Hon Darren Hughes
Minister of Statistics

30 May 2008 Media Statement

Toll NZ’s World Environment Day Transport Initiative Welcomed

Statistics Minister and Otaki MP Darren Hughes has today congratulated Toll NZ Ltd for the positive initiatives it has adopted for World Environment Day to encourage more people to use public transport on behalf of the Environment Minister Trevor Mallard.

As part of the World Environment Day celebrations, Toll NZ Ltd will be branding 10 per cent of their electric fleet with an environmental image and message, and will also have discounted off-peak fares on 5 June – World Environment Day.

Darren Hughes, who was at the Wellington Railway Station this morning to welcome three of the new branded train units into the railway station, said it was great to see a transport company like Toll NZ Ltd taking action to promote greater use of public transport.

“New Zealand’s hosting of World Environment Day has highlighted the huge number of companies and communities taking steps towards sustainability. It is so encouraging to see New Zealanders making a collected effort to care for our environment,” Darren Hughes said.

“The transport sector has the potential to play a central role in reducing our carbon emissions and making our country more sustainable. In the 2006 New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory, published last month (May), road transport contributed 16 per cent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions – an increase of 67 per cent on the level of emissions in 1990.

“Between 1999 and 2006, the number of people who used public transport in Wellington grew by 23 per cent, and the Government would like that figure to keep growing.

“I congratulate Toll NZ Ltd for taking the initiative this World Environment Day to encourage more people to get out of their cars and onto public transport,” Darren Hughes said.

ENDS

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