1.1 Legislative provisions
This NZ national minimum standard for omnibuses that are operated in urban services within New Zealand is to be known as the National vehicle quality standards (NVQS), Version 1, issue date [date to be inserted].
It is issued under the authority of the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and contains both mandatory and desirable requirements.
This standard does not replace or have precedence over any other existing national legislative documents, eg Land Transport Rules such as:
- Passenger Service Vehicles 1999 (Rule 31001)
- Heavy Vehicles 2004 (Rule 31002)
- Vehicle Exhaust Emissions 2007 (Rule 33001/2)
- Vehicle Dimensions and Mass 2002 (Rule 41001)
Applicability:
- The standard will come into force on 1 January 2010.
1.2 Purpose and scope
Through this standard, the NZTA's aim is to 'enhance the attractiveness of urban public transport vehicles in order to encourage increased usage, with a particular emphasis on improving accessibility'.
At a national level, this will have significant impacts on:
- the requirements for funding for roading and passenger transport
- minimising the rate of increase of urban traffic congestion
vehicle emission levels and carbon footprints - vehicle usage and energy requirements from fossil-based fuels
- national attitudes to the use of buses for all urban travel, including commuter, shopping, school and recreational activities travel.
The standard will specify requirements that apply to all new buses to be used in urban service as described below from the date of introduction, and may also include standards for existing used buses that must be met now or from the date indicated. In this manner, an improvement in the standards of buses will be achieved on a progressive basis without significant impacts on existing fleet profiles, where many of the existing buses have been procured using some local and national public funding received via contract or concessionary fare scheme payments.
For the purpose of this standard, a bus type is described as follows:
New bus
- Brand-new manufacture from any source, ie NZ or overseas.
- An imported used bus from any source if date of first registration in New Zealand is later than the date of introduction of these standards.
Used bus
- A bus that must already have been registered in New Zealand on the date of introduction of these standards, and being operated in a contracted urban service.
The standard seeks to detail mandatory minimum requirements for all buses that are to be used in the delivery of any urban passenger services that might be operated under any regional authority as a tendered/contracted service or negotiated under a Public Transport Service Agreement.
The standard will in some areas set requirements over and above the minimum requirements contained within the national transport regulations; it is therefore assumed that all vehicles will already satisfy all of the legislative requirements applicable at any time.
However, in setting these standards, the NZTA has recognised that when compared to other countries whose trends/standards we like to follow/adopt and who are often the suppliers of the buses we use, that New Zealand regulations especially related to vehicle dimensions and weight can impact on the ability to meet some criteria that might be desirable, but a sensible compromise has to be reached on just what is possible under the local situation.
Nothing in this standard will preclude regional authorities specifying higher vehicle quality standards for bus services within their particular region but they will not be eligible for any public funding in the event that a lower standard is specified.
The national goal is to increase the overall 'quality' of the vehicles in operation on scheduled urban bus services. This is one of the major factors identified by existing and potential public transport users as a vital ingredient to the growth of patronage.
The NZTA is also aware that, as well as the need for setting standards for the buses, the quality of the infrastructure that forms a significant part of being able to use a public transport system is just as important, ie bus stop location and facilities in terms of weather protection, information, suitability for use by persons of all ages and mobility.
Defining the infrastructure requirements is not included as part of this standard.
1.3 Applicability of requirements
Under the Passenger Service Vehicles Rule 1999, a 'passenger service vehicle' means a motor vehicle used or available to be used in a passenger service and includes a motor vehicle that has more than 12 seating positions, which in the Transport Services Licensing Act 1989 is described as a large passenger service vehicle or LPSV.
For clarity of purpose in this standard, a 'bus' means an LPSV capacity/style of vehicle used to provide urban fare-paying services rather than the converted or larger van style often called the 'minibus' or 'taxibus' with 9-12 seat capacity.
The NZTA appreciates that the larger and smaller regional authorities may have differing requirements to be met in terms of vehicle dimensions and carrying capacity that best meets their local needs and infrastructure, and that the 'onesize- fits-all' concept will not be appropriate to implement in all of the regions that might be funding public urban bus transport services. Where there is a need to further delineate the bus by size in terms of seated capacity, this standard will use what is known in the industry as a small (SB), medium (MB) and large bus (LB). This will be determined by need and/or the limitations on vehicle design or performance characteristics.
| Bus size | Number of passengers |
|---|---|
| Small bus (SB) | 13-21 seated passengers and including the driver |
| Medium bus (MB) | 21-39 |
| Large bus (LB) | over 39 |
Requirements are for all bus sizes unless specifically referred to the size category in the relevant sections that follow.
Arrangement of requirements
The standard is arranged under the following general features headings:
| Section one | General arrangement |
| Section two | Design and performance |
| Section three | Accessibility |
| Section four | Passenger safety |
| Section five | Passenger comfort and use |
| Section six | Facilities for passengers with disabilities |
| Section seven | Driver ergonomics and other general |
| Section eight | Existing fleet |
Dimensions
All dimensions are in millimetres (mm).
The use of the two symbols also includes the equal to or greater/lesser than etc.
Unless specified, measurement methods are those of the relevant New Zealand or Australian regulation, rule or standard, eg Passenger Service Vehicles Rule 1999.
