Public Transport Activity Class

Introduction

The draft 2015 Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) merges the previous public transport services and infrastructure activity classes into one Public Transport activity class. This provides improved flexibility to invest funding from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) in public transport programmes or improvements to deliver best value for money.

The government expects these short to medium term results from NLTF investment in public transport:

• increased capacity on main routes within our growing urban areas,
• reduced cost of public transport per passenger kilometre,
• reduced variability in efficiency between areas and service providers, and
• improved transparency of investment in mitigating environmental effects, including climate change.

And expects these longer term results:

• economic growth and productivity supported through provision of better access to markets, employment and business areas,
• access to social and economic opportunities enabled, particularly for people with limited access to a private vehicle,
• improved returns on investment in public transport, and
• understanding of the costs associated with environmental mitigation.

Qualifying for NLTP consideration

To qualify for consideration for inclusion in the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) and subsequent funding approval:

• any proposed activity must be eligible by meeting the definition of the Public Transport activity class in the GPS and the appropriate work category definition in this Knowledge Base,
• contracted bus, rail and ferry services, including supporting operations and infrastructure, as well as total mobility services, provided within a regional network must be included in the relevant Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP),
• all regionally delivered public transport activities proposed for inclusion in the NLTP must be included in a Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP), and
• organisations must comply with the Transport Agency’s Procurement Manual and procurement rules, as well as any relevant standards and guidelines as listed in the Transport Agency’s Register of Network Standards and Guidelines.

Qualifying work categories

The public transport activity class includes the following work categories

• Work category 511 – Bus services
• Work category 512 – Passenger ferry services
• Work category 515 – Passenger rail services
• Work category 514 – Public transport facilities operations and maintenance
• Work category 517 – Total mobility services
• Work category 519 – Total Mobility wheelchair hoists and ramps
• Work category 521 – Total mobility wheelchair hoist use payments
• Work category 524 - Public transport information supply, operations and maintenance
• Work category 531 - Public transport infrastructure, major renewals and minor improvements

For further detail on these work categories refer to the links provided above.

Exclusions

The public transport activity class does not include Work category 522 – SuperGold card concessions.

This work category is covered under a separate appropriation from the government, outside of the NLTF and administered by the Transport Agency.  Activities should be submitted in a stand-alone application via Transport Investment Online.

Developing public transport activities

Public transport activities proposed to be included in the NLTP need to be submitted for inclusion in an RLTP.  The activities should reflect all public transport services defined in the RPTP and the costs of associated facilities that are expected to be funded from the NLTF.

There are two components to developing public transport activities for inclusion in an RLTP:

• Public transport programmes, which comprise existing services and operational activities, and
• Public transport improvements, comprising infrastructure improvements as well as new service improvements.

Public transport programmes

A Public transport programme consists of existing services and operations funded as part of the ongoing public transport programme, inclusive of allowances for minor variations and service reconfigurations that result in no increase in the annualised cost for the total programme.

Further detail on Public transport programmes is provided at this link.

Public transport improvements

Public transport improvements comprise all public transport infrastructure projects and public transport service and operational activities that are separate from and additional to the existing services and operations of the public transport programme, even though the same work categories may apply.

Further detail on Public transport improvements is provided at this link.

Supporting information required

Organisations need to provide evidence to support any Transport Investment Online (TIO) application seeking inclusion of activities in the NLTP or for subsequent funding approval. This evidence should demonstrate that the proposal will provide an effective solution.

The supporting information required and referenced in the TIO application consists of:

• the transportation section of the Approved Organisation's Long Term Plan (LTP),
• the RPTP prepared under part 5 of the Land Transport Management Act,
• other relevant information not referenced in the LTP or RLTP, or which requires more space than is available in the TIO comments section, and should include:
  • a supporting business case - for Public transport programmes, the RPTP should use the principles of the business case approach,
  • network or service level strategies or plans developed separately to the RPTP or supporting business case,
  • benefit cost ratio information to support a Public transport improvement activity larger than a minor improvement,
  • completion of the public transport minor improvements template for all improvement activities of up to $300,000 total cost per activity,
  • evidence to support the benefit and cost appraisal of the Public transport programme (use of the benefit and cost appraisal template for public transport is recommended),
  • information used to support development of an organisations programme, e.g. forecast network demand, option assessment, sensitivity testing, supporting information for patronage and fare revenue projections, etc.,
  • explanations and justifications of cost and scope changes from previous forecasts, e.g. input price changes, retendering, etc..

Terms and conditions of funding approval

Typically, the Transport Agency will appove funding for a Public transport programme for all three years in an NLTP, as part of the NLTP adoption. However, the Transport Agency may decide to impose terms and conditions on funding for all or part of the approved Public transport programme, due to:

• insufficient information submitted to provide the Transport Agency with the confidence to approve funding in full,
• a lack of confidence in the forecasts provided in support of the application for funding, and/or
• network performance indicators providing evidence of low returns on investment with insufficient or unreliable evidence that returns will improve.

The terms and conditions may apply across all three years of an NLTP or to particular years, e.g. the Transport Agency may approve funding the first year of a Public transport programme in the newly adopted NLTP but set conditions that have to be met before funding to be released for any subsequent year.