Our political parties’ plans for road transport
THE 2020 ELECTION IS FAST approaching and, in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown and ongoing economic crisis, could be one of the most inf luential in recent times. RTF wrote to the transport spokespeople of t he f i ve pol it ic a l pa r t ie s c ur r ent l y represented in Parliament ask ing them a series of questions of interest to road transport operators.
We have presented the responses in their entirety and without any commentary. New Zealand Truck & Driver readers can judge for themselves the merits of each answer and take those into account as they head to the polls on September 19.
Thanks to Labour’s Phi l Tw y ford, National’s Chris Bishop, Julie Anne Genter of the Green Part y and ACT’s David Seymour for taking part. Unfortunately, NZ First declined the opportunity.
ACT believes in user pays. The problem is road users have been paying for non-road projects they do not use. Taking your money for one purpose and using it for another you didn’t choose is not only economically ineff icient, it is insulting. Slapping on a RUC increase while the Government was borrowing and hosing money and all sorts of other dubious projects to “stimulate the economy” just added insult to injur y. As David Seymour said to parliament at the beginning of the COVID crisis, the Government should “f irst do no harm” and that means holding back on revenue increases before going on a spending spree.
Mode neutra l it y underpins our transport policy and successive gover n ments have b e en u si ng NLTF funds for more than just roads for over a decade. We want the most eff icient way to ca rr y passengers or freight for any given t a sk , a nd for t he f i r st t i me under our Government, all modes will be considered a longside each other. Road users benef it f rom e ver y investment made f rom t he NLTF, for example from safet y upgrades, new roads, or investments that give people re a l t r a nspor t c hoices which f re e s t he roads up for those that have to drive. We also plan to introduce track user chargers for ra i l users so t hey contr ibute to t he fund as well.
As a g e ner a l pr i nc i pl e we b e l i e v e t ra nspor t modes shou ld be f u nded by those who use them. We are concerned about the government’s move to allow rail to access even more of the NLTF than it already does, which will mean road users will end up subsidising a competing mode while investment in roads diminishes.
The Green Pa r t y st rongly suppor t s mode neut r a l it y a nd t hat is why we have long advocated for a more balanced i nv e s t ment b y t he Gover n ment in a mi x of road, ra i l , c yc l i ng a nd walk i ng infrastructure. The majorit y of congestion on our state highway is caused by sole occupants travelling in cars. By investing in faster, more frequent urban and inter regional public transport we’ ll have fewer people driv ing at peak times. This frees up more space on the road and improves travel time reliabilit y for high value trips like moving freight.
As above, ACT is committed to user pays.