This folks is how we do things
Yesterday the Victorian State Government merged their roads and public transport departments together to create a combined transport agency. In New Zealand we have the New Zealand Transport Agency or NZTA for short or rather NZ MOAR ROADS Agency given they do not exactly do a lot with investing in public transport especially rail.
From the Victorian State Government’s Minister of Transport:
A Simpler, More Coordinated Transport System For Victoria
- Minister for Public Transport 27 June 2016
The Andrews Labor Government will establish a new central transport agency to coordinate Victoria’s growing transport system and plan for its future.
Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan and Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan today announced the establishment of Transport for Victoria (TFV).
Like Transport for London and major cities around the world, TFV will bring together the planning, coordination and operation of Victoria’s transport system and it’s agencies, including VicRoads and Public Transport Victoria (PTV).
It will provide a single source for information about our road, train, tram, bus, taxi and freight networks, making it simpler and easier for Victorians to get information they need.
The new body will keep Victoria’s transport system moving while the Labor Government delivers its pipeline of major transport projects, including the Metro Tunnel, Western Distributor and 50 level crossing removals, as major road and rail upgrades in our regions.
TFV will also plan for the future of Victoria’s transport system, ensuring it grows as the community, economy and technology changes.
Over the coming months, consultation will be carried out with key stakeholders, and legislation will be introduced to establish the new body later this year.
Transport for Victoria will be up and running at the end of 2016. In the interim, VicRoads, PTV and other existing transport agencies will continue to provide information and support to transport users.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan
“This is the next evolution of the world-class transport system we are building for Victoria – a single, central, strategic body that coordinates our transport network and plans for its future.”
“TFV will coordinate the delivery of our major transport projects with the day-to-day operation of our transport network, providing a single source of information so motorists and passengers can get home safer and sooner.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan
“We need to stop thinking in terms of a road network and a train network and a tram network – we have a transport network, and we need a single transport agency to oversee it.”
“As we grow into the biggest state in Australia, we need to have a smarter, more integrated transport system, where roads, public transport and freight work together to get people and goods where they need to go.”
……..
Source: http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/a-simpler-more-coordinated-transport-system-for-victoria/
The State of Victoria has done what we should be doing with our own transport agency. Given the Kiwi Rail freight division is profitable turning an annual profit of ~$90m a year while our roads and State Highways are the second biggest ponzi scheme we have (see: Growth Ponzi Scheme + We Are Too Inefficient as a Nation) we should dissolve NZTA and form a new agency.
This new agency would be the New Zealand Transport and Infrastructure Agency covering roads, rail, public transport and coastal shipping. Ideally alongside a Planning Ministry this new NZTIA would be able through the National Transport and Infrastructure Fund (replacing the current National Land Transport Fund) plan, build and maintain a full integrated transport system no matter the mode while best suited to Auckland and regional residential, commercial and industrial (including farming) needs.
It would allow the best investment to a mode that is weighted against the others unlike now where road and rail operate in silos thus stacked against each other.
Remember integration is the key not boxing our three different transport modes into different concrete silos.
Talking Southern Auckland 