Response to OIA 2021 126.pdf

23 September 2021
File Ref: OIAP-212673595-2707

Tony Randle
By email: [FYI request #15537 email]
Dear Mr Randle
Request for information 2021-126
I refer to your request for information dated 27 August 2021, which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) on 27 August 2021.
On 9 September 2021 I responded to you, letting you know we were working on the response.
You have requested the following:
"[…] with respect to the requested "2) The data that shows the extent to which the unit is subsidised",
the GWRC has provided an Excel file containing a complete breakdown of the subsidies received by
Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) per month since the implementation of
the PTOM in July 2018.
This outlines the amount the unit was subsidised but not the extent to which the unit is subsidised.
Can  the  GWRC  provide  the  Commerciality  Ratios  for all  of  the  PTOM  units  (bus,  rail  and  ferry)  as
outlined in Appendix H of the NZTA Procurement Manual? I will be satisfied with this information on
an annual basis.
I believe provide the NZTA Commerciality Ratios for all of the PTOM units will provide the
information I seek in part 2 of this request.”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Appendix 1 provides the Commerciality Ratios for Metlink bus units and the regional Commerciality
Ratios by mode for the financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Wellington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wellington 6142
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]

The Commerciality Ratios provided in the tables are calculated based on the approach and formula
set out in Appendix H of Waka Kotahi’s Procurement Manual in the following link:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/procurement-manual/
Please note that:
  The Commerciality Ratios provided in Appendix 1 are produced solely to meet Waka Kotahi’s
requirements in the procurement manual and are not representative of Greater Wellington
Regional Council’s Revenue and Financing policies in the Long Term Plan.
  Greater Wellington does not use the Commerciality Ratios as a performance measure to
inform the budget and funding structure in the Long Term Plan or Annual Plans.
  Likewise  Greater  Wellington  does  not  consider  Commerciality  Ratios  as  an  appropriate
measure to monitor the extent or distribution of subsidy over time. This is primarily on the
basis that the cost component used to calculate the Commerciality Ratios do not include the
expenses  that  are  necessary  to  deliver  the  services,  including  the  capital  expenditures
associated with fleet, network access charges for rail services, infrastructure maintenance
and upgrades, and network-wide costs such as ticketing and real-time information.
  Ferry  services  are  operated  under  a  net  contract.  Therefore  the  cost  component  of  the
Commerciality Ratio includes the fare revenue as a proxy for the balance of the costs after
contract price to estimate the gross operating costs.
  For the bus network, the SuperGold funding is allocated to units based on their share of the
total SuperGold patronage.
I hope you find the provided information helpful.

If you have any concerns with the information referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Yours sincerely

Scott Gallacher
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Metlink | General Manager Metlink

Page 2 of 3

Appendix 1 to OIA 2021-126

COMMERCIALITY RATIOS
COMMERCIALITY RATIOS
Ranked from high to low

Ranked from high to low
Metlink Bus Units

Metlink Bus Units
2018/19

2019/20
Waka Kotahi Procurement Manual s. 10.6

Waka Kotahi Procurement Manual s. 10.6
UNIT
COMMERCIALITY RATIO

UNIT
COMMERCIALITY RATIO
Unit 06
112.7%
  Unit 06
80.1%
Unit 01
89.8%
  Unit 01
62.7%
Unit 12
80.1%
  Unit 12
58.8%
Unit 02
76.2%
  Unit 02
54.0%
Unit 07
68.7%
  Unit 07
50.8%
Unit 04
61.4%
  Unit 04
46.0%
Unit 08
55.8%
  Unit 08
39.6%
Unit 03
46.9%
  Unit 03
33.5%
Unit 05
42.5%
  Unit 10
31.7%
Unit 10
40.0%
  Unit 05
29.8%
Unit 11
33.9%
  Unit 11
25.6%
Unit 09
33.0%
  Unit 09
25.5%
Unit 13
30.1%
  Unit 13
23.4%
Unit 15
27.5%
  Unit 15
19.4%
Unit 14
25.6%
  Unit 14
19.0%
Unit 18
21.0%
  Unit 18
17.2%

Regional Commerciality Ratios

Regional Commerciality Ratios
2018/19

2019/20
Waka Kotahi Procurement Manual s. 10.6

Waka Kotahi Procurement Manual s. 10.6
COMMERCIALITY
COMMERCIALITY
UNIT
RATIO

UNIT
RATIO
Bus
58.2%
  Bus
42.7%
Rail
91.8%
  Rail
71.4%
Ferry
78.6%
  Ferry
75.4%
Network
72.7%
  Network
54.7%

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