Rick van Barneveld continues to provide support to the Transport Agency and local authorities in advancing the National Ticketing Programme (NTP) Roadmap agreed on in June of 2016. An interim arrangement is now in place for Greater Wellington and the management of ticketing systems for smaller regions has been stabilised. Tenders for an interim solution for the smaller regions have just closed and a significant enhancement project is underway for Environment Canterbury. The indicative business case for a long term solution for Greater Wellington, the consortium of smaller councils and ECan is now underway.

The Project Director, the Manager of the Regional Consortium project and Rick van Barneveld participated in the recent Asia Pacific Transit Ticketing and Fare Collection Conference in Singapore this December. The most satisfying outcome was confirmation that new payment technologies seen to be on the bleeding edge last year are now being actively developed and  deployed around the world. The move  towards an account based regime and exploring the opportunity enabling ordinary banking cards to be used are all critically important features of the  NTP work programme. The days of needing to have money on the card are rapidly drawing to a close, and with this come new players and partnerships in transport ticketing, including options for mobile phone recognition in various forms. The banking, payments and communications industries are all active in this developing world, which represents the largest single sector for daily payment volumes in New Zealand.

The other emerging theme is the advent of mobility as a service where single integrated platforms are developed using big data technologies to plan, manage and pay for complete journeys across modes and with private and public sector participation. Some of this is a way off, but we are already seeing the impact of disruptive technology with the rapid expansion of Uber globally. The technology in the ITS and mobility space is here, and the rate at which it will improve the performance of the transport sector is up to those of us who work in it.

Rob Lorden has also been helping with the management of the tender process for the NTP. Tenders have been received and the evaluators, including Rob, are currently reviewing them.  A decision over the successful tenderer is expected early in the New Year.

Resolve Group has been helping Auckland Transport with the Transport Network for Growth since August. This programme of projects, previously known as Transport for Future Urban Growth (TFUG) is about creating the new transport networks needed for people living in new growth areas surrounding Auckland’s existing built up area.

By 2043, Auckland is projected to have grown by more than one million people. While the majority of this growth is planned to occur within the existing urban area, 11,000 hectares of greenfields land (including 1400 hectares for new business) has been zoned as “Future Urban” in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. These areas are:

• North – Warkworth, Wainui and Silverdale-Dairy Flat
• North-west — Whenuapai, Redhills, Kumeu-Huapai and Riverhead
• South — Takanini, Opaheke-Drury, Drury-West, Paerata and Pukekohe

The cost of constructing the infrastructure associated with the new growth areas is expected to be over eight billion dollars. However, the initial proposal is to ‘route protect’ the corridors from being built over by developers. To do so will require indicative and detailed business cases, which will include feasibility plans and investigation of solutions. Once the engineering and transport planning has been agreed on, the project moves toward resource and land use planners to produce Notice of Requirements and Designations through the RMA process.

At present, Resolve Group is helping Auckland Transport to produce a procurement strategy, request for proposal and contract documentation for professional services to deliver route protection for the transport corridors within the programme. The value of the professional services to be procured is $75m and the timeframe to produce the required outputs is extremely challenging, consequently it is important that we get the best possible procurement encouraging innovation and added value.