NLTP Bulletin

RLTP Guidance

To help make it easier for you to develop your RLTPs, we’re working with the Transport Special Interest Group (TSIG) to develop RLTP guidance. We expect this will be sent out next month and include the following:

• a detailed timeline for RLTPs and NLTP development
• a template and guidance developed with TSIG setting out what we expect to see in an RLTP
• information about how assessment and prioritisation of activities will work
• details about improvements being made to the Business Case Approach (BCA)
• details about the information that will be captured in Transport Investment Online (TIO) for different activity types.

We know that many of you are keen to learn what has changed and what you need to do for the 2021-24 NLTP.

We’ll be sharing as much of this detail as we can in the guidance and continue to keep you informed of any changes as these are confirmed in coming months. If you have any queries, please email nltp@nzta.govt.nz and we will respond promptly.

Sector Engagement 

From December, we propose to be engaging with you on both on Arataki and the business cases and assessment elements of the Investment Decision-Making Framework (IDMF). Both documents will be considered by our Board this month.

We will engage with you in December and through the first quarter of 2020 to discuss Arataki and what we have identified as the land transport challenges and opportunities in your region.

We're not proposing a formal consultation with Arataki, but want your feedback to inform our view. We know our view will not be complete and we will update Arataki next April and then again in August. What's important is developing a shared understanding of the evidence, its implications, and an agreed approach on how we respond to these as a sector during the next decade. 

We will be formally consulting on a range of elements within the IDMF and in the next NLTP Bulletin we'll provide more details on the feedback we're seeking and how you can contribute.

Arataki 

Arataki is the Transport Agency’s 10-year plan for improving the performance of the land transport system. Arataki identifies the most significant changes that will impact the land transport system and the Step Change responses the Transport Agency could take over the next decade.

Arataki has been built using available evidence and plans from local and central government, including local growth strategies, the Ministry of Transport’s Outcomes Framework, benefits performance measures and other key government policy on climate change and regional development.

What we know is that the greatest changes facing us all are:

• Demographic changes 
• Changing economic structure
• Climate change
• Advances in technology
• Changing customer preferences
• Funding challenges

The Step Change responses are:

• Transform urban mobility
• Improve urban form
• Tackle climate change
• Significantly reduce harms
• Support regional development

Arataki provides the Transport Agency with a national perspective of transport challenges and opportunities to bring to the table as we consider government priorities, and council planning and co-investment partner needs and priorities.

Arataki does not identify specific activities for funding. The Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) sets the investment policy and priorities every three years, which determines what we must invest in and could deliver.

The results of considering the evidence and national perspective, partner needs, and the GPS direction, determines the activities that will form the State Highway Activity Management Plan (SHAMP) for submission to the RLTP development process.

IDMF Review

Our investment team has been undertaking a comprehensive review of our decision-making framework. Last month we released the investigation stage report of the review: it details the findings of the investigation stage and the key areas we’re focusing on in the design stage. The design stage is progressing well.

Our new framework will champion a system-based approach, focused on ensuring the land transport system offers choice on how people move around; delivers social, economic and environmental outcomes; and the policy is robust, transparent and easy to understand and use.

Our first release in December will be related to the development of business cases and the assessment of investment proposals. Once the draft 2021 GPS has been released, we’ll review our guidance on prioritisation.

Some of the changes we're proposing are:

• Developing an assessment framework that covers wider impacts, costs and benefits, with decision gates along the way that will ensure alignment to the GPS and provide more transparent decision-making. To support this, we are creating tools and guidance to ensure critical thinking throughout the business case development process.
• Investment proposals will be prioritised using information from the assessment process to determine those that give effect to the GPS.
• Creating a right-sized approach to business cases to ensure you’re putting in the right level of effort for the problem you’re trying to solve.
• Consolidating information and guidance to ensure you have the right information to help you at each stage of the process.

Transport Agency Investment Proposal (TAIP)

We have begun developing the Transport Agency Investment Proposal (TAIP) which will encompass the State Highway Activity Management Plan (SHAMP) and nationwide activities in preparation for the 2021-24 NLTP and RLTPs.

This will reflect our proposed bid for a 10-year programme of activities delivered by the Transport Agency including state highway maintenance, operations and improvements, and our road safety advertising programme.

The TAIP will contain specific activities proposed for inclusion in each RLTP to give effect to the GPS and potentially the NLTP. We expect to seek our Board’s endorsement of the TAIP in mid-2020 and to submit it to each Regional Transport Committee (RTC) shortly after that.