A significant shift in policies, institutional arrangements and planned investment is required to accelerate the change needed to reduce transport emissions, says Greater Wellington in its submission to the Government on Hīkina te Kohupara – Kia mauri ora ai te iwi - Transport Emissions: Pathways to Net Zero by 2050

“We strongly support the Government’s zero emission by 2050 target,” says Climate Committee chair Cr Thomas Nash, “we need to end the era of dependence on fossil fuels and introduce more options for how we move ourselves and our goods around.”

“Let’s open up our streets to more people, allocate public road space more equitably and break the cycle of car dependence.”

Greater Wellington believes that a shift to electric vehicles by itself will not be sufficient and that mode shift, rather than electrification of private vehicles, should be the government’s main transport priority.

“We need a step change in transport, rather than simply replacing the current fossil fuel fleet with an electric fleet. Of course we need to transition to electric vehicles, but focusing on this as a priority risks undermining the urgent mode shift required away from investment in motorways and towards energy efficient transport infrastructure that will actually carry the number of people we need to carry.

“Instead, we should focus on giving people more options to move around in ways that will meet the needs of our rapidly growing cities and are consistent with our climate targets. This means providing walking and cycling infrastructure, much better, cheaper, accessible and more frequent public transport.

“We need to design our transport systems within the basic geographic constraints of our cities as well as the planetary boundaries of climate and the social needs of all of us, in particular people not currently well served by transport system including people with disabilities and people who are less well off.”

“Greater Wellington recommends the inclusion in Hīkina te Kohupara of bold national and regional targets for mode share shift”, says Cr Roger Blakeley, chair of Greater Wellington’s Transport Committee. “For example, Greater Wellington’s Regional Land Transport Plan includes a target of ‘40 percent increase in active travel and public transport mode share by 2030’ ”.

Cr Blakeley said that Greater Wellington has developed scenarios to meet the regional target based on census data for Jouney to Work trips to the Wellington CBD, which have mode share changes by 2030 of: walking trips to the central city would increase by 60%, cycling trips by 130%, public transport trips would increase by 45%, and car trips would reduce by 60%.

“A precondition for mode share shift programmes, such as congestion charging and parking policies, would be the provision of safe, reliable, frequent and convenient alternatives to cars.

“Significant investment is required in public and sustainable transport, from further decarbonisation of our buses and electrification of the rail fleet for services on the Manawatu and Wairarapa lines, through to the development of overdue cycling and pedestrian infrastructure,”

“Unfortunately, as three quarters of the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) is already allocated for the decade ahead, a review of the NLTF’s scope and priorities as well as additional funding will be required to redirect investment towards public transport.

“That’s where the big gains will be made both for our climate and ultimately our way of life.”

See the submission below:

Submission on Hīkina te Kohupara – Kia mauri ora ai te iwi - Transport Emissions: Pathways to Net Zero by 2050

Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) appreciates the challenge that lies ahead and thanks the Ministry of Transport (the Ministry) for the opportunity to make a submission on Hīkina te Kohupara – Kia mauri ora ai te iwi - Transport Emissions: Pathways to Net Zero by 2050.

GWRC agrees the transport sector is a major contributor to emissions and respects the work the Ministry is doing to enable the transport sector to play its part in meeting Aotearoa New Zealand’s zero emissions target.

GWRC notes that it has taken us 60 to 70 years of fairly single-mode focused investment to get to where we are today. A significant shift in policies and institutional arrangements, in addition to the planned investment, is required to accelerate the change that is needed.

GWRC supports a zero emission target to break the cycle of car dependence, and to allow sectors needing a longer transition to utilise carbon-offsetting.

For these reasons, GWRC supports a focus on Hīkina te Kohupara’s Theme 1 “Changing the way we travel”, as well as an increased focus on the freight sector under Theme 3 “Supporting a more efficient freight system”.

GWRC does not believe that Theme 2 “Improving our passenger vehicles” by itself will meet the targets on time due to the long lead times required in investment, nor necessarily encourage the overall shifts in behavior in the sector.

GWRC strongly supports a Just Transition and would like to see the analysis of social impacts of implementing the pathways, and also the social impacts of maintaining the current trajectory.

GWRC has further comment on each of the Themes:

Theme 1: Changing the way we travel.

· GWRC supports better urban form and transit-oriented spatial planning, as recognised in the draft Wellington Regional Growth Framework.

· Reliable, safe, convenient alternatives need to be in place before disincentives are applied.

· An ongoing national behaviour change campaign at the level seen for Waka Kotahi’s continuous road safety promotion is needed to inform and support decision-makers, and to generate public buy-in.

· GWRC supports the use of road pricing tools such as congestion charging and parking policies to manage travel demand.

· Significant investment in public transport is needed to accommodate the predicted increase in demand.

· GWRC supports the expansion of rail for inter-regional passenger service building off the current Capital Connection, Te Huia and Connector (Wellington-Auckland) rail passenger initiatives.

· A quality separated and connected network of lanes/paths for active modes is overdue, particularly with the rise in eBikes and eScooters in recent years.

· The draft Wellington Regional Land Transport Plan 2021 has seen a considerable shift towards public transport and active modes, in contrast to previous road and car-centred activity distribution. However, if for the next ten years over three quarters of the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) is already allocated, a review of the NLTF’s scope and priorities as well as additional funding will be required.

· GWRC recommends the development of national and regional targets for mode share through Regional Land Transport Plans. For example, the Greater Wellington Regional Land Transport Plan includes a target of: "40 percent increase in active travel and public transport mode share by 2030".

o Possible measures that will be taken include compact urban form and placemaking, investments in frequent and reliable public transport, safe and accessible walking and cycling networks, trials of innovative reallocation of space on streets to deliver mode shift quickly, shared mobility options such as car sharing and public transport, lower speed limits, universal design principles, discouragement of single-occupant vehicle trips through parking management and other road pricing tools as and when they become available.

o GWRC has developed a scenario for transition of mode share between motor vehicle occupants, rail passengers, bus passengers, pedestrians and cyclists based on inbound trips across the Wellington CBD cordon in the AM peak between 7am and 9am - see Figure 1. This represents a 30% mode shift by 2030. If measures such as a congestion charge and mass rapid transit are introduced by 2030, the mode shift will be significantly greater.

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