Guidance on the consultation and consenting processes for implementing bus layover and driver facilities.
As noted in the section on Legal obligations, roles and responsibilities, consistent with the Land Transport Management Act 2003 regional councils should work closely with territorial authorities and operators to agree roles and responsibilities to provide and manage layover and driver facilities. The appropriate entity to fund, own or maintain a facility will depend on the context.
Legal obligations, roles and responsibilities
Consultation with stakeholders and affected parties is recommended prior to any formal resource consent or traffic resolution process. Consultation provides the opportunity to incorporate measures to avoid or remedy adverse effects in the site selection and design of bus layover and driver facilities. It is best practice to start the consultation process early to avoid needing to rework detailed designs.
The key stakeholders and affected parties for bus layover and driver facilities include:
Please consult with a communications and engagement specialist if you require guidance on this.
The consenting process for bus layovers varies greatly depending on the policies and rules contained in district plans and local authority bylaws.
On-street bus layovers may not require a resource consent depending on the classification of the road corridor in the district plan. However, it is likely that a traffic resolution would be required to approve a change in parking restrictions. Consider the process for seeking traffic resolutions, for example, the schedule of council meetings at which these can be sought.
In general, utilising reserve land for public toilets may be permitted but reserve land cannot be used for bus parking or other driver facilities.
It is likely that off-street bus layovers would require resource consent and therefore it is recommended that a consenting strategy be considered during the site selection phase.
In general, off-street bus layovers in business or industrial zones would be easier to consent than in residential zones due to these areas being less sensitive to potential noise and visual amenity impacts.
Site selection should balance the ease of gaining resource consent with the length of the out of service run required from the bus route terminus to determine the preferred layover location.
Costs to implement bus layovers and driver facilities are highly subject to scope, scale and context. For example, toilet costs can vary greatly from temporary, “portaloo” style, facilities to fixed permanent toilets. Location and site constraints can also strongly influence costs.
Activities such as tree trimming and connecting to existing underground utilities can be costly and might bring substantial changes to project cost. Therefore, cost estimation should be undertaken on a case-by-case basis and is recommended to be taken into consideration during the site selection phase.
