Mobility applicatioins
Bob Johnston made this Official Information request to New Zealand Transport Agency
The request was partially successful.
From: Bob Johnston
Dear New Zealand Transport Agency,
I understand that to ensure a complaint against a licensed transport service is investigated properly I need to quote the transport service licence number of the facilitator. Can you please tell me the transport service licence number for the NZTA passenger services that go by the name of Choice and Ridemate - if the licence numbers are different please provide them both.
Yours faithfully,
Bob Johnston
From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
Dear Bob
This email acknowledges your below request for information made under the
Official Information Act 1982.
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate section of the
Transport Agency for response. They will contact you if they require
clarification of your request, more time to respond, or if your request
has been transferred to another organisation to respond to. Unless more
time is required, the Transport Agency will send a response to you within
20 working days of receiving your request – in this instance on or before
28 September 2018.
If you would like to discuss your request with the Transport Agency,
please contact us by email at [1][email address].
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
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From: Info@nzta.govt.nz
New Zealand Transport Agency
Hello Bob,
Thank you for your enquiry requesting Transport Service Licence numbers
for Choice and RideMate. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the
delay in getting back to you.
To clarify, the Choice and RideMate services (provided in the Queenstown
and Auckland area’s respectively) are applications (apps) designed to help
people view and compare transport choices. A user is able to compare
estimated times and costs for different travel options (public and
private) in real time; including services such as buses, trains, shuttles,
carpool and taxis.
As Choice and RideMate are not transport/passenger services (rather they
are apps that help connect customers with a variety of transport
services), there is no requirement for a Transport Service Licence (and
associated number) to be issued in these names. The passenger services
utilising the Choice and RideMate platforms/market places must hold and
operate under their own Transport Service Licence.
Complaint about the Choice and/or RideMate apps
The Transport Agency is always looking for ways to improve its services.
If your complaint relates specifically to the Choice and/or RideMate apps,
we’d certainly like to look into this further for you. In which case,
please reply with as much detail as possible regarding your concerns and
we’ll ensure this information is passed on to appropriate representatives
for further investigation.
Complaint about a passenger service operator
If your complaint is about a specific passenger service, it is recommended
that you raise your concerns with the manager of the company in the first
instance. If however you are not satisfied with the results of any
internal investigation conducted by the company, there are two options
below in which your complaint may be escalated. These options are:
Criminal activity – please report your complaint to the NZ Police in the
first instance.
Fare dispute – the Transport Agency is unable to investigate fare disputes
between passengers and companies. In this case, Consumer Protection is the
appropriate authority to address your concerns. This process is in
accordance with the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and Fair Trading Act
1986. The contact details can be found on the Consumer Protection website
at [1]www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/.
Other dispute - In all other situations, please outline your complaint
using our online complaint form available on our website
at [2]www.nzta.govt.nz/contact-us/complaints/complaint-form/.
More information about making a complaint in relation to a commercial
operator is available on our website at the following link:
[3]https://nzta.govt.nz/contact-us/complain...
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us by
replying to this email or by calling us on 0800 822 422. We’re open Monday
to Friday, between 8am and 6pm.
Kind regards,
Tara Kiriona / Senior Customer Access Representative
Customer Service Centre
P 0800 822 422 / E [4][email address] / W [5]nzta.govt.nz
PALMERSTON NORTH OFFICE / 43 Ashley Street,
Private Bag 11777, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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From: Bob Johnston
Dear [email address],
Thank you for your reply, you say that choice and ride mate are applications or apps that help connect customers with providers of transport services. I thought the law changed a while ago to say that any service including an app, that helped customers get a ride from a transport service neededi to be licensed. Isn't that why the law was changed because you were saying that Uber was illegal, but Uber was saying they were outside the law, so you changed it to ensure apps like uber were required to be licensed. So how come choice and ride mate are not treated the same as uber?
Can you please provide me under the OIA with all the information, correspondence, briefings, emails, memos, letters, advice, opinions, uyou have about choice and ride mate and nzta not having a transport service licence.
Thanks
Bob Johnston
From: Info@nzta.govt.nz
New Zealand Transport Agency
Thank you for contacting the NZ Transport Agency.
This is an automated response to confirm we have received your email and
we aim to reply within three working days.
If you need to report a State Highway issue that requires urgent
attention, please call our 24/7 Highway Information Team on 0800 444 449.
If your email is urgent please call us on one of the following:
- Motor vehicle licensing 0800 108 809
- Driver licensing 0800 822 422
- Overseas +64 6 9536200
- Tolling 0800 40 20 20
Kind regards,
NZ Transport Agency
Find the latest transport news, information, and advice on our website:
[1]www.nzta.govt.nz
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1. http://www.nzta.govt.nz/
From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
Dear Bob
This email acknowledges your below request for information made under the
Official Information Act 1982.
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate section of the
Transport Agency for response. They will contact you if they require
clarification of your request, more time to respond, or if your request
has been transferred to another organisation to respond to. Unless more
time is required, the Transport Agency will send a response to you within
20 working days of receiving your request – in this instance on or before
8 October 2018.
If you would like to discuss your request with the Transport Agency,
please contact us by email at [1][email address].
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
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From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
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Dear Bob
Please find attached a letter advising of an extension to your request for
information under the Official Information Act 1982 of 9 September 2018.
A response will now be sent to you on or before 22 October 2018.
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
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Find the latest transport news, information, and advice on our website:
[5]www.nzta.govt.nz
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2. https://www.facebook.com/TransportAgency
3. https://twitter.com/nzta_news
4. http://www.youtube.com/user/NZTransportA...
5. http://www.nzta.govt.nz/
From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
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Dear Bob
Please find attached the response to your request of 9 September 2018 for
information under the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [3]cid:image003.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [4]cid:image004.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
Find the latest transport news, information, and advice on our website:
[5]www.nzta.govt.nz
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References
Visible links
1. http://www.nzta.govt.nz/
2. https://www.facebook.com/TransportAgency
3. https://twitter.com/nzta_news
4. http://www.youtube.com/user/NZTransportA...
5. http://www.nzta.govt.nz/
From: Bob Johnston
Dear Official Correspondence,
Thank you for this response, but I am finding it a little difficult to follow as it appears to be from the person in charge of the apps rather than the regulator.
It seems to me like the NZTA was giving advice to itself about whether it's choice and ride mate apps were covered by the law. Everything suggests NZTA thought it was covered by the law and required to obtain a licence. This was confirmed by the chief executive in his email. Can you please confirm whether the Chief executives statements in the email were made as the regulator or as the regulated party or both and provide copies of any advice that his decision and emails were based on.
Subsequent to the CEs email, the person in control of the apps circulates the withheld chapman trip legal advice, and then presumably based on that advice it appears the NZTA has decided that no licence will be required or applied for. Can you please advise who made this decision, that goes against the CEs earlier decision, in what capacity they made it and release any information relating to that decision.
Can you please advise who sought the legal advice and in what capacity did they seek it? Was it someone from the NZTA acting as the regulator or was it the NZTA as the regulated party? Can you please also release the legal advice, and if you will not release the advice please release any other information you hold that relates to the legal advice, including the request for the advice, and any other information such as internal nzta communications or statements made following receipt of the advice. If you haven't already addressed this can you please advise what or whose legal privilege is the basis for withholding any information, nzta the regulator or nzta the owner of the apps?
Sorry for so many questions but it is hard to make sense of all this and given recent news about Nztas regulatory failures I am keen to understand this issue.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Johnston
From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
Dear Bob,
If you would like to discuss this further with the Transport Agency, please contact Damien Le Breton, Senior Manager. Damien's contact details can be found in the letter we sent you dated 18 October 2018.
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
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From: Bob Johnston
Dear Official Correspondence,
Thank you for this response, but I would like answers to the specific questions I have asked and information I have requested.
Can you please confirm whether the Chief executives statements in the email that you have released to me were made as the regulator of transport service law or as the CE of an organisation setting up a transport service. I also requested under the Official information act copies of any advice that the CES decision and emails were based on.
I also asked who made the decision that, contrary to the CES statements in the email, NZTA decided not to apply for a licence, the capacity that person made the decision in and all information relating to or informing that decision.
I also asked who sought the legal advice and in what capacity did they seek it, and would like answers to this question. Was it someone from the NZTA acting as the regulator or was it someone from the NZTA acting as the regulated party? Who was it? I also asked for a copy of the legal advice and any other information you hold that relates to the legal advice, including the request seeking the advice, and all other information such as internal nzta communications or statements made following receipt of the legal advice. You have withheld the legal advice based on legal privilege - please state what or whose legal privilege is the basis for withholding any information, nzta the regulator or nzta the owner of the apps or....?
I believe these are reasonable and legitimate requests for official information and ask that you please respond to them in accordance with the Act. I fo not believe an offer of a discussion is an appropriate response under the act, and will be forced to raise this with the Ombudsman if you do not respond to my request appropriately and in accordance with the Act.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Johnston
From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
Dear Bob
This email acknowledges your below request for information made under the
Official Information Act 1982.
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate section of the
Transport Agency for response. They will contact you if they require
clarification of your request, more time to respond, or if your request
has been transferred to another organisation to respond to. Unless more
time is required, the Transport Agency will send a response to you within
20 working days of receiving your request – in this instance on or before
29 November 2018.
If you would like to discuss your request with the Transport Agency,
please contact us by email at [1][email address].
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
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From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
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Dear Bob
Please find attached the response to your request of 1 November 2018 for
information under the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [3]cid:image003.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [4]cid:image004.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
Find the latest transport news, information, and advice on our website:
[5]www.nzta.govt.nz
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Visible links
1. http://www.nzta.govt.nz/
2. https://www.facebook.com/TransportAgency
3. https://twitter.com/nzta_news
4. http://www.youtube.com/user/NZTransportA...
5. http://www.nzta.govt.nz/
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