Sharples Pita: Public Transport Management Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Sharples Pita: Public Transport Management Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:18785] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Madam Assistant Speaker tena tatou katoa e huihui mai nei i tenei rangi. 
[ 
Greetings to you Madam Assistant Speaker and to us all gathered here today 
.] 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: This’ll be interesting. 
Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: This will be interesting. Ten days ago a cloud descended over Wellington. Well to be more precise tension spread through the Metlink buses trains and ferries as commuters came to grips with a price increase of between 50c and $1 per trip. To compound the situation the extra costs come from paying for the privilege of jostling for a seat and fighting for space with only the ticket collector game enough to run the gauntlet between the crowded crush of the commuter traffic. The one consolation for the passengers was that at least they were not in Auckland— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: This is more a novel than a speech. 
Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: —it is—for those who live north of the Bombay Hills like I do are now rushing to grab that bus or train in far greater numbers than ever before. Patronage of the Infratil buses for instance has increased by about 7 percent in the last year. In real terms that is an extra 6000 trips. We celebrate this congestion as a marker of the further development of public transport systems and initiatives to reduce road traffic. It is a tangible measurement of the way in which we are lessening the nation’s dependency on oil and reducing carbon emissions. It gives us hope that we as a nation are making humble efforts to address the peak oil and global warming crises. 
But there is little to celebrate if we as a Parliament are not doing what we can to make life easier for those choosing the option of public transport. We must make it a credible option. We must make public transport fulfil the expectations of people that it will respond to their needs in terms of frequency and capacity and in terms of public transport services. I remember 5 years ago in June 2003 when the Britomart transport centre was officially opened Ngati Whatua o Orakei officiated with the kaumatua TakutaiWikiriwhi blessing the site and the station platforms and we had a dawn service. The first train arrived at 5.40 a.m. on 23 June and from what I have been told it commemorated the historic moment 73 years earlier when the first scheduled train set off from downtown Auckland. As the train arrived a large crowd gathered and a lone piper released the call. As passengers disembarked the kapahaka group of Te Puru o Tamaki and Ngati Whatua let forth a haka and a waiata to truly herald the moment. 
Some of the less informed among us may ask why we would have a dawn ceremony for a train. I say: “Why not?”. It is entirely appropriate to clear the way and to embrace the new dawn that we envisaged would come from the opportunities that come with more comprehensive public transport. For many of our whanau before they embark on a journey they have karakia to ensure safe travels ahead. In much the same way opening Britomart at dawn—te ata tu—is imbuing the provision of public transport with that same significance. It is about ensuring that the population is safe protected and able to travel well. 
This bill continues that goal. The bill will enable regional councils to adopt controls on commercial public transport services in order to implement any policies that can meet the unique needs of their region. Although we would assume that the regional public transport plans would take into account issues of vehicle quality and service reliability and the provision of integrated systems such as ticketing and fares we would also expect them to consider special provisions for the people they service—provisions that will enable them to respond sensitively and appropriately towards passengers who are elderly disabled children and all groups that may require special service. 
The aim of this bill is also to help regions obtain the best value for money in public transport. Although it makes particular mention of the impact of competition for commercial operators we would hope that the balance weighs in favour of efficient and effective services for customers. Attracting and retaining new passengers is a challenge that regional public transport services must turn their minds to. There is no point in having a competitive and efficient market in place if value for money is compromised or if services are congested slow and unreliable. This bill will enable regional councils to decline registration of a commercial service if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the service will not meet the controls specified in the regional public transport plan. The bill will also force services to deregister for non-compliance. These are all positive initiatives that are about improving the quality of existing public transport services. We have heard speakers in the House describe how Aucklanders were forced into cars and it is that culture we are trying to break in order to put people back on public transport. But in the space in the market that appears from the deregistration of non-compliant providers we would expect other initiatives and other alternatives to be introduced which will fill the gap. 
Many members will be familiar with the overhead call that echoes through the station platforms in the London Underground: “Mind the gap”. It has in fact become so popular that Transport for London even sells T-shirts with the branding: “Mind the Gap” to remind passengers of the dangerous gap between the train door and the station platform. This bill must also mind the gap. We in Parliament must mind the difference between what is real and what is not real. We must look beyond the limitations of what currently constitutes our public transport system and think creatively around ways of achieving an integrated safe and sustainable public transport system that will make immediate progress in lessening our dependence on oil. We must do everything we can to mind the gap between public perceptions of the problems of public transport and making it a viable option. 
The Sustainable Energy Forum has recommended that one possible positive intervention the Government could take up would be to increase present subsidies for public transport even to the point of making public transport free. We believe that this option should be investigated further. It may well be useful in considering this further to apply an analysis based on the genuine progress in the next genuine progress index. In such an analysis we would envisage that the whole-of-economy costs would be weighed. The health and environmental costs of allowing private transport to continue unabated must be recognised as a significant constraint. 
The unequivocal truth is that New Zealanders are almost totally oil dependent for transport. We cannot delay action in terms of the developing public transport options. The ability to register services commercially provides opportunities for operators to establish innovative public transport services that would not otherwise be provided. We encourage all those in the transport sector to take risks to be bold and to stretch our thinking in terms of achieving an integrated safe responsive and sustainable public transport system. Opting to explore the electrification of public transport or rationing schemes to respond to short-term fuel projects might be other projects that are worthy of further review. We need to prioritise urban design around walking and biking and this is just the start. 
I believe that what happened at Britomart 5 years ago was right. We are at the dawning of a new era and we must engage all our energies into planning for our future. The Maori Party supports this bill.