What the Government thinks you're worth

Users of public transport will be outraged to find that the Government values their time far lower than those people who drive their cars, the Green Party says

Land Transport New Zealand's economic valuation manual is used to evaluate the economic efficiency of transport proposals applying for funding. For travel to work, it requires the time of those sitting on buses and trains at be valued at just $4.70 an hour, while the time of car drivers in congested traffic is valued at $10.95.

While Transport Minister Annette King claimed in the House today that the numbers are based on a survey where travellers valued their own time, what it means in practice is that people who think they are important will have more public money spent on them than people who are more modest.

This sends a message that higher income people are expected to drive, unlike in Europe where professional and managerial workers regularly use the trains because governments spend money on high quality public transport, Greens Transport Spokesperson Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

"It means that public transport projects are at a huge disadvantage compared with new state highways when the benefit cost ratios are calculated."

When Greater Wellington Council makes its decisions about how to spend the money allocated for the Wellington Western corridor, the value of Transmission Gully or widening the Coast road will come out higher because the time saved by motorists is high, and the value of upgrading, extending and electrifying the rail line will come out low because time savings for people using rail are undervalued.

"It is no wonder that roading projects are being given priority when those people using them are considered to be more valuable," Ms Fitzsimons says.

"Even more insulting, is the revelation that the time of those traveling for non-work reasons must be valued even lower that those commuting to work.

"Why should people taking their children to the doctor or for a day out to the zoo, those traveling to carry out non-paid work, and even those traveling to the supermarket, be considered less valuable?

"If this Government were serious about its aspirational goal of carbon neutrality, it would value the low carbon emitting transport options more highly than the high polluters. But instead, those low-emitting public transport projects are being left on the shelf in favour of new motorways, and these decisions are being based on skewed economic reasoning," Ms Fitzsimons says.

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