Dylan Thomsen: AA road safety spokesperson on the costs that come with the Government's Policy Statement on land transport

The Government's latest Policy Statement on land transport will come with plenty of extra costs for drivers.

The fee to register a car has gone up by $50, fuel taxes will rise by 12 cents a litre by 2027 - and 22 cents by 2029, and the new Roads of National Significance will likely be tolled.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown says these price increases will cover the costs of maintaining and building roads - and contribute to the Pothole Prevention Fund.

AA road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen has voiced approval with these changes. 

"Over the next three years, this GPS is going to allow more money to be spent on road maintenance than we've seen before, significantly more."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the price of your car registration is going to
go up by fifty bucks. Fuel taxes will rise by
twelve cents a liter in twenty twenty seven and then
twenty two cents in twenty twenty nine, and new roads
of National significance will probably be told the government has
confirmed the final Policy Statement on land transport for the
next ten years. The price rises will help pay for
new roads of National significance and the pothole Prevention Fund.

(00:21):
And Dylan Thompson is the AA's road safety spokesperson who's
with us now, Hey.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Dylan, evening, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Not a lot of this is new, if anything at all,
But are you happy it's locked in?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, you're right. We've known this was coming. But the
two things that really stand out for the AA and
that we're happy about over the next three years, this
GPS is going to allow more money to be spent
on road maintenance than we've seen before, significantly more, and
also a really strong focus around police enforcement out on

(00:56):
the roads, looking to increase that, particularly around alcohol. And
we need both of those things. Better maintenance of our
roads and better enforcement, particularly around in pair driving, to
make to make travel for all new Zealanders, safer, better,
more reliable. So we're really pleased to see those.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, So Samon Brown's coppying a bit of heat for
that actually today because that pothole money is being taken
out of the cycling the cycling budget. Is that fair
for him to do that?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
There is transport all is for so many debates around
you know, there's a limited pot of money and there's
lots of projects. So from the AA's perspective, you know,
we need to be having investment in public transport, We
need to be having investment in cycling, walking, all those
other modes. But for us, the first port of call

(01:45):
for the money that is collected from road users needs
to be maintaining the current network and we haven't been
doing enough of that. So we need to be actually
increasing that investment because what we've seen over a number
of years is the roading network deteriorate and get worse
and more potholes and more damage, and we've got to

(02:06):
increase the investment to stop that happening and turn that
trend around.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, so what's been announced today is actually spill be
compared to some of the stuff that the Infrastructure Minister
Chris Bishop is talking about doing in terms of funding
the roads, do you want him to go as far
as he's talking about, you know, things like value capture
and PPPs and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, the detail of how those things can work are
going to be the crucial factors, you know, as we
talk about it as a country. But we certainly think
we need to be looking at other ways of trying
to find funding for the transport and big infrastructure projects
that New Zealanders want. So, you know, we need to
be looking at these things. We need to be open

(02:47):
to new options, but we also are going to have
to wait to see a bit more detail about how
a lot of those things would work before we can
really take a position on whether we think that that's
the right approach. But we need to be open to
looking at new ideas.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Good stuff. Dylan always happy to talk to you and
appreciate your time. That's Dylan Thompson of the AA, the
Road Safety spokespoost In.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
There for more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
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