Road cone mania is the subject of report commissioned by Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Road cone mania is the subject of report commissioned by Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A traffic management boss says blaming the industry for “road cone mania” is wrong.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown today released a new report that found temporary traffic management(TTM) contractors had little incentive to work cheaper or faster.
The Ernst & Young Global Ltd (EY) report found existing rules and regulations incentivised contractors to cause maximum disruption to maximise profits.
It also showed legislative change was needed to change this behaviour and minimise disruption and that virtually every other comparable jurisdiction charges more, enforces more vigorously, and charges for time and disruption.
Traffix managing director Michael Eremin said the EY report was wrong to say that TTM companies could influence how long it takes to do a job, saying they were subcontracted to the main contractor and work to their timeline.
He also took exception to the report claiming road controlling authorities, such as Auckland Transport (AT), cannot challenge TTM contractors.
Traffic management boss Michael Eremin says the industry is not to blame for road cone maina. Photo / Alex Burton
“This is incorrect. AT reviews and approves every traffic management plan that any company applies for. They have every opportunity to challenge the plan submitted to them for approval. This includes the date range for the proposed work,’ Eremin said.
He said there was a narrative in the media that TTMs charge by the cone when TTMs charge for staff costs and trucks to reach an hourly rate for the job.
“They [cones] are a consumable item to our business and no different than diesel, or insurance, or tyres.
“The number of cones could be hypothetically reduced but it won’t save anyone any money.
“The fact that the mayor, and even the minister of transport, continue to publish commentary around the number of cones correlates to the cost of TTM implies that they are either misinformed or completely ignorant of even the most basic factors surrounding the subject.
“Our staff are facing levels of abuse by the public on site, which has increased exponentially since the misinformation around the TTM industry started hitting the media,” Eremin said.
The mayor disputed Eremin’s comments, saying the independent report, which considered the whole system, found little real oversight of temporary traffic management companies.
“The current costs and disruption imposed by the current system is unacceptable,” he said.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown partially agreed with Erimen, saying: “Road controlling authorities such as Auckland Transport need to play their part by not requiring such a high level of temporary traffic management when granting works access permits.”
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has waged a war on road cones. Photo / Michael Craig
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Earlier today, Wayne Brown said the “nonsensical” use of temporary traffic management was hugely frustrating for people.
“Temporary traffic management has gone beyond necessity, which doesn’t make worksites any safer. The loss in productivity to Auckland businesses and households is taking a massive toll on our city financially, but it also causes undue stress.
“It’s embarrassing, and not what you’d expect from a world-class city.”
He questioned the “disturbing lack of understanding of commercial drivers” displayed by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) and the Ministry of Transport.
“Only by addressing the commercial drivers can we finally begin to reverse the loss in productivity road cone mania has caused.”
Brown told Newstalk ZB the safety culture was everywhere in New Zealand and these industries were exploiting it.
“I have given direction to Auckland Transport to start reducing it and they have made some efforts and saved some money,” he said.
The EY report showed, under the direction of Brown, AT had reduced its temporary traffic management spend by $1.27 million since February.
However, Brown said some rules and regulations prevented the acceleration of that process.
So many road cones and so much work to be done. Photo / Dean Purcell
“It’s another case of Wellington passing rules and regulations without understanding the economic impact.”
Minister Brown said Kiwis are frustrated by the inconvenience and cost caused by temporary traffic management.
“While there will always be some disruption caused by traffic management to ensure road workers are kept safe, a more cost-effective approach is needed to ensure taxpayers are getting value for money from every dollar being spent, and that there is less disruption on our roads,” he said.
The minister said the Government is taking action to reduce temporary traffic management costs, including rolling out a new risk-based approach to temporary traffic management that will reduce the number of road cones on our roads and requiring regular reporting from NZTA on the amount of money the agency has spent on temporary traffic management.
Mayor Brown said the transport minister was picking up on many things he was doing.
“If he wants to fix this and become popular, that’s fine with me, but it’s a thing I have been on since I got in the door.”
