Transport reform paper released

Press, 26 September 1988, Page 5

Transport reform paper released

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington A discussion paper for the reform of road safety, urban transport and reading programmes has been released by the Government. It sets out the functions of the proposed new Land Transport Authority, how it will work and be funded, and seeks public comment. The Minister of Transport, Mr Jeffries, said the issues of functions and funding were still awaiting public input. Issues still open for public discussion included: Which criteria should be used to allocate funds among competing programmes within the reading sector? What basis should be used for allocating funds to local roading problems? How should urban transport programmes be funded? What type and amount of charges should be levied on road users? . How should the board of the new Land Transport Authority be constituted?

How should regional input to decisions on roading and urban transport be organised? A single fund was to be set up, Mr Jeffries said, provisionally called the Road User Trust Fund. This would be funded largely from fees and charges on road users, and would not be required to contribute to Government revenue. For years, roading had been organised as though the construction and maintenance of roads had been separate from road safety requirements and unrelated to them, he said. There was now a growing awareness that roading, road safety and urban transport were closely related. The road safety function would be taken by the Ministry of Transport’s new land transport business group. New legislation would be introduced early in December to allow the new system to be working by April 1 next, and submissions from the public would be closed off after October 28.