As the lead agency for public passenger transport and for licensing public passenger transport services in Canterbury, Environment Canterbury works hard to provide sustainable and affordable transport alternatives.
Movement of people
Ongoing growth in private car use is causing traffic congestion, road safety issues, and a reliance on fossil fuels that increases emissions and exposes the region to rising fuel costs and energy supply security issues. Public passenger transport is an effective way of moving large numbers of people, including the transport-disadvantaged, to employment, education, recreation and social activities in a way that reduces these effects. Maintaining patronage growth for those purposes relies on ongoing investment in improvements to services by Environment Canterbury and in infrastructure by territorial local authorities and the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Affordability
The cost of providing public passenger transport services is a significant proportion of Environment Canterbury’s operating budget. It is essential that this is funded from a mix of sources so that the costs and benefits are distributed fairly among users, ratepayers and central government.