11 September 2020
Isla Stewart
Isla Stewart <[FYI request #13429 email]>
REF: OIA-6954
Dear Isla
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of requesting the following information under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act):
- Any documents (particularly business case studies) that the agency has produced relating to
dual door boarding.
- Any plans that NZTA has to introduce/push dual door boarding.
- Any correspondence that the agency has had with unions and/or private operators regarding
dual door boarding.
For clarity I have responded to your requests in turn.
1. Any documents (particularly business case studies) that the agency has produced relating to
dual door boarding.
Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency has not produced any specific research or other
documents, including business cases, into dual or “all door” boarding. I am refusing your request for
this information under section 18(e) of the Act, as the information requested does not exist or, despite
reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
However, this aspect has been touched on within some business cases and some public transport
guidance documents developed by the sector as indicated below.
Publicly available documents:
Document
Content related to all-door boarding:
Let’s Get Wellington Moving – Additional
• Section 5 (page 29):
Reduced dwell time benefits
Transport Benefits, section 5:
can arise from reduced journey times due to shorter
lgwm.nz/assets/Documents/Technical-
boarding and alighting times at stops/stations – this
Documents/Transport-Modelling/26-Lets-
can be enabled by all-door boarding, larger vehicles,
Get-Wellington-Moving-Additional-
and off-board ticketing.
Transport-Benefits-MRCagney.pdf
Requirements for Urban Buses
Brief comment:
www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/requirements-
•
Alighting and any electronic revenue system using
for-urban-buses/
‘tag on–tag off’ may be through either door, although
the NZTA is aware that some regional councils
currently intend to restrict electronic ticketing system
‘tag on’ to the front door only.
Other useful reference documents:
• Austroads
, Case Studies of Critical Learnings in Network Operations, Congestion
Management Relief Initiatives and Planned Activities https://austroads.com.au/publications/network/ap-r600-19. Section on all door boarding, page
20
• Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads,
Smarter Solutions Reference Guide.
https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/business-industry/Business-with-us/Getting-the-most-out-of-
existing-infrastructure. Section
boarding all doors on page 19.
2. Any plans that NZTA has to introduce/push dual door boarding.
Waka Kotahi does not have any plans to introduce or push dual door boarding: this is considered to be
an operational decision and is generally left to the bus service operator or Regional Transport
Authority to determine based on their specific context with consideration given to their vehicle and
service type. As such I am refusing your request for this information under section 18(e) of the Act, as
the information requested does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
Where dual door boarding has been put in place, the vehicles and the platform / bus stop
infrastructure has generally been designed to support this. There have been some safety discussions
on this issue, mainly in relation to school services. The Ministry of Education require all boarding and
exiting to be from the front door so that maximum visibility of passengers is enabled.
3. Any correspondence that the agency has had with unions and/or private operators regarding
dual door boarding.
Waka Kotahi has not had any correspondence with unions or operators specifically on dual door
boarding. This is an operational matter to be work through between the Regional Transport
Authorities, the operator and their workforce.
During the COVID-19 response, Waka Kotahi worked with the unions, operators and regional
transport authorities to change to rear-door-only boarding as a temporary measure designed to
provide added protection to drivers. We were aware of complaints from the disability sector regarding
the inability to easily access the bus from the rear, including not being able to use the wheelchair
ramp, and we are also aware of one elderly person falling when exiting from the rear door.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to refuse
this request. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this reply with the NZ Transport Agency, please contact Michelle
McCormick Transport Policy Manager, by email to
[email address] or by phone on
04 8946442.
Yours sincerely
Barbara Tebbs
Senior Manager Transport System Policy
