Glossary

Agent

Waka Kotahi agents include AA, VTNZ, VINZ and NZ Post. They’re contracted to provide services on our behalf like driver licensing, vehicle certification (warrants and certificates of fitness), and counter service for access to Waka Kotahi data like the Motor Vehicle Register (MVR). 

Baseline funding

The amount Waka Kotahi receives to do its work each year (our annual budget).

Charges

Used when the costs of providing a service are spread across a group (eg all people who hold a transport service licence, or all vehicle certifiers).

Compliance

Following a rule (complying with a regulation or other requirement).

Compliance costs

The costs of complying with a regulation or other requirement, eg costs for collecting information, maintaining records, or filling in forms.

Cost driver

Anything that causes a change in the cost of a service. 

Cost recovery

Making sure the money received for a service covers the costs of delivering the service (breaking even).

DLR

Driver Licence Register. The register records driver licence holders, endorsements and their status.

eRUC

Electronic road user charges (for diesel vehicles)

Fees

Used to recover the costs of services that benefit individual people and/or individual companies/organisations (eg a driver licence, vehicle rego).

FED

Fuel excise duty (paid in the price of petrol and LPG)

FTE

Full time employee

Land transport revenue

All road users contribute to land transport revenue through road user charges (RUC), fuel excise duty (FED), and motor vehicle licensing and registration. Land transport revenue funds the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF). The NLTF is used for things like state highway maintenance and public transport improvements.

LTMA

Land Transport Management Act 2003

Memorandum accounts

Records and accounts for any profit (surplus) or loss (deficit) that a business runs up when providing services.

MVR

Motor Vehicle Register. The register records information about vehicles used on New Zealand roads and the persons responsible for their use.

NLTF

Funded from land transport revenue, the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) is used for many activities like state highway maintenance, public transport, walking and cycling improvements.

Non-compliance

Not following a rule or order (not complying with a regulation or other requirement).

Operational support costs

Back office support functions needed to make sure the regulatory system is up to standard, including executive managers, project management, administrators, change, risk and assurance, and intelligence functions.

Opportunity cost

The cost of spending on one thing when the money could have been spent on something else.

Personnel costs

The cost of staff providing frontline services, including monitoring and auditing of parties in the land transport system, processing licencing applications and vehicle registration, and making sure the data in our registers is accurate.

Private goods

Where an individual benefits directly from the service, eg drivers licence.

Public goods

These are provided to all members of society without charge. Transport-related public goods are funded by land transport revenue and/or the government. 

Regulation

A rule or requirement made and maintained by an authority – in this case, Waka Kotahi.

Regulator

An organisation that supervises an industry, in this case, transport. As New Zealand’s lead land transport regulator, the role of Waka Kotahi is to improve safety and reduce the risk of harm by checking that people and organisations follow the rules.

Regulatory activities

The things Waka Kotahi does as regulator, eg monitoring the performance of vehicle certifiers.

Regulatory capability

The ability of the regulator to do its job properly, having the right people with the right skills, the right technology, the legal powers, the right governance etc. to be effective in its role.

Regulatory capacity

The number of regulatory staff at Waka Kotahi. 

Regulatory participants

People and businesses who are part of the regulatory system, eg drivers, vehicle owners, vehicle importers, vehicle certifiers.

Regulatory services

The services Waka Kotahi provides as regulator, including things like driver licensing and vehicle licensing.

RUC

Road user charges (for diesel vehicles)

TSL

Transport service licence. You must have a transport service licence (TSL) to operate a goods service, large or small passenger service, vehicle recovery service or rental service.

User

People who use a service, operate, or receive a benefit from a service. In the context of cost recovery, users will be charged fees or charges.