NZ Transport Agency
14 August 2015
The New Zealand Transport Agency Board:
|
a. |
supported the indicative business case for the Wellington Bus Rapid Transit project, signalling that the case for investment is worthy of development through the detailed business case phase |
|
b. |
approved detailed business case funding for the Wellington Bus Rapid Transit project from the Local Road Improvement activity class, at a total cost of $1.5m (and NLTF share of $750,000), subject to Greater Wellington Regional Council and Wellington City Council confirming availability of their local share |
The assessment profile for this activity has been determined as being of High strategic fit, Medium effectiveness and with an indicative Benefit Cost range of 1.5-2.3.
A BRT solution for Wellington City delivers benefits of improved network efficiency by addressing congestion and reducing average bus travel times of between 4.5 to 6.5 minutes (option 3 to option 4). These improvements will support increased bus patronage by providing a better user experience, increased reliability and journey predictability. There are minor additional benefits of health, emissions reduction and agglomeration benefits.
Travel time and reliability benefits deliver approximately 60% to 80% of the benefits ($38m NPV to $56.2m NPV) for options 3 and 4 respectively. Reduced vehicle operating costs ($13.3m NPV) and walking benefits ($16.4m NPV) are notable for option 4 particularly.
The BRT solution complements the Wellington Inner City RoNS projects and enables the delivery of the high capacity public transport spine, which is a key component in the Ngauranga to Airport programme.
The matters in sections 20(2) and 20 (5) of the LTMA have been satisfied, and the matters in section 20(3) have been taken into account.
