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Other government sustainability initiatives with climate change benefits - Transport

Some current government transport initiatives include:

There will be $900 million additional investment in public transport in the period 2006 to 2010, in particular on rail infrastructure improvements in Auckland and Wellington, as well as national rail improvements.
Transport research has received some limited investment (currently $0.5m per year) and a limited element of the Land Transport New Zealand’s annual research investment of $4m is targeted at sustainable land transport and understanding the effects of climate change.
A biofuels sales obligation requires 3.4 per cent of liquid fuel sales to be biofuel by 2012.
The government’s Fuel$aver website provides consumers with information to compare the fuel consumption of different vehicle models. The website also enables drivers to calculate vehicle fuel costs based on their vehicle model, the distance travelled, the kind of fuel used, and their driving habits.
The Choke the Smoke campaign encouraged people to go on a ”low-carbon diet”, for example, by using public transport, car pooling, walking or cycling, tuning their cars, keeping tyres inflated correctly and using their accelerator more sparingly.
Mandatory vehicle fuel-efficiency labelling requires fuel consumption labelling at the point of sale for light vehicles. The scheme covers both new and used vehicle sales.
Travel behaviour programmes offer guidelines for developing walking school buses and workplace travel plans.
The Walking School Bus programme helps reduce emissions by promoting a fun, safe and energy-efficient way for children to walk to school, thereby reducing the number of short car trips. It works with two parents picking up each child from their home on a set route and walking in a line to school (one parent leading and another bringing up the rear). 22,000 children participated in the first “Walk to School Week” campaign of 6–10 March 2006.
A vehicle exhaust emissions rule which came into effect in January 2008 to promote the introduction of newer vehicle technology by imposing tighter emission standards for new and used vehicles entering the fleet.

There are also a number of proposed transport policies and measures, including.

A vehicle fleet sales-weighted standard for fuel economy will require a certain average fuel economy for all light vehicles entering the New Zealand fleet during a particular period. The standard will be designed to encourage improved fuel consumption across all vehicles entering the fleet, while providing flexibility to the industry and choices to consumers.
The fleet operators’ commitment programme will provide information and training to drivers of heavy and light vehicles, because differences in driver behaviour alone can affect fuel use by up to 35 per cent. A training programme for heavy-vehicle drivers could give estimated energy savings of at least 10 per cent.
Setting up a vehicles energy and renewable group to focus on future opportunities for electric vehicles and biofuels