The NZ Transport Agency has further explained planned changes for the Certificate of Fitness (CoF) and Transport Services Licensing (TSL) systems.
The changes announced in January to New Zealand’s decades-old vehicle licensing systems are expected to be introduced by mid-2014, according to NZ Transport Agency’s group manager of access and use, Celia Patrick.
Patrick says the two significant changes to the CoF system will increase choice and reduce costs for commercial transport sector operators, while still focusing on road safety outcomes.
However, the changes remain controversial with Transport Service Delivery Agents, who are set to the be the biggest losers.
The first change involves opening the up the CoF inspection market to a wider range of service providers and allowing inspection and vehicle maintenance services to be combined.
Currently, three service providers are accredited by the NZTA to carry out CoF inspections but they may not undertake maintenance services. The NZTA will also look into whether it would be appropriate to accredit operators who have excellent maintenance and safety records to also inspect their own vehicles.
“Accreditation would require an operator to have very detailed, efficient and auditable management practices in place,” says Patrick.
“So part of the work we’ll be doing over the next year will involve working closely with industry to consider how accreditation would work.
“It might also include running a pilot to test accreditation before it’s rolled out across the sector.”
The other main change to the CoF system is increasing the flexibility of inspection frequency.
While the six monthly default frequency for CoF inspection will remain, this decision will allow operators with excellent records and well maintained vehicles to be moved to 12 monthly CoF inspections and for operators with poor performance to be placed on a tighter frequency of between three and six months.
“The variable approach towards inspection frequency is designed to motivate operators and reward those who follow good safety practices and maintain their vehicles to a high standard,” says Patrick.
On TSL, the agency and Ministry of Transport have until September 30 to report back to the Minister of Transport on ways to target the system to make it fairer.
Patrick says the NZTA aims to develop incentives for operators that will encourage them to comply with transport law, thereby requiring less contact with the NZTA’s regulatory enforcement staff.
“We want to make it easy and good business sense to comply with transport law,” Patrick says. “We’ll look into ways to modify the TSL system to remove operators who don’t get any benefit and better manage poor performing operators.”
At the moment some sectors which require little regulatory effort from the NZTA are subsidising other more high maintenance parts of the industry. So the review will consider adjusting the current flat fee of $55 a year to charges that match the risk or regulatory effort posed by particular sectors.
Patrick says the NZTA is committed to working closely with sector groups over the next few months to work through the large programme of change and improvements coming through for the commercial transport industry.
“Like industry itself, the NZTA wants to see a vibrant and profitable commercial transport sector with a first-rate reputation for efficiency, good practice and safety. And these changes will provide more choice for industry, maintain safety standards and make regulation more targeted and effective,” Patrick says.
