* New Zealand - Bus services under threat from bill
The Public Transport Management Bill, if enacted in anything like its present form, could have a serious impact on bus services in the Auckland region
Auckland,New Zealand -The New Zealand Herald, by Michael Taggart -January 23, 2008: -- ... About 80 per cent of public passenger trips occur in Auckland and Wellington, and the vast majority are made by bus... The control given to regional government by the bill will remove many of the commercial incentives to provide efficient services and will put bus services under pervasive bureaucratic control... The existing bus services are a mix of "commercial" and "contracted" public transport. "Commercial" services are provided on routes for which there is no public subsidy and so must pay their way. That accounts for up to 40 per cent of the bus business in the Auckland region... In contrast, "contracted" services are provided on routes where "commercial" services would be uneconomic but the public interest demands buses and so these are subsidised from the public purse... This is the justification for the bill sweeping all "commercial" and "contracted" services up into a regional government-administered registration and licensing scheme... If the power is to remain in the hands of the regional council it should at least require ministerial approval or provision for an appeal to the district court... Without the inclusion of such safeguards, the bill as it stands offends constitutional principle. Furthermore, it contravenes the legislation advisory committee's guidelines on process and content of legislation in these ways:...(Video from YouTube, by Ciocco1975 -September 28, 2006: "Bus driving to Sky City Auckland")
Labels: Bills and Laws
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