Ryan Bridge: The row over road cones is getting piping hot

In the Herald this morning, the boss of traffic management firm Traffix laid into the Transport Minister, saying he and Wayne Brown don't understand how the industry works. 

He says they don't charge per road cone for work, but rather per worker and truck. 

He says the public's abusing his staff on site because of misinformation being spread. 

The problem here is an independent report, which we spoke about yesterday, from EY. 

It was pretty damning, finding said rules incentivise contractors to cause maximum disruption to maximise profits. NZTA looked at 800 maintenance work sites on highway network and found 145 of them were not needed. 

Doesn't that make your blood boil? 

And Auckland council alone spends $145m a year on road cones and temporary traffic management. 

There was a contractor around the corner from my place who had to dig a small hole on side of road, I couldn't believe they had to actually close the road. 

Small, quiet suburban street, down to one lane with stop go signs. 

Madness. 

I'd never say anything to workers, because it's not their fault, but clearly after the EY report and the message from NZTA, something needs to be fixed, and fast. 

Wayne Brown wants the power to set fees and charge penalties if work drags on or wasn't needed in the first place. 

I say give it to him. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The row over road cones is getting so piping hot
that somebody might soon blow a gasket. In the Herald
this morning, the boss of traffic management firm Traffics has
laid into the Transport Minister, saying he and Wayne Brown
don't understand how the traffic industry works. He says they
don't charge per road cone for work, but rather per
worker and truck. He says the public is abusing his

(00:22):
staff on site because of misinformation that's being spread. The
problem here is that we had this independent report and
we spoke about this yesterday from Ey and it was
pretty damning. It basically said that the rules, the current rules,
incentivized contractors like Traffics to cause maximum disruption in order
to maximize profits. And n ZTA looked at eight hundred

(00:43):
maintenance work sites this is on the highway network. One
hundred and forty five of them were not needed. Doesn't
that make you blood boil Auckland Council alone apparently spending
one hundred and forty five million a year on road
cones and temporary traffic management. There was a contractor this
is around the corner from my place, quiet residential suburban street.
There was a contract to digging a hole on the

(01:04):
side of the road. Not a big hole, just a
small hole. I could not believe that they closed the
road down. There was down to one lane with stop
ghost signs. This is the quietest street in the neighborhood.
I just thought it was madness. I would never say
anything to the workers, obviously because it's not their fault,
but clearly, after the EY report and the message from NZTA,
something needs to be fixed and fast. Wayne Brown wants

(01:26):
the power to set fees and charge penalties if work
drags on or wasn't needed in the first place, and
I say give it to him. For more from News
Talks B listen live on air or online, and keep
our shows with you wherever you go with our podcasts
on Irradio