I hereby give notice that an ordinary meeting of the Infrastructure Committee will be held on:
Date: Time: Meeting Room: Venue:
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Wednesday, 4 June 2014 9.30am Level 2
reception lounge |
Infrastructure Committee
OPEN AGENDA
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MEMBERSHIP
Chairperson |
Cr Mike Lee |
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Deputy Chairperson |
Cr Chris Darby |
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Members |
Cr Cameron Brewer |
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Cr Dr Cathy Casey |
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Cr Bill Cashmore |
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Cr Ross Clow |
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Cr Hon Christine Fletcher, QSO |
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Liane Ngamane |
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Cr Calum Penrose |
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Cr Dick Quax |
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Cr Wayne Walker |
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Cr John Watson |
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Glenn Wilcox |
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Ex-officio |
Mayor Len Brown, |
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Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse |
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(Quorum 7 members)
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Barbara Watson Democracy Advisor
28 May 2014
Contact Telephone: (09) 307 7629 Email: barbara.watson@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz Website: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
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TERMS OF REFERENCE
Responsibilities
Overview and provide feedback on key physical infrastructure plans and projects relating to transport, water, wastewater and stormwater.
Provide strategic direction to guide development of transport, water, wastewater and stormwater strategies.
Consider views of Local Boards, public, stakeholders and infrastructure providers in relation to infrastructure planning, delivery and operation.
Make recommendations to the parent committee to ensure:
· alignment between the infrastructure sector, the Auckland Plan and the Unitary Plan to manage Auckland’s growth
· alignment of the Regional Land Transport Plan and Integrated Transport Programme with the council’s strategic direction
· alignment of water, wastewater and stormwater strategies with the council’s strategies and plans
· asset management plans for physical infrastructure support the Unitary Plan and other relevant council plans and policies
· council input to legislative changes, central government policies and plans and key infrastructure projects
· council consideration of infrastructure strategy and planning matters from across Auckland’s infrastructure sector.
Powers
All powers necessary to perform the Committee’s responsibilities.
Except:
(a) powers that the Governing Body cannot delegate or has retained to itself (see Governing Body responsibilities)
(b) where the Committee’s responsibility is limited to making a recommendation only
Infrastructure Committee 04 June 2014 |
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ITEM TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
1 Apologies 7
2 Declaration of Interest 7
3 Confirmation of Minutes 7
4 Petitions 7
5 Public Input 7
5.1 Heart of the City - Greg McKeown 7
5.2 Cameron Pitches - The Campaign for Better Transport - Airport Rail 7
6 Local Board Input 8
7 Extraordinary Business 8
8 Notices of Motion 8
9 Update from NZ Transport Agency on progress with the Waterview Connection programme 11
10 Transport Trends 13
11 Funding Assistance Rates 27
12 Update from Watercare Services Ltd 39
13 Information Items 49
14 Consideration of Extraordinary Items
1 Apologies
At the close of the agenda no apologies had been received.
2 Declaration of Interest
Members are reminded of the need to be vigilant to stand aside from decision making when a conflict arises between their role as a member and any private or other external interest they might have.
3 Confirmation of Minutes
That the Infrastructure Committee: a) confirm the ordinary minutes of its meeting, held on Wednesday, 12 March 2014, as a true and correct record. |
4 Petitions
At the close of the agenda no requests to present petitions had been received.
5 Public Input
Standing Order 3.21 provides for Public Input. Applications to speak must be made to the Committee Secretary, in writing, no later than two (2) working days prior to the meeting and must include the subject matter. The meeting Chairperson has the discretion to decline any application that does not meet the requirements of Standing Orders. A maximum of thirty (30) minutes is allocated to the period for public input with five (5) minutes speaking time for each speaker.
Purpose 1. Representative(s) of Heart of the City wish to address the committee in regard to proposed changes in the city centre parking and pricing. |
Recommendation That the Infrastructure Committee: a) thank the representatives of Heart of the City for their presentation. |
6 Local Board Input
Standing Order 3.22 provides for Local Board Input. The Chairperson (or nominee of that Chairperson) is entitled to speak for up to five (5) minutes during this time. The Chairperson of the Local Board (or nominee of that Chairperson) shall wherever practical, give two (2) days notice of their wish to speak. The meeting Chairperson has the discretion to decline any application that does not meet the requirements of Standing Orders.
This right is in addition to the right under Standing Order 3.9.14 to speak to matters on the agenda.
At the close of the agenda no requests for local board input had been received.
7 Extraordinary Business
Section 46A(7) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended) states:
“An item that is not on the agenda for a meeting may be dealt with at that meeting if-
(a) The local authority by resolution so decides; and
(b) The presiding member explains at the meeting, at a time when it is open to the public,-
(i) The reason why the item is not on the agenda; and
(ii) The reason why the discussion of the item cannot be delayed until a subsequent meeting.”
Section 46A(7A) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended) states:
“Where an item is not on the agenda for a meeting,-
(a) That item may be discussed at that meeting if-
(i) That item is a minor matter relating to the general business of the local authority; and
(ii) the presiding member explains at the beginning of the meeting, at a time when it is open to the public, that the item will be discussed at the meeting; but
(b) no resolution, decision or recommendation may be made in respect of that item except to refer that item to a subsequent meeting of the local authority for further discussion.”
8 Notices of Motion
At the close of the agenda no requests for notices of motion had been received.
Infrastructure Committee 04 June 2014 |
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Update from NZ Transport Agency on progress with the Waterview Connection programme
File No.: CP2014/11061
Purpose
1. In response to a request from the Infrastructure Committee, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) wish to update the committee on progress with the Waterview Connection programme.
2. Mr Steve Mutton, Acting State Highways Manager, NZTA will provide a presentation at the meeting on Wednesday, 4 June 2014.
That the Infrastructure Committee: a) receive the information from NZ Transport Agency on progress with the Waterview Connection programme.
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There are no attachments for this report.
Signatories
Authors |
Barbara Watson - Democracy Advisor |
Authorisers |
Dean Kimpton - Chief Operating Officer |
Infrastructure Committee 04 June 2014 |
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File No.: CP2014/04527
Purpose
1. To update the committee on transport trends information from the 2013 Census, international transport trends in recent years and to discuss the implications of these trends on future strategic planning work – such as the Infrastructure Strategy and Auckland Transport’s Integrated Transport Programme.
Executive Summary
2. Journey to work information from the 2013 Census was released in February 2014. The journey to work data showed an increase in public transport modeshare from 2006-2013 from 8% to 10%, a reduction in private vehicle modeshare from 86% to 84% and an increase in walking and cycling modeshare from 5.9% to 6.3%. 44% of the growth in journeys to work between 2006 and 2013 was by public transport, 41% by private vehicles and 15% by walking and cycling.
3. The shift in journey to work modeshare noted in the 2013 Census is reflected in other transport trends collected more regularly. In particular, vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT) and VKT per capita have trended differently in recent years – moving from consistent long-term growth for many decades to much lower growth rates of VKT and declines in VKT per capita (population growth occurring at a faster rate than VKT growth). In contrast, public transport use in Auckland particularly has shown strong growth since 2007.
4. Slower growth in VKT, including declines in VKT per capita observed in Auckland and across New Zealand over the past few years are consistent with changes in transport trends observed internationally in a wide variety of developed countries. Most developed countries show a decline in VKT per capita and slower VKT growth since the middle of last decade (generally pre-dating the Global Financial Crisis) with some countries (such as the United Kingdom) exhibiting a decline in VKT per capita for a much longer period.
5. International literature outlines a variety of reasons behind the change in transport trends over the past decade. These include both short-term (e.g. effects of the Global Financial Crisis and subsequent widespread recessions) and longer term (e.g. cultural shifts, higher oil prices and growing urbanisation) causes.
6. Recent transport trends, both nationally and internationally, are important to note because they represent a significant change from many decades of consistent growth in both VKT and VKT per capita, as well as a change from previously persistent declines in public transport and active transport modeshare. Growing international recognition of the longer term causes of these changes is also extremely important in relation to future transport projections, to ensure that those forecasts are not over-projecting future VKT, leading to unnecessary investment.
That the Infrastructure Committee: a) note Journey to Work data from the 2013 Census, which shows a significant increase in the use of public transport since the 2006 Census b) note transport trends in New Zealand show slowing growth in vehicle kilometres travelled since 2007 and reductions in vehicle kilometres travelled per capita c) note transport trends in a number of developed world countries show declining vehicle kilometres per capita in recent years and that literature suggests a combination of both short-term and long-term causes behind these trends d) support these changing transport trends being taken into account in the development of the Infrastructure Strategy and the Integrated Transport Programme. |
Discussion
2013 Census Journey to Work Information
7. Results from the 2013 Census are being progressively released by Statistics New Zealand. Journey to work information was made available to Auckland Council in February 2014.
8. Journey to work results provide the most detailed information on the mode of transport used by people to travel to their place of employment. It is important to note that the journey to work information excludes travel for purposes such as accessing education, shopping, recreational activities or other errands. Given the high level of public transport use by university students in particular, the journey to work modeshare information from the Census is likely to under-estimate the proportion of Aucklanders travelling by public transport during the peak hour periods.
9. The journey to work information from the 2013 Census for the whole of Auckland is shown in the Table 1 below:
Main Means of Travel to Work |
Number of People |
Worked at Home |
44,256 |
Did Not Go to Work Today |
61,824 |
Drove a Private Car, Truck or Van |
340,302 |
Drove a Company Car, Truck or Van |
65,484 |
Passenger in a Car, Truck, Van or Company Bus |
24,510 |
Public Bus |
33,933 |
Train |
9,459 |
Motor Cycle or Power Cycle |
5,496 |
Bicycle |
6,342 |
Walked or Jogged |
26,526 |
Other |
7,986 |
Not Elsewhere Included |
24,489 |
Total |
650,610 |
10. Of those who travelled to work on census day and who provided a valid response, the summarised modeshare split is approximately 84% private vehicle, 10% public transport and 6% active transport. An approximate comparison of Auckland’s modeshare with a number of Australian cities is included in Table 2 below (note some rows do not add up to 100% due to rounding or exclusion of “other” trip types):
City |
Private Vehicle |
Public Transport |
Cycling |
Walking |
Sydney |
68% |
23% |
0.9% |
4.8% |
Melbourne |
76% |
16% |
1.6% |
3.5% |
Brisbane |
76% |
15% |
1.2% |
3.7% |
Perth |
80% |
12% |
1.3% |
2.6% |
Adelaide |
83% |
10% |
1.3% |
2.8% |
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Auckland |
84% |
10% |
1.2% |
5.1% |
11. While the above figures indicate that Auckland remains more dependent on private vehicles and has lower levels of public transport use than major Australian cities, results from the 2013 Census clearly highlight important changes to travel modeshare since 2006. The changes in journey to work responses since the 1996 census are included in Table 3 below:
Year |
Private Vehicles |
Public Transport |
Walking & Cycling |
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Total |
+/- |
Total |
+/- |
Total |
+/- |
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1996 |
336,096 |
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32,112 |
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23,964 |
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2001 |
360,720 |
24,624 |
34,086 |
1,974 |
23,664 |
-300 |
2006 |
425,343 |
64,623 |
40,329 |
6,243 |
29,088 |
5,424 |
2013 |
435,543 |
10,200 |
51,372 |
11,043 |
32,913 |
3,825 |
Note: “+/-“ refers to the change from the previous census.
12. Figure 1 below illustrates the contribution each travel mode has made to the growth in travel to work over the 1996 to 2013 period. This figure clearly illustrates the significantly greater role of public transport in accommodating growth of journey to work trips over the 2006-2013 period, compared to the previous decade. This change is best illustrated by noting that the increase in public transport journey to work trips between 2006 and 2013 (11,043) was higher than the increase in private vehicle journey to work trips (10,200).
Figure 1: Contribution of different modes to growth in journey to work trips across Auckland: 1996-2013
13. The substantial growth in public transport patronage in journeys to work between 2006 and 2013, coupled with a significant decline in the growth in car use reflects both a slower growth in overall trips but also a clear sign that recent investment in improved transport choices (e.g. rail and busway improvements) and improved travel planning has had a major impact on Auckland’s travel trends. Auckland Transport’s 2013 annual report noted the many thousands of peak time car trips avoided through travel demand management and travel planning activities.
14. The 2013 Census highlights that different parts of Auckland exhibit very different transport mode-splits. Use of rail is unsurprisingly highest in areas with close proximity to the rail network. Bus use is highest on the North Shore and in the central isthmus, parts of Auckland which are served by the Northern Busway and a number of bus lanes on isthmus arterials respectively. Private vehicle modeshare is highest in rural areas and in the southeast part of Auckland, an area which has never been provided with high quality public transport infrastructure (the AMETI project is partly aimed at rectifying this situation). Attachment A shows a series of maps showing higher and lower levels of use of different transport modes across Auckland.
Auckland and New Zealand Vehicle Kilometres Travelled Trends
15. The Ministry of Transport collects a number of important transport indicators that provide helpful information in analysing transport trends[1]. Of particular interest are measures of total vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) as well as heavy vehicle VKT as they provide an indication of the level of ‘demand’ for private vehicle and freight vehicle travel on the road network.
16. The lines in Figure 2 below show annual VKT by different regions of New Zealand between 2000/01 and 2011/12 (the most recent data available).
Figure 2: Vehicle Kilometres Travelled Per Annum by Region. (Source: Ministry of Transport indicators)
17. For Auckland, total VKT increased by 22% over the past decade, from 10.1 billion km to 12.3 billion km. However, the majority of that growth took place between 2000/01 and 2006/07. Since 2006/07 there has only been a 4% increase in VKT for Auckland and only a 3% increase in VKT for New Zealand as a whole. Some regions (e.g. Hawke’s Bay and Wellington) saw a decrease in VKT between 2006/07 and 2011/12.
18. As Auckland’s population grew from 1,373,000 in 2006 to 1,507,600 in 2012, VKT growth has not kept pace with population growth and VKT per capita per annum in Auckland has declined from 8,547km in 2006 to 8,147km in 2012 (a 4.7% decline). The lower level of VKT growth than predicted by modelling tools that use a 2006 base may mean the need for some projects is delayed.
Auckland and New Zealand Public Transport Trends
19. Regional councils and Auckland Transport publish public transport patronage statistics at a variety of intervals (Auckland Transport generally publishes this information monthly). Public transport use is typically recorded as the number of boardings, which gives an indication of the level of demand for public transport.
20. Over the past decade Auckland has experienced significant growth in public transport use, from 52 million boardings in the 2002 calendar year to over 70 million in 2013. Almost all this increase in use has taken place since 2007, when there were 52.4 million boardings. While Auckland’s population has also grown since 2007, per capita use of public transport has increased from 38 to 46 boardings per annum over the 2007-2013 period. Figure 3 shows the increase in public transport patronage by mode since 2002 for Auckland, adjusted to a 12 month rolling total:
Figure 3: Auckland Public Transport Boardings by Mode (Source: Auckland Transport patronage reports)
21. Wellington has also seen growth in public transport use over the past decade, but not to the same extent as Auckland. Boardings increased from 30.1 million in 2001/02 to 35.5 million in 2011/12. Almost 80% of Wellington’s growth in public transport use over that period was due to increases in bus use. Wellington’s 73 boardings per capita is still significantly higher than Auckland’s 46 – although Auckland has closed this gap since 2007.
22. Public transport use in Christchurch grew at a similar rate to Auckland’s between 2001 and 2010 but declined significantly after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes – mainly due to the reduction in city centre employment levels.
International Transport Trends
23. Transport trends seen in Auckland and New Zealand in recent years are broadly similar to those observed across a wide variety of developed world countries. In the USA, for example, the total distance driven has remained approximately the same since 2004, with per capita distance driven reducing to 1996 levels.
24. The trends since approximately 2004 break a decades-long increase in both the total and per capita distance driven. The change in trends began before the Global Financial Crisis and persisted during the economic recovery, whereas after previous recessions VKT and VKT per capita grew quickly as the economy recovered.
25. The trends in vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and VMT per capita for the USA since 1946 is shown in Figure 4 below:
Figure 4: US Vehicle Miles Travelled and VMT Per Capita 1946-2012. (Source: US DOT Highway Statistics)
26. Similar trends have been observed in other developed world countries, often with earlier starting dates for the ‘flat-lining’ of VKT/VMT growth. Figure 5 below shows kilometres travelled by private vehicle indexed to 1990 levels for a number of developed countries. While most countries showed an increase throughout the 1990s, that has tailed off in recent years even though the population in most of these countries has continued to grow:
Figure 5: Indexed VKT for Selected Developed World Countries 1990-2010
Reasons for Changing Transport Trends
27. International literature has paid considerable attention to these recent changes in transport trends as well as the potential implications of these new trends for future projections. Phil Goodwin, a UK Transport Policy Professor, has summarised a number of suggested reasons behind why transport trends in recent years have departed so significantly from decades of consistent growth. These are noted and explained briefly below:
Potential Cause |
Explanation |
Economic factors |
· General economic conditions in the past few years leading to lower incomes and lower levels of employment. · Higher fuel prices have discouraged car travel |
Changes to relative quality of travel options |
· Improved public transport infrastructure and services have attracted modal shift away from private vehicles. · Provision of cycle lanes and other infrastructure has attracted modal shift away from private vehicles · Parking conditions and/or policy have discouraged driving · Congestion has discouraged driving |
Developments in land use planning |
· Increasing redevelopment of brownfield sites and inner city areas with high densities · Retail and service development favouring urban localities · Changing preferences for inner urban living |
New social/technical patterns and preferences |
· Lower levels of driver licence acquisition among young people · Changing demographic structures · Greater concern about environmental and health impacts of private vehicle use · Development of e-commerce options · Mobile technologies and social media enables social contact without travelling · Mobile technologies allows productive work on public transport |
Source: Adapted from P. Goodwin ‘Peak Travel, Peak Car and the Future of Mobility’, International Transport Forum Discussion Paper
28. The causes are a mixture of short-term and longer-term factors. Short-term factors, such as the general economic conditions of the past few years, can be expected to change over time and therefore are less relevant for future forecasting. Longer-term factors, such as changing demographics or social preferences, have a much more significant impact on future forecasting as these suggest transport trends are unlikely to ‘return to normal’, even in the long term.
29. The extent to which recent trends will continue in the future is difficult to estimate. However, analysis in the USA[2] has looked more closely at the contributing factors to the recent trends and then the extent to which it is likely these recent trends will continue into the future. This analysis has highlighted that most of the factors that have contributed to declining per capita VKT in recent years are likely to either continue this trend or stabilise, rather than return to factors that in the past have contributed to strong VKT growth. This is shown in Figure 6 below:
Figure 6: Contributing factors to driving in past, present and future (Source: US PIRG, ‘A New Direction: our changing relationship with driving and the implications for America’s future)
Implications of Changing Transport Trends
30. Changing travel trends have potentially significant impacts on future travel projections and the extent to which infrastructure investment will achieve optimal returns. In the past, transport infrastructure investment was based on assumed traffic increase on an annual basis (which reflected consistent growth in VKT over a number of decades). However, the change in travel trends in recent years has led to greater examination of future assumptions. For example, recent updates to the NZ Transport Agency’s Economic Evaluation Manual (a key document used to assess cost-benefit ratios for transport projects) require rigorous justification of future travel demands and no longer accept assumed annual VKT increases.
31. Strategic transport modelling undertaken by council is used to inform project prioritisation and the development and evaluation of plans and strategies such as the Infrastructure Strategy and Auckland Transport’s Integration Transport Programme. This modelling takes into consideration factors such as future land-use patterns, fuel prices, demographics and rates of labour force participation. Depending on the components of the transport programme included in different modelling scenarios, outputs from the models generally show VKT increasing at a much lower level than population.
32. Rebasing of the models to incorporate information from the 2013 Census is underway and provides a good opportunity to check that model inputs and outputs reflect international best-practice and changes in social/technical patterns and preferences that impacts upon future travel forecasts. This further development of council’s strategic transport models is expected to occur throughout 2014 and 2015.
Consideration
Local Board Views
33. This paper does not propose any decisions and therefore there are unlikely to be any direct impacts on Local Boards. Local Board Plans are an important input to the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) and Long-term Plan (LTP) that will determine the provision of transport infrastructure and services in the future.
Maori Impact Statement
34. This paper does not propose any decisions and therefore there are unlikely to be any direct impacts on Māori. Census information discussed in this report highlights that many areas of Auckland with a concentration of Māori remain highly car dependent, with likely negative effects of that car dependency on liveability and prosperity.
General
35. Auckland Transport has been consulted in the preparation of this report.
36. This paper does not propose any decisions and therefore does not trigger the council’s significance policy.
Implementation Issues
37. Auckland Transport is currently preparing a second version of the Integrated Transport Programme, which will inform development of the RLTP and LTP, the documents that provide funding for transport activity in Auckland. These documents will detail how the investment in transport is responding to transport trends, current deficiencies and projected future growth.
38. Council’s Transport Strategy Unit intends to update the strategic modelling tools over the next 12-18 months to reflect information from the 2013 Census and to ensure the modelling tools provide best practice advice that takes into consideration the significant changes in travel trends since the modelling tools were originally developed. Updates and improvements to the strategic modelling tools to produce more accurate future forecasts will help ensure investment is optimised and value for money obtained.
No. |
Title |
Page |
aView |
2013 Census Journey to Work Modeshare Maps |
23 |
Signatories
Authors |
Joshua Arbury - Principal Transport Planner |
Authorisers |
Grant Barnes - Manager - Auckland Strategy and Research Dean Kimpton - Chief Operating Officer |
04 June 2014 |
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File No.: CP2014/10852
Purpose
1. To inform the Infrastructure Committee of the NZ Transport Agency’s decisions regarding the setting of Funding Assistance Rates and to outline potential implications for the transport infrastructure programme.
Executive Summary
2. The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board has made some initial decisions on Funding Assistance Rates (FARs) following an 18-month review. FARs are the proportion of funding assistance that NZTA provides to transport activities and projects. The new FAR framework provides that a single FAR will apply to all transport activities in a particular region.
3. Across the whole New Zealand transport programme, NZTA will fund an average of 53% of local transport programmes. After a transition period, most councils will receive a FAR of 52%. Some regions will have a higher FAR than 52% depending on their ability to find the local share of funding.
4. NZTA proposes that the “starting point” FAR is 50% for Auckland Transport. NZTA has produced a list of starting FARs but has yet to confirm whether these will be the FARs that apply from 2015/16 (Attachment A).
5. The implications of proposed changes to FARs applicable to Auckland need to be explored with Auckland Transport and the NZTA to guide the NZTA Board’s decisions regarding the transitional and final FARs applicable to Auckland.
That the Infrastructure Committee: a) receive the report regarding Funding Assistance Rates and note the initial decisions of the NZ Transport Agency regarding proposed Funding Assistance Rates b) support the principle of a fast transition of a funding assistance rate (FAR) to 52 percent for Auckland Transport c) request that the report be circulated to all local boards and be considered by the Finance and Performance Committee. |
Discussion
6. The NZTA Board recently made some initial decisions on the review of the FARs. Further decisions of the NZTA will be required regarding the initial FARs that apply to Auckland and how they transition over nine years.
7. The Board confirmed the overall framework for setting FARs. It approved an overall co- investment rate of 53%, and confirmed that each council will get one rate for all activities (with some exceptions). The normal FAR for most councils following completion of the transitional period, i.e. those that do not receive a higher rate, will be 52%. The NZTA will undertake further work to identify how and which Councils would receive a higher rate. This work will include using the 2013 New Zealand Index of Deprivation, along with testing other evidence and data. The transitional FARs are expected to be set later in 2014.
8. In response to feedback from councils around avoiding substantial rate drops, the NZTA Board confirmed the transitional arrangements to ensure all changes to the FAR are completed in the next nine years or over the next three National Land Transport Programme cycles. No Council will drop more than 1% from their current normal FAR in each year of the 2015-2018 period and subsequent periods if necessary.
9. NZTA has advised that some exceptions to the standard FAR are proposed to apply. These relate to metro rail (the current arrangement of a reduction from 60% to 50% over ten years would continue), total mobility services (current FAR of 60% will continue 2015-2018), emergency works (20% higher than the standard FAR), special purpose roads (none applicable in Auckland) and targeted FARs (guidelines to be developed).
10. The NZTA Board decisions are set out in the attachment (Attachment B). Public submissions, including from Auckland Council and Auckland Transport, are summarised and available, together with the relevant Board Paper, at www.nzta.govt.nz/far.
11. The NZTA has indicated it will engage with councils in relation to emergency works operational policy, total mobility services, level crossings and special purpose roads.
12. In parallel to the FAR review, the NZTA has developed a One Network Road Classification. The One Network Road Classification involves categorising roads based on the functions they perform as part of an integrated national network. The classification aims to assist local government and the NZTA to plan, invest in, maintain and operate the road network in a more strategic, consistent and affordable way throughout the country. Its focus is on fit-for-purpose standards to ensure that investments are the “right size”.
Implications for Auckland
13. If it is assumed that the 2015/16 FAR for Auckland Transport is 50%, the following is an indication of the changes to FARs that might arise in Auckland:
14. It is probable that the FAR for Auckland Transport would transition from 50% to 52% over the 2015-2018 period. The effects of these changes need to be calculated in relation to the transport programme being developed for 2015-2018 and discussed with the NZTA. Auckland Transport calculated that a FAR of 52% would be at a similar overall level to the FARs that applied to the 2012/2013 transport programme. It is possible that Auckland Council could suffer a funding shortfall in the years transitioning to a 52% FAR.
15. The NZTA Board indicated that FARs should be set at a FAR in the transition which avoids a substantial drop. It is important that the transitional FAR for Auckland Transport is as close to 52% as possible in order to achieve this. The NZTA may need to adjust the starting point FAR for Auckland Transport.
16. In the longer term, a single FAR would bring neutrality to investment decisions in relation to the percentage funding contribution from the NZTA. The increase in FAR in relation to maintenance and renewals provides a greater level of certainty regarding the ongoing ability to maintain the condition of transport assets. The proposed reduction in the FAR in relation to public transport activities would place a greater strain on rates funding in order to achieve the transformational shift to outstanding public transport sought in the Auckland Plan.
Consideration
Local Board Views
17. This report is proposed to be made available to Local Boards to enable their views to be known regarding the proposed changes to FARs.
Maori Impact Statement
18. It is unclear what impact the principles and range of approaches might have on Iwi or Maori. Investment in transport does have a role in contributing to a significant lift in Maori social and economic wellbeing through improved transport access, particularly public transport services. Changes to FARs in relation to public transport services and other activity classes would affect the level of funding that the council would be required to provide.
General
19. Auckland Transport is awaiting confirmation from the NZTA regarding the FARs that will apply to Auckland over the 2015-2018 period. Auckland Transport will be involved in discussions with the NZTA regarding the potential impacts on the transport programme.
Implementation Issues
20. Once the NZTA has made further decisions regarding the FARs that will apply to Auckland over the next nine years, Auckland Transport can apply these to the programme that is being developed for the draft Regional Land Transport Plan 2015-2045 and draft Long-term Plan 2015-2025. This would enable an understanding of the financial impacts of the changes and would enable the council to make adjustments to the rates contributions to the programme.
No. |
Title |
Page |
aView |
Funding assistance rate (FAR) Starting Points |
31 |
bView |
NZTA Board decisions |
37 |
Signatories
Authors |
Kevin Wright - Manager: Transport Strategy |
Authorisers |
Grant Barnes - Manager - Auckland Strategy and Research Dean Kimpton - Chief Operating Officer |
Infrastructure Committee 04 June 2014 |
|
Update from Watercare Services Ltd
File No.: CP2014/10932
Purpose
1. Graham Wood, Chief Infrastructure Officer of Watercare Services Ltd has provided a written report covering capital projects in progress (Attachment A). His report will be supported with a brief presentation to the Infrastructure Committee meeting on Wednesday, 4 June 2014.
That the Infrastructure Committee: a) thank the Chief Infrastructure Officer of Watercare Services Ltd for his presentation.
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No. |
Title |
Page |
aView |
Update report from Watercare Services Ltd |
41 |
Signatories
Authors |
Barbara Watson - Democracy Advisor |
Authorisers |
Dean Kimpton - Chief Operating Officer |
04 June 2014 |
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File No.: CP2014/10987
Purpose
1. The Chair of the Infrastructure Committee requested the attached items of interest be included in the agenda, for information purposes only.
That the Infrastructure Committee: a) receive the information.
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No. |
Title |
Page |
aView |
Auckland Transport Statistics Report - April 2014 |
51 |
bView |
Auckland Transport Monthly Transport Indicators |
75 |
Signatories
Authors |
Barbara Watson - Democracy Advisor |
Authorisers |
Dean Kimpton - Chief Operating Officer |
[1] Ministry of Transport, Transport Indicators, http://www.transport.govt.nz/ourwork/tmif/
[2] US PIRG Education Fund Frontier Group (2013) ‘A New Direction: Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America’s Future’ http://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/new-direction