transport infrastructure improvements when PT patronage is booming, pushing for massively more state highway spending when traffic flows are declining, sometimes it’s just really difficult to make sense out of what thinking’s going on behind the scenes.…
Analysing the 2012 Government Policy Statement ‘Engagement Document’
Perhaps prompted by the various items on Radio NZ this morning, the Ministry of Transport has finally got around to publishing a discussion document for the next Government Policy State for transport funding. You can read the document here and you can also make submissions on it between now and May 27th by emailing: GPS@transport.govt.nz.…
Local roads being ignored
There was a rather curious media release by Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule today – talking about the next Government Policy Statement and its implications for local road funding:
The importance of local roads to the growth of New Zealand should not be forgotten when funding decisions are made, says Local Government New Zealand President Lawrence Yule.…
Joyce wants more uneconomic RoNS
A couple of days ago I discussed one of the Ministry of Transport’s discussion papers that has been prepared to inform the development of the next Government Policy Statement (GPS) for transport. The GPS is an important document because it is effectively the government’s input to how NZTA should spend the $3 billion or so that sits in the National Land Transport Fund each year.…
Wellington RoNS show-down
Later today there will be a very interesting Wellington City Council meeting, that may have some significant effects on not only Wellington’s future transport options, but also potentially the prioritisation of transport projects in Auckland. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a developing split within Wellington City Council over their position on the Wellington Northern Corridor Road of National Significance (which I shorten as simply the “Wellington RoNS”).…
Top economist questions RoNS
It was heartening to open up the newspaper this morning in Wellington and read this opinion piece on the poor economics of the “Roads of National Significance” (RoNS), prepared by Dr Michael Pickford, the former chief economist at the Commerce Commission and now an independent economic researcher.…
Wellington – and its RoNS
Well I’m in Wellington for most of this week, at the New Zealand Planning Institute conference for the next three days and then staying on at the weekend to check out the city a bit. It should give me the opportunity to ride a suburban Wellington train on the weekend, which I haven’t ever done before (I wonder if I can try to catch one of the new Matangi trains).…
The next Government Policy Statement
The Government Policy Statement (GPS) for transport is a very important high-level document outlining what the government wants to achieve from investment in the transport network over the next three years. The current GPS was released in May 2009 – and unfortunately was a document stuck in the 1960s when it came to much of its thinking about transport investment.…
Waterview Connection – hearing starts Monday
After years of background work, arguments, designs, redesigns, re-redesigns and so forth, the Waterview Connection project will have its official planning hearing from Monday onwards. The hearing is likely to be quite lengthy, with NZTA putting forward a vast array of witnesses, Auckland Council doing similar, and a relatively large number of submitters also being very interested parties.…
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