This page relates to the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme.
This page describes the public transport continuous programme requirements and makes links to work category definitions, and prioritisation of public transport continuous programmes delivered in both the public transport services and infrastructure activity classes.
Public transport continuous programmes comprise:
Qualifying activities for funding as part of a public transport continuous programme within the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP), must:
Approved organisations must comply with the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Procurement manual and procurement rules, as well as any relevant standards and guidelines listed in the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency standards and guidelines register for land transport.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency standards and guidelines register for land transport
Public transport continuous programmes contain the following work categories:
Distinct service or operational improvements beyond the existing level of service provision are considered to be improvement activities and should follow the procedures for profiling and prioritising improvement activities. This includes any inter-regional public transport trial services or improvements.
Public transport continuous programmes are continuous programmes of existing services and associated operations and necessary renewal work required to maintain appropriate levels of service on the public transport network. Continuous programmes have no start or end date; however, the detail required to establish the appropriate investment levels is developed on a 3-year cycle that aligns with the NLTP cycle. Funding approval from the National Land Transport Fund normally covers the 3-year period of each NLTP and is made when the NLTP is adopted by the NZTA Board.
We require approved organisations to follow the NZTA investment principles in developing and delivering their public transport continuous programmes.
We require public transport continuous programmes to have applied the principles of the Business Case Approach (BCA) and to be firmly aligned with long-term planning documents, in particular:
These documents should describe the information and assumptions underlying the proposed service configuration requirements across the network, including any need to vary the existing service provision. They should also demonstrate synergy with any supporting infrastructure provision considered necessary.
The information approved organisations provide in Transport Investment Online to support public transport continuous programmes should make reference to the relevant parts of long-term planning documents.
Transport Investment Online(external link)
The public transport continuous programme should demonstrate:
Details of public transport services, operations, renewal and improvements activities must be held by the organisation responsible for the programme.
Consideration should be given to:
Differences in levels of service will have an impact on funding assistance.
We recommend early engagement with NZTA investment advisors as they are available for support and guidance throughout the business case process. See also the Business Case Approach guidance on our website.
Business Case Approach guidance
We expect planning documentation, as stated above, to take account of business case principles when either developed or updated.
Public transport continuous programmes are prioritised under the NZTA Investment Prioritisation Method (IPM).
2024–27 NLTP Investment Prioritisation Method (webpage yet to come)
For more information about the prioritisation of continuous programmes under the IPM, see our page about the determining priority of activities.
Determining the priority order of an activity or combination of activities (webpage yet to come)
Approved organisations must submit, as part of their funding application, forecast information to support their public transport continuous programmes for the 3 years of the NLTP, together with an estimate for the following 6 years beyond this.
The forecast information will consist of estimated targets for passenger boardings, passenger kilometres, in-service vehicle kilometres and farebox revenue for each mode in their public transport continuous programmes.
We expect these statistics to align with the RPTP or any other key planning documents where this information is provided.
Typically, we will approve funding for a public transport continuous programme for all 3 years in an NLTP period as part of the NLTP adoption. However, we may decide to impose terms and conditions on funding for all or part of the approved programme, due to:
The terms and conditions may apply across all 3 years of an NLTP period or to particular years. For example, we may approve funding the first year of a public transport continuous programme in the newly adopted NLTP, but set conditions that have to be met before funding is released for any subsequent year.
We delegate programme management decisions on the activities contained in a public transport continuous programme to the approved organisation within an approved allocation that, as a rule, covers each of the 3 years of the NLTP.