Transportation
This resource looks at the environmental, development and planning issues for transportation in the City, the areas of transportation covered by the Council and future management of the transportation system.
Background
Historically Christchurch has had a very good transport system, with little congestion, good access, and freedom of movement. The way of life enjoyed by the people of Christchurch owes a great deal to this transport system and the high level of mobility it provides. This situation has led to high expectations by the users of the Christchurch transport system for on-going high standards and that these standards can or will be continued.
The present transport system is the result of decades of planning and development, heavily influenced by the Master Transportation Plan of the 1960's. This focused largely on maintaining and improving access for private motor vehicles, as well as other forms of road transport. It was largely the implementation of this Plan, which has provided Christchurch with its high standard transport system to date.
Issues of location, access and safety affect commercial and industrial developments as well as private individuals. For example, industrial developments may purposely locate along rail corridors or commercial developments along arterial routes. Similarly private individuals will develop a lifestyle based around the present transport system. Decisions such as house location, house type, methods of transport available and used, investment in vehicles/cycles, times of travel to activities and household budget allocated to travel are all based on the present system. Obviously people are affected differently, the affluent multi-car house owners who live in the rural edges of the City have different needs to the car-less elderly who live near bus routes and the district shopping centre. Similarly, as people change, so do their needs.
The stability and efficiency of the present transport system is important for the economic and social stability of the City. That is not to say that the system should not evolve to meet the needs, expectations and requirements of the future, rather that unexpected changes would have significant economic and social impacts. Therefore the potentially significant adverse effects of the transport system are likely to be best avoided or mitigated by progressive rather than "overnight" changes, unless equally significant benefits can be shown to arise from a more rapid change in strategy.
Trends
One way of forecasting how the transport system will operate in the future is to project historical trends into the future. A strong trend, observed generally worldwide, is the on-going increase in travel demand.
This is certainly observed in Christchurch. People are travelling more often and further. Information for UK and US studies indicates that 35- 50% of increased traffic on roads is attributable to longer trips being made, and very little attributable to population growth. Most of this growth in travel demand is accommodated by increased car usage. The main reasons for this growth are increased economic activity, steady population increases, decreasing household size, increased travel demand (especially social and recreational trips), land use changes and an increasing, high vehicle ownership rate.
The demand for mobility is a social phenomenon, which, like the use of cars to fulfil that demand, is unlikely to change quickly. In reality therefore the motor vehicle and the car in particular need to be planned for in the foreseeable, short to medium term future, unless severe measures are taken to discourage its use. The present system of drivers, cars, fuel, roads, and land uses is already in place and is unmatched by any other transport method for convenience and flexibility.
Traffic volumes in Christchurch have shown consistent growth (2.5- 4.0% per year) for many years and without any significant changes or impacts is predicted to continue for the next 15-25 years at least. (At 3% per year, traffic volumes would double in 23-24 years.) Christchurch would appear to be faced with an increasing demand for vehicular travel, particularly by car. It is quite clear from any perspective that this present growth, with the present patterns of vehicle choice for trips and patterns of city growth (i.e. low density residential land use) is not sustainable.
Top of page
Key Transportation Issues
Issues for which problems and adverse effects occur are increasing air pollution, significant reliance on a finite fuel source, congestion (including increasing travel times and vehicle operating costs, and reduced accessibility), road crashes, social inequities, noise and urban sprawl.
None of these adverse effects have, either for New Zealand or Christchurch, established standards or acceptable levels. For example, how much and what types of noise are acceptable from road traffic? The City Plan deals with the effects of most of these issues, however some other methods are also available.
Air Pollution
Vehicle emissions are a particular issue on and adjacent to enclosed streets, busy roads and in city centres, where they can be noticeable and unpleasant. On a global scale, these emissions contribute to atmospheric pollution, including greenhouse effects.
Emissions from petrol powered and diesel-powered engines have substantially different components, but both contribute to atmospheric pollution. The volume of these emissions is closely related to the volume of fuel consumed (although the exact composition of the emissions varies according to the pattern of the motor use, such as idling or running under load). Transport fuel use is steadily growing, with overall fuel use having increased by 25% between 1989 and 1995. Petrol consumption only increased by 8% while diesel has increased by over 60%. The diesel increase is due to both increased volumes of goods carted by diesel powered vehicles and a large increase in the number of light diesel passenger vehicles on the roads. Increasing vehicle efficiency and emissions presently are more than offset by increasing vehicle use.
In Christchurch, mechanisms should be considered to reduce travel demand and change the shares of trips by various transport modes.
Ensuring an appropriate urban layout, promoting alternative methods of travel and restrictions on car parking and road capacities may reduce the use of private motor vehicles and thereby the adverse effects such as air pollution. At best, Christchurch City Council can only encourage increasing fuel and energy efficiency and new fuel and vehicle technology.
Given the strength of the general increasing demand for travel, increasing fuel efficiency and moving to low or zero emission power sources would have the greatest impacts on reducing air pollution from the transport system. For example, the vehicles used for the Central City Shuttle are hybrid electric vehicles, with low emissions.
Fuel and Energy Use
The fuel and energy used to power the transport system are critical to its long-term sustainability. It is commonly stated that fossil fuels will run out soon and therefore the present transport system is not sustainable.
However the fact that the present transport system is powered primarily by fossil fuels is not the single determinant to the system's sustainability.
Much work has been undertaken to improve fuel efficiency and in alternative power sources, such as battery electric or biomass based fuels (such as ethanol or dimethyl ether). These investigations show sufficient possibilities that fuel and energy use may not necessarily be a long term problem in keeping vehicles running.
Congestion
Congestion undermines mobility by increasing the cost of travel (by increasing journey travel times and the operating costs of a vehicle to make that journey) and decreases road safety. In the Christchurch situation with a grid network of streets in many areas, congested arterial roads is resulting in traffic diverting to alternative routes using local residential streets, creating significant adverse effects for these areas.
Congestion is caused by too many vehicles trying to travel through an area at the same time, and is worst where several large traffic streams meet or try to cross one another. It also occurs where the space to stop, park, load, or wait is insufficient for the vehicles wishing to do so.
In the past, the solution applied to overcome congestion was to allocate more space on the network. It has become increasingly clear that this solution is not sustainable against the rising tide of traffic demand, and of itself encourages the demand for more travel. Overseas cities with major congestion problems have discovered that they cannot simply build their way out of the problems.
Eventually (and it may be some time off for Christchurch), congestion will overwhelm the road and land capacity in the city unless the number of vehicles using the road space (particularly at peak times) can be reduced or the city reshaped. Unless there could be significant additions to the supply of road space, congestion will ultimately render mobility unsustainable despite most people's apparently limitless tolerance of its effects.
Means of addressing congestion by reducing travel demand include reducing the need to travel (for example home shopping and home based work), shortening trips (by providing for needs close by - land use issues), encouraging high occupancy (by car pooling, parking and traffic management incentives for high occupancy vehicles), space efficient vehicles (such as cycles or buses, through promotion or advantages provided for these modes over lower occupancy vehicles), encouraging walking and changing the time a trip is made to less congested times.
All the above methods encourage people to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Other methods are available which could restrict the number of vehicles on the road, including restricted road space (eg allowing congestion, or allocating lanes to high occupancy vehicles only).
However this will not reduce congestion because the same level of congestion (i.e. the number of cars per square metre of road space) will eventually occur irrespective of the amount of roading space provided.
Top of page
Road Crashes
Road crashes, for various reasons, will always have a high public, political and media profile, which will ensure that resources will be made available to address the causes and effects. The one historical blot on the Christchurch transport system is the higher than national average road crash rate. However there is no doubt that over the year’s road safety has improved in Christchurch (especially if measured by accidents per million vehicle kilometres). Further improvements may be expected as reporting, analysis and assessment methods are refined and vehicles made safer. However the public will never accept that there should be any road crashes at all and therefore funding will need to be continually available to address this issue.
Social Inequities
Present city form or land use developments, particularly those parts made viable by the motor vehicle, create equity problems. Changing this is a long term, but important issue. Access to employment, recreation, shopping, education, etc. is the fundamental purpose of personal mobility.
Neither universal nor evenly distributed, and even with a car present in a household it does not necessarily mean that it is available for use (a drivers license may not be held, or it may be in use by someone else in the household). However car ownership is increasing, with the average car ownership per household increasing from 1.41 in 1986 to 1.48 in 1991 to 1.57 in 1996, despite the number of people per household decreasing from 2.8 to 2.7 to 2.65 over the same period (source: census figures). The low residential densities in the city suburbs mean that shopping, and social and health services are widely dispersed.
As car ownership and use rise, society is increasingly based around it, and those without access to a car become more disadvantaged. For those without access to a car, the alternatives available are unlikely to provide the level of mobility (access, convenience and cost) available to those with access to a private motor vehicle.
The mechanisms to address this, which the Council can pursue, include the promotion and facilitation of other modes such as walking, cycling and public transport, by providing for a basic level of service at an affordable price. However whereas the car is efficient for providing for trips by " few people between many dispersed trip ends", public transport is suited for " large numbers of people between few trip ends".
Noise
Road noise is easy to identify as an environmental effect of the transport system, but identifying when it becomes an adverse effect is an issue of considerable debate. There are many different means of measuring different aspects of road noise.
Added to this is the differing tolerance levels of noise amongst the population. Transit New Zealand have been undertaking work in this area, but this is under debate.
Road noise is related to (among other things) distance from the source to receiver, traffic volumes, types of vehicles on the road and condition of these vehicles, weather, the amount of acceleration and deceleration, and road surfacing. Addressing road noise can be very difficult. For example, in similar circumstances halving or doubling the traffic volume will only produce a change of approximately 3 dBA either way, which is at the threshold of the human ability to tell the difference.
Methods, which can address this issue, follow on from the variables affecting the noise. These include controls on the vehicle fleet checked through the vehicle inspection and construction processes, separating the road from the affected person in some way (buffer zones, walls or mounding, etc.), reducing traffic on the road (for example by redirection), providing smooth flowing traffic streams on smooth "quiet" road surfaces. The Council is doing these last three where the opportunity presents itself.
Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is a situation increased by car based transport systems, in something of a "chicken and egg" situation. Car based transport systems enable urban sprawl, which promotes car based transport systems for mobility. Low-density suburbs are expensive to provide with roads, sewers, water and energy, but are even more expensive for public transport. Low-density sprawling urban areas reduce the life supporting capacity of rural land. If energy sources reduce or become too expensive the outer suburbs will become unsustainable.
In reality our cities will change very slowly, but the right changes to mobility patterns can be encouraged. The cyclical development process can be broken through land use controls (such as increasing residential density and restricting urban expansion), and promotion and support for non-car based transport systems. This is underway towards the central city, but it may be at the cost of changing the City's image (for example, smaller or fewer gardens, fewer large trees, etc).
Top of page
Management of the Transportation System
The Christchurch City Council has only a limited control over the transportation system with many aspects being controlled and managed by other organisations. The following is a summary of organisations with responsibilities in the transport sector, noting their main responsibilities:
Christchurch City Council
Transfund NZ
www.transfund.govt.nz/intro.html
- Funding for roading and transportation works based on benefit/cost analysis
Transit NZ
www.transit.govt.nz
- Management of State Highways
Ministry of Transport
www.transport.govt.nz
- National policy setting
- Monitoring legislation
Police
www.police.govt.nz
- Enforcement of road rules
- Driver licensing
- Education campaigns eg Drink Driving
Land Transport Safety Authority
www.ltsa.govt.nz
- Accident reporting and statistics
- Safety education
- Driver licensing
- Road Code
- Design guidelines and standards
Tranz Rail
www.tollnz.co.nz
- Rail services throughout New Zealand
Metroinfo
www.metroinfo,org.nz
- Public transport services within Christchurch and connecting Christchurch to other areas
- Bus timetables and route maps
Other sources of Information
Relevant information such as committee reports and newspaper articles can be sourced from the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre at the Central City Library, Gloucester Street - 941 7923 and the Christchurch Environment Centre, 64 Kilmore Street - 379 2257. Librarians at the Central City Library are available to assist with research projects, as are staff at the Christchurch Environment Centre
Top of page
|
