50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
8 August 2023
James Sergeant
[FYI request #23465 email]
REF: OIA-13087
Dear James
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email
of 11 July 2023 requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Could you please provide me with information on any policy analysis undertaken within NZTA
on the basis of NZ Transport Agency research report 609, Quantifying the economic and other
benefits of enabling priority bus egress from bus stops (February 2017) and any information
describing further work considered or undertaken to take forward the suggestions set out in
chapter 8 (Conclusions) of that report.
The NZ Transport Agency Research Report 609 influenced the development of a policy proposal that
would legal y require road users (including motorists and cyclists) to give way to buses which are
exiting a bus stop.
This policy proposal was included in the Accessible Streets Package (the package) – a col ection of
rule changes designed to improve the safety and accessibility of our footpaths, shared paths, cycle
lanes, cycle paths, and roads.
A Preliminary Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) was developed to assess how effective introducing
bus priority would be, and a consultation overview was created to support public consultation on the
package in 2020.
If you would like to read the RIS or the consultation overview you can access these documents here:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/consultations/archive/accessible-streets/. You can find the relevant information about the policy proposal in the RIS on pages 98 – 104, and in
the overview on pages 74 – 75.
Following public consultation, Waka Kotahi carried out further engagement with stakeholders and used
feedback to prepare a summary of submissions, an updated Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) and
a Disability Impact Assessment (DIA).
These documents were used to inform final advice to the Minister of Transport about how the package
should be progressed (e.g., if proposals should be kept the same, amended or removed from the
package). Final advice is being considered by ministers and an announcement is expected to follow in
due course.
Unfortunately, we are not able share these updated documents (e.g., the summary of submissions, the
RIA, or DIA) with you until Cabinet has made decisions.
Therefore, I am withholding this part of your request under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act, to maintain the
constitutional conventions for the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by
Ministers of the Crown and officials.
In the meantime, we have added you to our Accessible Streets Package mailing list. This means that
once decisions are made, we wil notify you about all decisions, and send you links to all updated
documents.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to
withhold this information. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi, please contact Ministerial Services, by email
to [NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
Katie Mayes
National Manager, Policy and System Planning
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