The land transport system can be viewed from multiple perspectives or lenses. This section spotlights the transport system through specific perspectives, including climate change adaptation, equity, Māori, and freight.
Information included in the Lenses section is sourced from multiple sections of Arataki to bring easier access and focus to specific topics of interest.
Arataki September 2023 v1.1 release includes the new climate change adaptation lens. This lens brings together all existing material relating to climate adaptation at a national level to allow easier access to this information and set the foundation for further development of the full climate lens.
Arataki Lenses has full guidance with an exploration of each of the four lenses and how they relate to Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport’s transport outcomes.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, we are significantly exposed to natural hazards like floods, erosion, landslides, and coastal inundation. Around 750,000 New Zealanders, and 500,000 buildings worth more than $145 billion, are located near rivers and in coastal areas already exposed to extreme flooding.
Climate change and more frequent extreme weather events mean there are significant challenges ahead. We need to respond in different ways to build greater resilience. There will be ongoing impacts on communities and the transport networks that connect them.
The transport sector will need to work with communities and infrastructure providers to adapt by:
Together we need to find new solutions and identify long-term options that reflect the diverse requirements for urban and rural communities.
Disruption from climate change should be managed through adaptive and timely responses. The way the land transport system is planned, operated, and managed will increasingly respect and integrate Te Tiriti o Waitangi and a Te Ao Māori perspective.
Severe weather events are already affecting the land transport system. As we move forward, these events will occur more often. This will threaten people’s safety, disrupt transport services, and affect infrastructure. It will also impact the predictability and reliability of travel routes. This will mean looking at a different mix of transport options, like including more water-based travel, to provide network backup to minimise downtime (redundancy) and system resilience.
How the system is maintained, operated, and developed will be different. Nature-based solutions will be used to adapt to climate change.
Our ways of working will be different. As the nature of climate change is better understood, the transport sector will work with communities to plan when to defend, accommodate, and retreat.
Equity refers to the distribution of fairness and justice. Having an equitable system means no one is excluded from experiencing fairness and justice. An equitable system recognises people have different needs and opportunities available to them. Interventions and activities are needed to help people or communities who are excluded, or experience disadvantages.
Achieving equity in the land transport system will take time and requires a shift in how we do things. Achieving equity for some or the majority won't be enough – we must aim for equitable access for all.
The inclusive access outcome has encouraged the transport sector to think more widely about transport equity. Emission reduction is also likely to have implications for transport equity.
Climate change and extreme weather events will continue to impact many communities and groups. An equitable approach to resilience would seek to manage these impacts for all communities.
Vehicle safety is not evenly distributed. People are over twice as likely to die or be seriously injured in a crash in a one-star vehicle as compared to a five-star. One and two star rated cars make up 41% of the national vehicle fleet, and 52% of deaths and serious injuries (DSIs) occur in these cars.
The development of the Māori lens is a commitment we are making to growing our understanding of Māori perspectives and aspirations for the transport sector. As we plan for the future, we know a specific focus must be on ensuring we lean into Māori insights, approaches, and expertise to understand the whole system, address challenges, and strengthen partnerships. This means developing a holistic land transport system that promotes the wellbeing of whānau, hapū, and iwi by removing barriers, such as cost, transport, and lack of opportunity. It also means growing a transport system that will support and empower Māori aspirations.
For the 2023 release of Arataki, we have presented some of the available evidence about Māori in relation to the land transport system and the aspirations of Māori, as they have expressed them in their own documents. These include reports and strategic documents of iwi and post-Treaty settlement organisations, as well as secondary information from the transport and public sectors. Using the Transport outcomes framework from Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport, several insights have been introduced to offer some conversation starters for future exploration with Māori.
While information and insights about Māori populations and aspirations are not limited to the Māori lens, we recognise the need to pull together, in one place, new insights about how the transport sector needs to develop and respond to Māori to ensure better outcomes for all. As we develop the Māori lens, we will continue to uplift the insights and evidence developed within it to shape the entire Arataki 30-year plan and its direction.
We look forward to using this as a base for engagement with Māori in future years to confirm these aspirations and develop a plan to respond to these in partnership with Māori.
Over the next 30 years we need to move to an integrated freight system in which road, rail, and coastal shipping each play to their strengths and contribute to a safe, reliable, and resilient freight system that moves goods effectively and with low emissions.
To do this, we will need to respond effectively to factors such as population growth, changing customer desires, climate change, the changing economic structure of Aotearoa New Zealand, and any other factors that will influence freight and demand.
We will support the implementation of the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan and Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport’s National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. We will work closely with the freight industry, central government, and local government to identify and address emerging challenges and opportunities. We need more higher-quality evidence and data so that we can identify how the strategic modal networks could change over the coming decades.
Nationally significant freight connections are critical to supporting the country’s economic wellbeing. They provide primary land-based connections across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Regional connections provide primary land-based connections between regions and sometimes serve a lifeline function.
The strategic freight connections map shows the significant national or regional freight connections from road or rail to seaports, airports, inland ports, and freight hubs that provide both international and domestic services.
The map includes summary information about the value and volume of imports and exports moving through seaports and airports that provide international and domestic services.
In addition to the strategic freight connections, Our current network map developed as part of Arataki shows the suitable routes for High Productivity Motor Vehicles (HPMVs), or vehicles that can carry the maximum loads available under a permit.
