Duynhoven Harry: Public Transport Management Bill — First Reading 
Duynhoven Harry: Public Transport Management Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:642;Page:12375] 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN (Minister for Transport Safety) 
: 
 First Madam Assistant Speaker can I congratulate you on re-election in a different mode into local government. I am sure the House will wish you every success in that part of your political career. 
The Public Transport Management Bill is an interesting bill because it follows on from the Transport Services Licensing Act which is now quite old—1989. That Act was really a product of the day in that the focus on transport policy was about reducing the cost to government and improving efficiency. It reduced cost by maximising competition and enhancing and maximising the role of the private sector. In the area of passenger transport the Transport Services Licensing Act of 1989 sought to improve efficiency and reduce costs by enabling public transport operators to identify and provide scheduled public transport services on a commercial basis with limited regional authority control. 
That Act established the concept of commercially viable routes and enabled local authorities to if one likes allow for licensing of particular routes. Regional councils were left to contract and fund with assistance of course from the Government through Land Transport New Zealand any scheduled public transport services that were required in their regions that could not be provided by way of normal commercial competition. Routes that were not commercially viable were therefore left up to the regional councils to fund through their funding and with subsidies from the Government through Land Transport New Zealand. Those services—those routes—had to be awarded through an open tendering process. 
So we had a mix—a mix of normal commercial viable routes which were contestable and those routes that were not commercially viable but were tendered for. Through that we really wound up with a hybrid system in a way that provided for high-quality public passenger transport systems but on the basis of competition where they were commercial and on the basis of minimum cost where they were provided by some sort of tendering process. 
We have discovered in the time since of course that high-quality public transport systems are vital and they can have a huge impact on sustainability. For those who live in the main metropolitan centres particularly Auckland there is a considerable need for public passenger transport that not only is commercially viable or efficient but also gets people from out of their “one person per car” mode into using public transport. 
The bill we have before us today will enable councils to set the quality and performance standards for commercial public transport services and things such as we heard from the previous speaker—with some denigration actually from the Opposition—such as wheelchair accessibility or services accessible to those with disabilities so that people can have access to flat-floor or super-low-floor buses to enable them to board those buses. Indeed we have seen in New Zealand some real innovations of design and I can think of Design Line for example which make one of the world’s best super-low-floor buses here in New Zealand. Those buses obviously were responding to a need but responding to a requirement of the Government by way of regional councils for services accessible to those who had a disability or who were impaired in their ability to get on and off buses. 
The bill will also allow for such things as emission standards to be put in place on public passenger transport so in the centre of cities there might be a tougher standard than say in a rural area. The bill will also allow councils to require operators to integrate services fares and ticketing to suit the needs of the community. I have to say that this is an issue that I personally have been very very keen on for about 25 years. The integrated ticketing regimes as are used widely in Europe are something that New Zealand should imitate and initiate as soon as possible in my view. The integrated ticketing regimes in Holland for example in the Netherlands allow one to use a taxi a taxi-bus a bus a tram and a train all on one ticket to go from a particular residence to perhaps employment in a city far away door to door. Those services accessible off one ticket are simply regarded by the Dutch community now as being the norm and absolutely commonplace. 
For us there is still a revolution waiting to happen in terms of integrated ticketing at that level. I think one of the provisions of this bill will be very much welcomed once the public get used it: the provision to allow for integrated ticketing. 
The bill will also give regional councils greater powers over non-contracted commercial services in order to help regions get the best value for money and to achieve an integrated sustainable public transport network. That is important because under current legislation regional councils have limited control over public transport services that are non-contracted. The bill will empower councils to impose controls over commercial services. Councils will be able to ensure that commercial services meet the standards expected of the region. The bill will also allow councils access to ongoing information about commercial services such as demand in particular areas in order to establish systems that are integrated and responsive to community needs. 
That will prevent what we would probably call cherry-picking in that it will allow for the requirement of packages of services so that we do not have operators saying they will come in and do only the most profitable link and thereby undermine the whole integrity of the service by taking out the ability of another company to provide a package of services around an area. So the bill will make it easier for regions to implement integrated public transport systems that meet community needs. 
How will a more consistent public transport system be created under this legislation? Under current legislation public transport operators can register and deregister services which might be a single trip at any time on any day—not necessarily a complete timetable for a route—and can put in a notice period of 21 days and simply say they will take out that service or register the service one or the other. Regional councils may be obliged to replace the deregistered services but 21 days’ notice leaves them inadequate time to implement the best possible service for the community. That restricts their ability to offer a reliable consistent and sustainable service for local people. 
The changes in this bill will mean that councils can specify a longer notice period of say 90 days and have better control over other aspects of the public transport services such as the ability—as I said before—to set quality standards. That region will therefore have the ability under its local transport planning regime to ensure that services that are appropriate for the needs of the region will be able to be put in place and be contracted for with a minimum of 90 days’ notice. 
It will also mean that regions can opt to group services together if that best suits the needs of the region and its communities. It seems to me that that is one of the elements missing from our current system. We have a dual system. We have a competitive system in which normal competition rules of business apply. We also have the ability for a regional council to tender for services in its area where those services are not being run on a commercial basis. I think we can get the best of both worlds here. Those who favour competition and business—the market if you like being the provider—will see that that will work very well where businesses are truly commercial and where those routes are operating in a commercial way. Those who see the need for a council to respond to the needs of its community will also see that happening. 
We are getting the best of both worlds under this legislation. I believe that this legislation will enhance public transport and see a continuation of the development that has occurred. Certainly if one looks at the money going into public transport now from Government sources one sees that it is something of the order of 10 times that which was going into public passenger transport services when the Labour-led Government was first established in 1999.