New Zealand’s population and economic activity is increasingly located in urban areas. As the amount of activity in the urban areas increases, so does the demand for transport. This has resulted in much of the transport network capacity in our large cities, particularly Auckland, being under significant and increasing pressure. This is most acute during morning and evening peak periods, which means that even small changes in demand or minor incidents can result in significant and unexpected delays to travellers.
While we need to build new transport infrastructure in our growing cities, we also need to make the most of the transport infrastructure in place. This means increasing the Transport Agency’s focus on improving the efficiency and reliability of travel during peak periods.
There is a range of work underway across urban networks to improve journey time predictability and people’s ability to make the best choice for their travel needs. This includes initiatives such as maximising the efficiency of traffic signals and corridors, active use of transport operation centres to minimise the impact of disruptions, improving travel choices (such as cycling, walking and public transport), and providing timely and accurate information to travellers.
Further work will be undertaken for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to identify priority areas where journey time predictability can be improved and where additional responses are needed. This will help inform the development of the 2018–21 NLTP.
The transport operations centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were originally set up to manage the response to incidents and events on the network. A research project is underway to measure these benefits. This includes providing real time travel information for customers and informing them of any impact on their journeys as a result of incidents and planned events, such as roadworks or community events. The transport operations centres have been able to use various tools, including CCTV cameras and variable message signs, to improve how networks operate, ease congestion and ensure customers are well informed. Close collaboration with partner agencies, the police and other emergency services has been a key feature of current operations.
The Transport Agency is also focusing on more proactive management of the network. This means developing and improving our systems to get a better understanding of how the whole network is currently performing – this includes multiple means of transport (bus, road, train and freight) as well as key routes and how these are used across different times of the day, month or year. Improving understanding will enable us to identify where there are opportunities to optimise the use of different methods, routes and times for travel. Customers can then be given more options to make smarter choices, both before they leave home and during their journey.
Construction is underway to create New Zealand’s first smart motorway on Wellington’s urban motorway between Johnsonville and the Terrace Tunnel.
Covering almost one-third of the South Island, the Otago and Southland regions face common transport challenges. These include having a large land area and road network, comparatively low populations in many areas, natural hazards impacting on transport networks and infrastructure upgrades being required to enable heavier freight vehicles to access key parts of the network.
The Christchurch Transport Operations Centre (TOC) was the single point of contact for transport operations for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 matches in the city.
