KEY POINTS:
Government land and sea transport spending is predicted to remain at relatively static levels of $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion annually for the next five years, before rising to $3.6 billion by 2018.
A three-year policy statement issued by the Government last night sets a target of reducing kilometres travelled by each New Zealander in single-occupancy vehicles over the next seven years.
The policy envisages increases in the use of public transport by 3 per cent and in walking and cycling by 1 per cent for each year to 2015.
It also commits the Government's new Transport Agency - formed from a merger of Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ - to encourage a greater use of rail and sea freight towards a goal of halving per capita greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transport by 2040.
But the Green Party says the policy statement, which is the first to be issued under new transport legislation, "fails to meet goals for sustainable transport, severely underfunds alternatives to cars and will keep New Zealanders shackled to petrol for many more decades".
"This policy is devoid of ambition or awareness of the realities facing New Zealanders," said Greens co-leader Russel Norman.
Although the Government announced a month ago that public transport spending would rise 24 per cent this financial year to $325 million, the new policy statement commits it to a less ambitious increase after that - to an average of $358 million for each of the following three years.
That compares with an average annual spend of $1.835 billion on the construction and upkeep of highways and local roads.
The policy statement said that despite reports of reduced traffic volumes on some state highways, it is too soon to determine whether that will become a long-term trend.
"However, there is little doubt that sustained high prices will affect travel demand and shift it towards more fuel-efficient forms of transport," it says.
Dr Norman is calling that "a road map for failure", saying the Government needs to offer people transport alternatives to equip them to respond to high oil prices. "Instead, month after month, I see people waiting in the cold and rain as bus after bus sails by because they are all full."
Transport Minister Annette King said targets aimed at improving journey times and reliability, with a focus on investing in "critical multi-modal infrastructure" were essential to ensure New Zealand's economic growth was not put at risk.
That included improving important freight routes and continuing to invest in Auckland as a priority.
The policy statement follows a promise at the weekend by National Party leader John Key to borrow up to $750 million more than Labour each year for infrastructure, including a new category of "roads of national significance".
