City’s joint traffic service to close
The service that keeps Christchurch moving is set to close, but questions remain over how the city council will absorb the cost.
Staff at the Christchurch Transport Operations Centre (CTOC) were last week sent a letter informing them the service would be disestablished on January 31.
CTOC was established after the Canterbury earthquakes as a partnership between the Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
Employees use live camera feeds to monitor city roads for anything that could disrupt the flow of traffic, and can deploy staff from their parent organisations to help.
They manage all planned, unplanned and recurrent events on the network, including roadworks, concerts and big events, crashes, fires and floods – as well as making sure traffic lights are working and that everything is running smoothly on a day-today basis.
In a joint statement, a spokesperson said a ‘‘one network’’ approach to traffic flows was needed after the earthquakes, to manage the impact of damaged roads and rebuild activity on local roads and state highways.
‘‘With the city returning to a more normal state, the need for this intensive traffic management has reduced.’’
The parent organisations agreed to review CTOC’s operation as it had changed substantially from its original purpose.
Following consultation with staff, the board decided to disestablish CTOC and return its functions to the parent organisations.
‘‘It is hoped the new arrangements will be in place in stages from late December.’’
Former manager Ryan Cooney, who helped establish CTOC, said there was definitely an advantage to the three parties collaborating.
‘‘It removes some of the bureaucracy and the need to have multiple layers of approval. With a single agency you end up with better co-ordination,’’ he said.
‘‘Less administrative processes are good for the pace of [road] works and lead to a better community outcome.’’
He said that when CTOC was first set up, there was no extra funding provided beyond what the parent organisations were already getting.
The transport agency’s portion comes from the National Land Transport Fund, which funds all state highway activities in New Zealand.
It is understood half of the council’s portion is also covered by the fund – totalling about 75 per cent of CTOC operations.
The council did not respond to questions about CTOC’s operating budget by publication time. When asked whether the closure would put extra costs on ratepayers or see services stretched thin, a spokesperson simply said: ‘‘No.’’
Cooney said the transport agency would return to managing traffic lights on state highways passing through the city, and the Christchurch City Council would manage the rest.
‘‘I have worked on roads with traffic signals that don’t work well together . . . By having a single organisation, you have a better journey experience.’’
CTOC is currently staffed by five transport agency employees, seven city council employees and one Environment Canterbury employee, none of whom are expected to lose their jobs.
Wellington and Auckland also have transport operations centres, neither of which will be affected.
‘‘With the city returning to a more normal state, the need for this intensive traffic management has reduced.’’
Joint statement by the Christchurch City Council, Environment Canterbury and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency