ONRC – an idea whose time had come! or – the quiet revolution
(parting thoughts from Dave Brash, who is leaving the Transport Agency after 8 years and moving into contract consulting)
I came across the idea of a single road classification when I first arrived at the NZ Transport Agency in 2008 – and it had been talked about long before I showed up.
Once I got my head around the idea I could see the potential – but then wondered why it hadn’t made much progress? The answer was that it was seen by NZTA and other RCAs as a technical issue, but it actually goes to the core of central and local government political priorities and the vexed question of funding – always fraught areas!!
I asked myself where was the mandate? and where was the compelling reason for change? The answer had to await the formation of the Road Maintenance Task Force (RMTF).
Set up by Minister Steven Joyce in 2011, led by the redoubtable Jim Harland, and involving councils and the industry, the RMTF was tasked to look at how New Zealand could drive greater efficiencies into maintenance and operations. Thus proving the old adage that timing is everything in making major changes in public policy!
It didn’t take long for the RMTF to realise the sector needed a common framework to drive value for money. Big questions like - how do I know the road is fit for purpose? How do I compare roads and measure the performance of Road Controlling Authorities? How do I define customer levels of service? The development of the One Network Road Classification (ONRC) was a key recommendation from the taskforce and was designed to provide answers to these questions.
NZTA and LGNZ leadership realised that if the ONRC was to work, it had to be an ongoing collaboration between NZTA and RCAs. The result was the birth of REG! It wasn’t an easy birth. There was a lot of suspicion (paranoia even) between the parties. Was this just a cunning plot for an NZTA take over? Was this about cutting funding to councils? Were councils serious about the need for change? It took us months to even agree an independent chair, get the right people to the table and resource the joint work.
Over the last three years a genuine partnership has emerged, and consequently enormous progress has been made. NZTA and every council has adopted and applied the ONRC, and we all have implementation plans in place. Levels of service definitions and performance measures have been developed, we are working hard on data standards, benchmarking, and putting this work into Activity Management Plans.
I am confident that we are on track and there are already examples of NZTA and councils extracting greater value for money out of their maintenance, operations and renewal programmes as a result of the ONRC. However, REG has always had a broader vision for the ONRC. To my mind there are three additional prizes at stake here:
• Prize 1 – enabling genuine evidence-based conversations with communities about the levels of service they want and are willing to pay for in their area.
• Prize 2 – greater certainty of funding for councils – NZTA is proposing to use the ONRC to create a baseline for NLTF long term investment - not having funding zero-based every three years will provide much more certainty for planning, activity management and contracting, which is especially important for the smaller councils where roads are a large part of their budget.
• Prize 3 – explaining to road users what they can expect on their journey ie: providing information to customers via signage, the web and other information sources on the type of road and the customer levels of service.
Finally, thank you to all those who have committed their time and enthusiasm to making this revolution happen. It’s been a great ride, and I look forward to seeing it all come to fruition over the next few years.
Regards Dave Brash
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