You asked:
This section provides further information and guidance in relation to this feedback.
Overall process
The Transport Agency is working to ensure the review status of the RLTPs, and their primary role as regional transport committees documents, are built into all of its process requirements – such as the Business Case Approach.
The NLTP is prepared every three years, whereas the RLTPs are prepared by Regional Transport Committees every six years and reviewed at the three year mid-point. We are currently in the process of mid-term RLTP reviews.
The difference in these cycles has been a frequent subject of feedback, suggesting they should be more directly aligned. The Transport Agency has passed this feedback on to the Ministry of Transport.
The NLTP is prepared from the Regional Land Transport Plans (RLTPs), which are approved by Regional Councils and incorporate activities proposed by:
We expect to see a new Government Policy Statement on Land Transport issued in the middle of 2017, and will update the Transport Agency’s guidance as required in response to the priorities of the GPS.
It is also important to note that the NZ Transport Agency is charged with giving effect to the Government Policy Statement through the NLTP, whereas Regional Transport Committees and their RLTPs are required to be consistent with it. This difference creates slightly and subtly different drivers at times that need to be acknowledged.
The Transport Agency is also currently reviewing the Investment Assessment Framework (IAF) it uses to consider proposed activities from the RLTPs for inclusion in the NLTP. The intention of the review is to provide clearer assessment criteria and greater transparency in our decision making. We intend to provide more detail about the updated IAF in the April NLTP dialogues.
The Transport Agency also wants to encourage greater alignment between RLTPs and activity management plans - with activity management plans taking a lead from the strategic priorities of the RLTP.
Regional Transport Committees and Approved Organisations should look to identify key issues and opportunities through the RLTP and aim to implement activities across the NLTP, through their local road and state highway improvements, road maintenance and renewals programmes, and speed programmes in response to these strategic issues and opportunities.
Timelines
An overall timeline for the 2018–21 NLTP has been added to the NLTP pages on the Transport Agency website. It includes the final submission dates for RLTPs and the finalisation of the 2018-21 NLTP, as well as a variety of other important dates and milestones that relate to different aspects of the overall process.
Four of the key dates you need to know are:
Incorporating the contribution of NZ Police within RLTPs
NZ Police are a critical voice in the process and are essential to informing the development of the RLTPs.
Incorporating NZ Police in forming strategic cases strengthens the professional judgment and evidence about the specific nature and scale of transport problems and opportunities, including road safety and economic enforcement eg of road user charges. RLTPs should note NZ Police insights about and contribution to objectives wherever relevant.
The most practical way NZ Police can contribute to road controlling authority decisions and delivery for 2018–21, is for them to be involved in the early phases of the development of business cases which underpin RLTP submissions through being part of Regional and Technical Advisory Groups.
The Transport Agency works in close partnership with NZ Police to deliver and achieve joint outcomes. We prepare the Road Policing Programme jointly with NZ Police. Although this programme is prepared at a national level, its delivery is very much at the regional and local levels.
We’re also looking to encourage NZ Police to engage with Regional Transport Committees – thereby encouraging greater discussion at the regional level regarding agreed priorities when it comes to issues regarding road policing.
NZ Police have indicated they are keen to enhance their regional planning partnerships, both with us and with local government. Please incorporate them into your discussions.
The current Road Policing Action Plan 2016-2020(external link) may also be of assistance.
You asked:
This section sets out our early view of the broader context in response to this feedback. We expect to provide more detailed thoughts and early analysis in the June/July NLTP Dialogues.
Wider strategic context
An effective transport system is critical to New Zealand’s social and economic well-being. The NZ Transport Agency’s role is to deliver a transport system that is increasingly safe, efficient and fit for purpose.
Future changes in technology, population, and our natural and economic environments will continue to test the capacity, durability and resilience of the transport system in different ways at different locations.
From electric and automated vehicles through to transport providers making information available on transport modes, routes and travel schedules for customers to make choices on their smartphones, the paradigms that shape how customers can access transport are shifting. This brings an unprecedented level of both challenge and opportunity.
The transport system is also experiencing increasing pressure from shifting weather patterns and trends related to changing climates. These will present increasing resilience challenges.
Whatever the challenges and opportunities emerging, our customers expect access to an integrated, efficient transport experience that is safe, reliable, efficient and predictable. These expectations will only increase.
To meet these challenges we all need to take a wider view of the transport system as a whole and the various levers that are available to improve it.
Most growth in travel demand will need to be accommodated by the existing system, which means that we will need to make better use of what we have.
This includes considering a wide variety of demand management and policy tools, along with greater integration of emerging technology and smart infrastructure to provide customers with more satisfying experiences. We need to use the information and performance data we have to provide a variety of choices, modes, dynamic signage, information and other strategies to influence how, when, where, and if, people choose to travel on high-demand sections of the network.
Equally, our investment will need to be focused towards the most significant challenges by targeting priority issues and opportunities with the right solutions, in the right part of the system, at the right time.
We all need to work together to identify what this looks like at the national, regional, and local levels.
A whole-of-system view needs to incorporate the inter-relationships between different parts of the system and how they are likely to respond to and influence changes in demand:
A system view of the network needs to incorporate all of these factors into an overall perspective and consider how best to anticipate and respond to any emerging trends and patterns.
Additionally, as we continue to experience increasing change and instability in our natural environment (flooding, earthquakes, changes in climate), improving the resilience of the network will be a key priority across the network generally, and higher risk areas specifically.
As our long term strategic view of the future increasingly takes shape, the Transport Agency will look to unpack these themes, and the issues and opportunities they represent in your region, with you in more detail. The Transport Agency expects these themes to be a focus of the next round of NLTP Dialogues in February 2017. The long term strategic view sits alongside the collaborative programme business cases and action plans we have already been developing with you.
You told us:
This section sets out where the Transport Agency is up to in response to this feedback.
The Business Case Approach (BCA) was introduced by the Transport Agency in 2013 to help improve transport planning and project development practice in New Zealand.
It is a principles-based approach to investment development that helps ensure that investment proposals seeking funding from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) are supported by a clear, concise business case.
An improved range of guidance for incorporating the principles of the Business Case Approach was provided in support of the RLTP Reviews earlier this year. You can find these guidance documents below.
The next step in the BCA journey will see more support and training provided for the sector in a range of workshops and other resources that help build capability for working with the Business Case Approach. This is the next priority in supporting the use of the BCA and we will provide further updates on the capability workshops and supporting resources shortly.
BCA RLTP guidance resources (May 2016)
You asked for:
The State Highway Investment Proposal is a proposed national business case for the next ten years of activity on our state highways. It forms the State Highway funding bid through the National Land Transport Programme. It was formerly known as the State Highway Activity Management Plan (SHAMP).
The State Highway Investment Proposal is informed by the Government Policy Statement for Land Transport, the Transport Agency’s strategic direction, the Government’s Regional Economic Growth programme, the One Network Road Classification and Regional Land Transport Plan priorities and objectives.
For 2018–21, national imperatives are resilience, safety and efficiency, driven by the need to improve customer experiences on our state highways.
To consider the investment story of inter-regional journeys, the State Highway Investment Proposal is being informed by corridor activity management plans which are a holistic view of customer levels of service provided through our state highway maintenance, operations and investment activities on each of our 30 major corridors.
It will be developed collaboratively across the sector, with early engagement on what activity is required in the context of each region, and seeking feedback once activities are loaded in TIO and have been through a national moderation process in late 2017.
As the Regional Advisory Groups and Technical Advisory Groups begin working on the initial stages of their regional programme developments, HNO will seek informal feedback through these discussions, as well as more formal feedback later on through any RLTP hearing processes that are convened in early 2018 (noting formal hearings won’t occur in all regions as some Regional Transport Committees may only be submitting a minor variation to their RLTP).
You asked for:
The Transport Agency plans to have the draft updated TIO templates available in our test environment for you to interact with from March/April 2017. We’re aiming to finalise these and release them in May to enable AOs to create their transport programmes for their RLTPs for the 2018–21 NLTP year. We are currently seeking additional input from stakeholders to ensure this matches their RLTP timeframes and needs.
Once the templates have been updated the Transport Agency will also be holding TIO training sessions in the regions, for our staff and AOs to become familiar with. We have TIO investment activities available on internal facing maps, which we also expect to make available publicly.
We will provide more exact dates as soon when we hear back from our regional stakeholders.
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