Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

In May, the Government released the New Zealand Rail Plan, with State Owned Enterprises Minister David Clark saying that the plan – “and the Government’s commitment to rail – is designed to set the right conditions to balance our transport system and create options for NZers.”

My question is: How can this balance NZ’s transport system and create options, when rail currently shifts so little of our freight task…and the opportunity to increase this share is so small?

Said Clark: “We’re making sure that KiwiRail has the trains it needs to carry more freight around the country, and that the tracks in our cities and regions are up to standard to support freight and commuter gro...

Transport Minister Michael Wood will head an exciting and diverse lineup of speakers at the Road Transport Forum’s The Road Ahead - 2021 Transporting New Zealand Conference.

The speakers will entertain, challenge and inform delegates on the significant issues facing our industry and the country as the world begins to look beyond COVID-19.

Opposition Leader Judith Collins will provide the National Party’s view on the state of the economy and the Government’s decisions in the wake of COVID. This will provide delegates with the opportunity to contrast and compare the visions of our two major parties a year into Labour’s second term in office.

Former V8 Supercars fan fav...

In May, Stuff ran a story about truck drivers illegally working up to 120 hours a week. The three anonymous drivers said they were being put in an impossible situation by their employers.

Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett says the industry must stand up for measures that maximise and improve safety for its workers and for all road users, and the RTF supports the introduction of electronic logbooks, over time.

“We want all drivers to return home safely at the end of their work day, and we believe the gradual introduction of electronic logbooks with GPS will eliminate opportunities for logbook discrepancies of drivers’ hours.

“The technology already exi...

The Government says Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) will be on the legislative table this year, and will be law by 2022. 

Fair Pay Agreements are basically “national awards” rebranded, says Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett – and the Forum is “strongly opposed to any form of centralised wage bargaining, such as FPAs, or any other forms of labour market regulation that pre-sets the remuneration and work conditions of professional drivers.

“We support the need for road freight businesses to have flexibility when it comes to labour costs in a changing marketplace with ever-changing technologies.” 

The Australian Fair Work Act, on which these FPAs ar...

You don’t have to travel far on our roads to feel like you’re on a dodgem track – having to take evasive action to avoid potholes and uneven road surfaces. 

Instead of making the necessary investment to maintain and repair these roads, Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency’s plan seems to be to simply reduce speed limits and blame speed for any crashes.

The latest proposal is to lower the speed limit from 100km/h to 80km/h on an 83-kilometre section of the Napier-Taupo Road (State Highway 5).

Because of historically poor design and engineering, the road surface on SH5 is in a terrible state. It has poor traction, making it like driving on ice. The surface has...