This page relates to the 2024–27 National Land Transport Programme.
Introduction
To support achieving the Minister of Transport’s expectations set out in the Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS) 2024 in relation to approved organisations, this page sets out the relevant ministerial expectations that apply to approved organisations. These are included in the terms and conditions of National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) funding approvals made during the 2024–27 National Land Transport Programme.
Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024(external link)
A focus on delivery
Approved organisations are expected to:
- demonstrate contribution of their proposed activities to the GPS strategic priorities and GPS expectations
- actively seek to progress and deliver their funded activities in line with the GPS expectations
- ensure their business cases are focussed on the primary transport objective(s) of their projects, are completed in a timely fashion to control costs and deliver on the strategic priorities of the GPS
- maintain a tight control on the scope and cost of their projects and adopt a ‘no frills’ approach. (GPS 2024 gives examples of ‘no frills’ and NZTA is considering providing further guidance around this approach).
A focus on core business
Road controlling authorities are expected to:
- act primarily as delivery agencies (alongside NZTA), recognising that the Ministry of Transport is to lead the oversight and development of policy for New Zealand’s transport system.
A focus on value for money
Approved organisations are expected to:
- choose the most advantageous combination of whole-of-life cost and infrastructure quality to meet a ‘no frills’ specification that delivers the primary transport objective of the project in the most cost-effective manner. This requires identifying the project’s primary objectives and will affect option selection (NZTA is currently revising its guidance in this regard.)
- monitor its operational expenditure to ensure that it is achieving value for money and that it can deliver within approved NLTF funding approvals. Reporting on operational expenditure continues to be via Transport Investment Online. Forecasting future expenditure continues to be via the Programme Monitor on a quarterly basis
- focus on providing services that meet the needs and expectations of users
- in the case it has approved funding for a road safety promotion programme, will identify the most cost-effective and beneficial method for carrying out that programme. This may be supporting national advertising, rather than engaging in regional or local advertising and only engaging in advertising where necessary.
Road controlling authorities are expected to:
- obtain value for money by keeping costs under control and identifying savings that can be reinvested back into maintaining or improving the land transport network
- actively seek to reduce expenditure on temporary traffic management (TTM) through a risk-based approach while maintaining safety of workers and road users
- report expenditure on TTM in a way that these costs can be reported by NZTA to the minister each quarter. This requires requesting contractors to itemise TTM costs in their contract claims
- consider the use of standardising design or delivery of building and maintaining roading infrastructure where appropriate to do so to obtain value for money
- be open to new models of delivery that are likely to result in better and smarter services and/or lower costs
- for proposed investments in walking and cycling, undergo robust consultation with community members and business owners that could be affected by the investment, prior to any investment decisions being made.
Consider other revenue sources and other funding and delivery models
Approved organisations are expected to:
- consider relevant funding and financing options in relation to each of their projects
- consider relevant sources of third-party funding in relation to their projects and actively pursue those deemed suitable and include in each project’s funding mix
- consider relevant delivery models that represents value for money and balance appropriate levels of risk and timely delivery.
Increased focus on performance and efficiency
Road controlling authorities are expected to:
- comply with requirements in the NZTA Performance and Efficiency Plan that are relevant to a road controlling authority. These relate to management of programmes, asset management practices, price/quality trade-offs for maintenance and operations expenditure, business case and cost estimation, managing overheads and back-office costs, and other GPS requirements and ministerial expectations
- monitor and provide information to NZTA to enable quarterly reporting to the minister on delivery of the Performance and Efficiency Plan
- review their activity management plans in order to improve long-term maintenance outcomes by increasing the percentage of rehabilitation of the local road network towards 2% per annum. Road controlling authorities will deliver rehabilitation programmes in 2024–27 in accordance with approved funding for 2024–27. Road controlling authorities will work with NZTA to determine an appropriately sized programme and level of service within available funding for the 2027–30 period
- review their activity management plans in order to achieve long-term maintenance outcomes by increasing resurfacing the local road network towards 9% per annum. Road controlling authorities will deliver resurfacing programmes in 2024–27 in accordance with approved funding for 2024–27. Road controlling authorities will work with NZTA to determine an appropriately sized programme and level of service within available funding for the 2027–30 period
- demonstrate progress towards fixing potholes on local roads within 24 hours of inspection. This requires best endeavours where it is value for money to repair potholes within that timeframe. Road controlling authorities will report on a quarterly basis the response times for repairing potholes on its local road network.
Specific expectations relating to public transport
Public transport authorities are expected to:
- actively work towards increasing public transport private share by 30 June 2027, including setting targets each year. This includes operating within approved funding of public transport continuous programmes, reviewing services that are delivering very low farebox recovery and considering appropriate fares
- support and actively work towards transition to, delivery of and operation of the National Ticketing Solution in partnership with NZTA. This includes aligning concessionary fare structures with national policy to make the National Ticketing Solution cost effective and value for money for customers.
Supporting NZTA to report on the expectations
Approved organisations are expected to:
- use best endeavours to support NZTA in reporting on progress towards meeting the minister's expectations in relation to the GPS 2024 by providing information relating to their respective local transport networks.
