Another week in transport, another government initiative announced – change is coming fast at the moment. This week the Minister of Local Government Simeon Brown has announced the launch of a framework to establish Regional Deals between central and local government. The question is, what might regional deals mean for transport and supply chain? Outside of the nearly 11,000km of roading network directly managed by NZTA, the remaining 83,000km are managed by local councils and their road controlling authorities (RCAs).

The quality of infrastructure investment across our local councils is as variable as the councils themselves. Some have done an adequate job maintaining their roading, water and other municipal assets, many have not and are facing the wrath of ratepayers. This is what the regional deal framework is seeking to fix.

Details are light at this stage, but any move to improve the quality of infrastructure investment at the local level should be welcomed. Having worked with many local authorities and central government, my own view is that local councils and Wellington need to get a whole lot better at working together. Both sides need to listen more, and when it comes to infrastructure, work towards reliability, resilience and population growth. Focus on those and economic growth and productivity follows. Whether it’s at the local, regional or central level, New Zealand needs leaders who aren’t afraid of tough conversations, know how to collaborate and are solutions focussed. Only then will we get the infrastructure we need to prosper.

Meeting members up and down the country, a consistent complaint I hear is how the local council has happily squandered ratepayer money on ‘nice to have’ infrastructure like pedestrianisation of roads, cycleways and raised pedestrian crossings, while core infrastructure crumbles. Councils earn the right to invest in enhancements like these only when they have paid for looking after the existing assets they have. That core responsibility has been overlooked in too many regions to name. My hope is that those councils have learned the lesson, and take a constructive approach to put forward sensible proposals for the regional deals.

Collaboration – the gift that keeps on giving

Speaking of great collaboration, I’d like to give a shout out to NZTA journey manager Kingston Brands who has been hitting the road for ridealongs with some of our members. Ridealongs are a fantastic way to get an understanding of the nature of trucking operations and the challenges faced over typical schedules and seasons. Kingston was interested in learning more about how the existing network impacts their business, and how operators deal with unplanned issues such as accidents and weather events, not to mention planned works.

Thanks to our very own NRC chairman Ian Newey (owner of logging transport operation IK & SM Newey Transport, based in Ruakaka) for taking Kingston on his first familiarisation ride. Livestock and general freight ridealongs might be next.

A little more conversation … NRC’s On Schedule Podcast

Far be it from me to disagree with the King, but sometimes a little more conversation is a good thing. Regular readers of Transport Minute will be familiar with my views on how the transport sector is facing a number of major, generational changes that have conspired to all occur at once. You know the list: transition to low emission transport, overhauling how roads are paid for, nationwide roading network rehabilitation, labour shortages, time of use and congestion charging … to name a few.

These changes have a lot of moving parts by themselves, put them together and it can start to make your head spin.

This is why we’ve decided to launch the NRC On Schedule podcast series. Dave McCoid of New Zealand Trucking Media fame will be helping us navigate through the complexity, inviting expert guests from across industry, government and wider economy. The aim is to explore the major changes confronting the transport sector, learn about the opportunities and challenges they bring to your businesses, and what NRC is pushing for on behalf of the industry.

Why a podcast I hear you ask? These are important, complicated topics that simply can’t be addressed in a three-minute chat or a one-page media release.

We’ve kicked off with Time of Use charging and State of the Economy. You can listen to the first two full interviews on Podbean, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Not a podcast listener? Don’t worry, these will be turning up as articles and news briefs too.

Stay safe,

– By Justin Tighe-Umbers, chief executive, National Road Carriers