50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
10 August 2023
Carl Wiggin
[FYI request #23597 email]
REF: OIA-13185
Dear Carl
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email]
of 26 July 2023 requesting the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
This is to support a further OIA request, at this point I want to understand what data is held so I
can craft a better question for the data I require.
I am looking to research pattens of traffic during rush hour.
Can you please let me know what data you collect around traffic flows (cars per hour?) in the
Wellington region.
This link shows all of our monitoring sites on state highways, with their Average Annual Daily Traffic
(AADT) -
https://maphub.nzta.govt.nz/public/?appid=31305d4c1c794c1188a87da0d3e85d04
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has published the 15-minute interval traffic data for all monitoring
sites from January 2013 to January 2022 on our Open Data portal. Please see the links below.
•
https://opendata-nzta.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/tms-traffic-quarter-hourly-jan-2013-to-
sept-2020
•
https://opendata-nzta.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/tms-traffic-quarter-hourly-oct-2020-to-jan-
2022
For the data from February 2022 – present, this has not been released via the Open Data Portal but
we will be happy to supply it to you, if you are interested in receiving it. We can provide this data
hourly, or in 15-minute intervals.
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi, please contact Matt Hendry, Manager,
Performance Analytics, by email to [email address]
Yours sincerely
Galina Mitchelhill
Senior Manager, Research and Analytics
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[Most common grounds have been highlighted for convenience]
9 Other reasons for withholding official information
(1) Where this section applies, good reason for withholding official information exists, for the purpose
of section 5, unless, in the circumstances of the particular case, the withholding of that information is
outweighed by other considerations which render it desirable, in the public interest, to make that
information available.
(2) Subject to sections 6, 7, 10, and 18, this section applies if, and only if, the withholding of the
information is necessary to—
(a) protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons; or
(b) protect information where the making available of the information—
(i) would disclose a trade secret; or
(ii) would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person
who supplied or who is the subject of the information; or
(ba) protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which any person
has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where the
making available of the information—
(i) would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or information from the
same source, and it is in the public interest that such information should continue to
be supplied; or
(ii) would be likely otherwise to damage the public interest;
(c) avoid prejudice to measures protecting the health or safety of members of the public; or
(d) avoid prejudice to the substantial economic interests of New Zealand; or
(e) avoid prejudice to measures that prevent or mitigate material loss to members of the
public; or
(f) maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which protect—
(i) the confidentiality of communications by or with the Sovereign or her
representative:
(ii) collective and individual ministerial responsibility:
(iii) the political neutrality of officials:
(iv) the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials; or
(g) maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through—
(i) the free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the
Crown or members of an organisation or officers and employees of any department or
organisation in the course of their duty; or
(ii) the protection of such Ministers, members of organisations, officers, and
employees from improper pressure or harassment; or
(h) maintain legal professional privilege; or
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(i) enable a Minister of the Crown or any department or organisation holding the information to
carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities; or
(j) enable a Minister of the Crown or any department or organisation holding the information to
carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial
negotiations); or
(k) prevent the disclosure or use of official information for improper gain or improper
advantage.
18 Refusal of requests
A request made in accordance with section 12 may be refused only for 1 or more of the following
reasons, namely:
(a) that, by virtue of section 6 or section 7 or section 9, there is good reason for withholding the
information:
(b) that, by virtue of section 10, the department or Minister of the Crown or organisation does not
confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of the information requested:
(c) that the making available of the information requested would—
(i) be contrary to the provisions of a specified enactment; or
(ii) constitute contempt of court or of the House of Representatives:
(d) that the information requested is or will soon be publicly available:
(da) that the request is made by a defendant or a person acting on behalf of a defendant and is—
(i) for information that could be sought by the defendant under the Criminal Disclosure Act
2008; or
(ii) for information that could be sought by the defendant under that Act and that has been
disclosed to, or withheld from, the defendant under that Act:
(e) that the document alleged to contain the information requested does not exist or, despite
reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found:
(f) that the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research:
(g) that the information requested is not held by the department or Minister of the Crown or
organisation and the person dealing with the request has no grounds for believing that the information
is either—
(i) held by another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or by a local authority;
or
(ii) connected more closely with the functions of another department or Minister of the Crown
or organisation or of a local authority:
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(h) that the request is frivolous or vexatious or that the information requested is trivial.
5