Tall Poppy submitted the following:

For an ant to have had wings would be his undoing.

“Green Cabs had another 45 minute delay to get a cab in Wellington this morning perhaps they should get more cars on the road.” —not what I would call excellent service, but only one of the flies in the ointment.

Around a flowering tree, one finds many insects!

Ants in his pants? ….Callum Brown from Green Cabs New Zealand brings home the bacon.

 

Green Cabs and Wellington Combined are the two preferred suppliers for Telecom in Wellington from December. I’m surprised the chairman didn’t mention that it is now to be shared between the two.

Taxi industry doing it tough-job losses are expected in the taxi industry as it weathers tough times.

Clint Owens interviews NZ Taxi Federation Executives, Tim Reddish Kevin Braid, Blue Star Taxis Manager Bob Wilkinson & Wellington Combined Taxis Director Warren Quirke.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/20091124.

Featured comment: submitted by cabbie.

NZTA – MINIMUM REQUIREMETNS FOR APPROVED TAXI ORGANISATIONS

Date 23 November 2009

RE: MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR APPROVED TAXI ORGANISATION TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, RELATED LEGAL REQUIREMENTS AND GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES

I INTRODUCTION

In October 2008 the Agency sent correspondence to Approved Taxi Organisations (‘ATO’) outlining a number of new requirements relating to the Land Transport Rule: Operator Licensing 2007 (‘the OLR’). Information relating to telecommunications was included in that correspondence. A number of ATOs also received an amended letter in September this year.

The Agency received a significant amount of feedback from the taxi industry relating to the telecommunications requirements for ATOs. The feedback identified opposing views within the industry – the feedback ranged from support for the requirements in the October 2008 letter through to opposition to the requirements.

In order to enable national consistency of compliance with the legal requirements in the OLR, and to allow appropriate and robust enforcement by the Agency, the Agency has undertaken a thorough review of the requirements.

As part of the review the Agency has noted a number of concerns raised by the industry and has refined its requirements for telecommunications systems.

This letter contains the minimum standards that will be applied by the Agency under current law in relation to telecommunications systems, references to other relevant legal requirements and a series of good practice guidelines which the Agency strongly encourages ATOs to incorporate into their business practices.

II THE SPECIFIC TELECOMMUNICATION REQUIREMENT IN LEGISLATION

Section 8.5(1)(b) of the OLR states:

8.5(1) An approved taxi organisation must…

(b) ensure that the services of its members who operate taxis are available to the public:
(i) 24 hours a day and seven days a week, through a telecommunications system approved by the Agency; or

(ii) for a lesser period or in some other manner as may be specified by the Agency as the condition of an exemption granted under 8.7(2).

Section 8.7(2) of the OLR states:

8.7(2) The Agency may, in respect of a taxi service provided by an approved taxi organisation in a particular region, exempt the organisation from the requirements in 8.5(1)(b)(i) if, the Agency is satisfied, following consultation with the applicable regional council, public demand does not require that level of service.

III MINIMUM STANDARDS TO COMPLY WITH THE LEGISLATION AND OBTAIN APPROVAL

In order to comply with the legislation and be approved, an ATO’s telecommunication system must include:

1. A telephone number that can be called at no charge to a potential customer from within the ATO’s operating area.

2. The telephone number must be monitored by a rostered dispatch person 24 hours a day and seven days a week or for such lesser period or in some other manner as specified by the Agency as the condition of any exemption granted under 8.7(2).

3. A communications system allowing two-way communication between the dispatcher and sufficient on duty vehicles to provide the required service (24/7 or otherwise if exempted).

Due to the introduction from 1 November 2009 of a prohibition on using mobile telephones whilst driving, approval of a telecommunications system will not be granted where the two way communication requires the driver to operate a mobile telephone in breach of the law (see below for more detail).

4. Where dispatch services are carried out by another entity on behalf of or on contract to an ATO, such services must comply with the requirements above.

IV RELATED LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

a. Telephone number to be in white pages.

Section 8.5(1)(c) states that an ATO must:

(c) ensure that, as soon as practicable after the signage has been approved by the [Agency], the telephone number (or numbers) relating to each approved signage is advertised in the White Pages of the telephone directory covering the area in which the service operates.

b. Ban on use of mobile phones.

Section 7.3A of the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2007 came into force on 1 November 2009. Section 7.3A states:

7.3A Ban on use of mobile phones while driving

(1) A driver must not, while driving a vehicle, create, send, or read a text message on a mobile phone or make, receive, or terminate a telephone call on a mobile phone or use a mobile phone in any other way. This subclause is overridden by subclauses (2) to (6).

(2) An enforcement officer may, while driving a vehicle, use a mobile phone to make, receive, or terminate a telephone call if the officer is making, receiving, or terminating the call in the execution of the officer’s duty.

(3) A driver may, while driving a vehicle, use a mobile phone if—

(a) the driver is using the phone to make a 111 or *555 call; and
(b) it is unsafe or impracticable for the driver to stop and park the vehicle to make the call.

(4) A driver may, while driving a vehicle, use a mobile phone to make, receive, or terminate a telephone call if the phone does not require the driver to hold or manipulate it to make, receive, or terminate the call.

(5) A driver may, while driving a vehicle, use a mobile phone to make, receive, or terminate a telephone call if—

(a) the phone is secured in a mounting fixed to the vehicle; and
(b) the driver manipulates the phone infrequently and briefly.

(6) A driver may, while driving a vehicle, use a mobile phone to make, receive, or terminate a telephone call if the vehicle has stopped for a reason other than the normal starting and stopping of vehicles in a flow of traffic.”

c. Driving hours and logbooks.

As ‘work time’ is defined in the Land Transport Act 1998 as including ‘administration or recording’ and ‘any paid employment…whether or not related to transport activities’, therefore if the dispatcher is a person subject to the work time and driver logbook requirements then time spent dispatching must be recorded in their logbook as work time.

d. Log on and log off times.

Section 8.5(1)(o) of the OLR requires that ATOs record the log-on and log-off times of each of its drivers and retain the records for 12 months.

e. Complaints Register

Sections 3.5(2) to 3.5(7) and 8.5(1)(f) of the OLR require that ATOs maintain a single register of all complaints received relating to all members and drivers.

f. External agencies

Where communication services for an ATO are carried out by another entity on behalf of or on contract to the ATO, the legal requirements for the ATO to maintain a single register of all complaints received relating to all members and drivers and for the ATO to record and retain the log-on and log-off times of each driver continue to have effect.

V BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES

a. Telecommunications devices.

The definition of ‘mobile phone’ in the Road User Rule means that the following telecommunications devices are not mobile phones and may be used by drivers:

 a CB radio

 any other kind of two-way radio

 an earpiece or mouthpiece that is connected, physically or otherwise, to a mobile phone to allow a driver to use the phone without holding or manipulating it

The NZTA considers that the best practice for ATOs is for the communication between the dispatcher and driver to be by way of CB radio, other kind of two-way radio or a hands free mobile telephone that meets the definition in the third bullet point above.

b. Health and Safety

The NZTA has been consulting with the Ministry of Transport and the Department of Labour about wider issues of driver and passenger safety. The NZTA strongly recommends that ATOs ensure that the systems they have in place, including their telecommunications system, meet any obligations in respect of driver and passenger safety, particularly in terms of a driver’s ability to notify an ATO of hazards encountered in their workplace or to obtain assistance in emergency situations.

VI EXEMPTIONS – INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS

As specified above, there is scope for the Agency to exempt an ATO in a particular region from the requirements of section 8.5(1)(b) following consultation with the relevant regional council and if public demand does not require the level of service set out in section 8.5(1)(b).

Any application for an exemption should be made to the NZTA office in the ATO’s region.

If you have any queries regarding the requirements contained in this letter, please contact the following Principal Transport Officers:

Auckland, Tere Lawson. Ph 09 969 9800
Hamilton, Iain Rossiter. Ph 07 958 7220
Wellington, John Marsden. Ph 04 894 5200
Christchurch, Brian Hawkins. Ph 03 964 2866
Dunedin, Dermot Harris. Ph 03 951 3009

Yours Sincerely

John Doesburg
National Manager
Commercial Operators Road & Rail

Operator rating system.

Getting to grips with the Operator Rating System.

The Operator Rating System will provide a safety rating for all commercial transport operators with a goods service licence, a large passenger service licence or a vehicle recovery service licence Operator safety ratings have been designed to provide a fair and accurate indication of both the safety risk of the operator’s fleet and the operator’s compliance with land transport safety legislation.

This will allow the NZ Police and NZTA regulatory staff better targeting of appropriate resources to carry out enforcement and compliance activities.

Key points to note about ORS:

• ORS will assist with improving road safety and make journeys safer
• Operators who are performing well will be stopped less often, saving time and money
• ORS will provide organisations such as ACC, Insurance companies, Ministry of Education and banks an opportunity to make better informed risk based business decisions
• ORS introduces a competitive environment for transport operators and the public will eventually be able to access the results
• The ORS will showcase who are the most responsible operators and those who are not complying
• Operators can act now to improve their future rating

What makes up the ORS?

The operator safety rating is based on information collected from three types of safety related events, and different types of events will be weighted according to their severity:

• Certificate of Fitness (CoF) inspections
• Roadside inspections
• Offences – driver and operator convictions and infringements

Crash events attributed to the operator will be noted for information only. These will not be used in the calculation of the operator safety ratings – crash fault and severity will be reflected through the operator’s offence events.

The ORS will take into account fleet size and the number and nature of events, as well as the age of events. The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) will run the ORS.

The initial rating period will be six months but this will be extended to 24 months as more information is collected.

If you are an excellent commercial road transport operator in terms of transport standards and regulations, you’ll get five stars, if you are rated as poor according to the same criteria, you’ll get one star. Eventually your stars will be published on the web, so consumers can make a choice about who they use.

That’s the Operator Rating System (ORS) in a nutshell. But it’s more than that. It’s about putting safety first on New Zealand roads. The ORS will encourage customers to support and seek out operators with an excellent safety rating and produce the first complete view of all licensed transport service operators and their regulatory compliance. This, in turn, will enable regulatory activities to be targeted where they are most needed.

The ratings will be used by your customers. The detailed rating schedule, which won’t be made public, will be used by individual operators, the NZTA and the NZ Police.

ORS will provide you, as licensed transport operators, with safety ratings that show how safe your fleet is and how you line up with land transport safety laws. These ratings will be made public on our website, but that’s not for a while yet.

ORS is being rolled out in several phases over some time:

• August 1, 2009 – TSL labels became the law. The Operator Rating System (ORS) uses the Transport Service Licence (TSL) number to attribute safety events to the responsible operator.
• CoF information validation: you will be provided with information about your CoF inspections and what information has been recorded against your TSL number. You will be able to see how your vehicles, drivers and operators are doing. This is not for public viewing and will have no star rating.
• Roadside inspection information validation: you will be provided with information around your roadside inspections and will be able to see what inspections have happened to which vehicles against your TSL number. This is not for public viewing and will have no star rating.
• Offence information validation will follow later as databases become available and you will be provided with information around offences for your vehicles and drivers against your TSL number. This is not for public viewing and will have no star rating.
• Full ORS rating with star rating not for public viewing.
• Public release.

How the system works

How we collect your Certificate of Fitness information

When you present your vehicles for its CoF you must provide your TSL number. This will be recorded on the inspection check sheet, along with other safety inspection information, such as any faults detected.

The results of the CoF inspection are put into the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) computer system by vehicle testing stations.

CoF inspection results for trailers will be assigned to the operator responsible for the trailer or trailers. This could be the same operator who is responsible for the truck, or a different one.

How we collect your roadside inspection information

Your TSL number is collected by a Police or NZTA inspector during a roadside inspection and recorded on the inspection form, along with other safety inspection information, such as faults detected.

The results of the roadside inspection are put into the Roadside Inspection Database after the inspection.

How we collect information about offences

Whether an offence will impact on your operator safety rating will depend on whether it is present on a specific schedule of offences.

Police will issue a ticket when an offence is committed. The officer will record your TSL number on the ticket, along with other offence details. The offence notice is put into the police computer system and this information will be sent to the NZTA.

How we collect your crash information

Information about the crash, including the TSL number of any commercial vehicles involved, is recorded by the police on a crash report form. In most cases the police officer’s report will attribute responsibility for the crash, according the evidence at the scene. This may be reviewed after investigation.

The crash report forms are sent to the NZTA and entered into our crash analysis system.

How we tell you about your rating

So, your rating has been calculated, and it’s time for you to see how you’ve done.

At this stage it’s still a proposed rating and won’t be published. You have 20 working days within which to act if you think something is wrong.

You will get a letter telling you what your proposed rating is, how it was calculated, and all the CoF, roadside inspection, and offence events used to make up your rating. We’ll also give you a list of any crashes your vehicles have been involved in, although these will not form part of the rating calculation.

The letter will give you the information you need to satisfy yourself that your rating is accurate.

If you think there are mistakes in the details used to calculate your rating, they can be corrected through the errors and omissions process. You must do this in writing within 20 working days of receiving the notification from us.

If we don’t hear from you within 20 working days your rating will be finalised and can be published.

The 20 working day timeframes outlined above are based on the date that your notification is considered to be received. This is based on the guidelines set out in Clause 9.1 of the Operator Safety Rating Rule 2008:

• A written notification is deemed to have been received on the fifth working day after it was posted
• An electronic notification is deemed to have been received either on the next working day after it was sent, or the time that the notification reached the information system designated by the operator, whichever is the later.

Review of your rating

If you believe we have made a mistake with your proposed rating you can apply to have it corrected through the errors and omissions process.

A mistake could include an event for which you were not responsible, a vehicle that is not yours reported for a CoF, or an event which is missing that you think should have been included.

You can only apply to the errors and omissions process once in each rating period, so you need to be sure to include all the issues you wish to dispute in your application otherwise they can’t be considered.

You must apply to the errors and omissions process within 20 working days of receiving notification of your proposed rating. Provide us with as much information as possible about the events under query.

What happens next?

We send you a receipt when we receive your application.

It will be processed within 20 working days and you will be advised of the outcome.

We will tell you about any errors or omissions that have been corrected, and if your proposed rating has changed.

If you are satisfied, your rating will become final and can be published after 20 working days.

If you are not satisfied

If you don’t agree with the outcome of the errors and omissions process you can apply to the ORS Review Panel. However you can do this only if your proposed rating has remained the same or is worse; you can’t apply to the Review Panel if your score has improved.

Apply, in writing, to the review panel within 20 working days of receiving notification of the outcome of the errors and omissions process.

Outline the issues you would like the panel to consider. You can also apply to make a submission in person to the review panel, and this application can be granted or declined. You’ll also need to pay any fees that may be required.

The panel is selected by the NZTA from a pool comprising NZTA employees, industry representatives, and lawyers nominated by the President of the Law Society.

The panel will make a written recommendation to the NZTA board within 20 working days of the review of your submission.

The NZTA must accept the recommendation, unless it has reasonable grounds to believe the process used to reach the recommendation was invalid. If this happens, the NZTA board must confirm the original proposed rating.

As a result of the review the panel may also make findings that suggest how the rating process could be improved. The NZTA is not obliged to adopt the findings.

Publishing the rating

All final ratings will be published on the NZTA website.

When do ratings become final?

In summary:

1. If you have no objections to your initial proposed rating, it will become final 20 working days after you receive notification of your proposed rating.
2. If you have objections to any events that make up your rating, and you apply to the Errors and Omissions process, your rating will become final 20 working days after you receive your new proposed rating.
3. If you are still not satisfied with your proposed rating, and you apply to the Review Panel, your rating will be come final 20 working days after you receive notification of the Review Panel recommendation and your new proposed rating.

The large number of operators receiving ratings means we will stagger the notifications of proposed ratings over a number of weeks. All operators will however be rated for the same period and their ratings will be published at the same time. 

New ratings will be calculated and published at least every 6 months.

What are the safety ratings?

The Operator Safety Rating Rule allows the following safety ratings to be assigned:

Operators who have not yet had a safety rating calculated, because they have not yet been operating for 6 months will be shown as ‘Unrated’.  Operators whose rating is not able to be published, because it is undergoing an Errors and Omissions or Review Panel investigation, will be shown as ‘under review’.  No star rating will be shown for these operators.

Can operators publicise their own ratings?

Once your rating has been made final you can publish it, provided that you also publish the date that it became final, as near as practicable to the rating itself and in clearly legible letters or figures.  You may not publish your rating in a way that might mislead people about how recent or accurate the rating is.

Q&A for Operator Safety Rating 2008

(Rule 81002)

1. What is the Operator Safety Rating System?

The Operator Rating System (OSRS) aims to improve road safety by rating commercial road transport operators so that deficient operators can be more readily identified and targeted for advice and enforcement action, if needed, by Land Transport New Zealand and the NZ Police.

The OSRS will enable Land Transport NZ to pull together information, such as certificate of fitness (CoF) inspection results, crash data and offence data, and use it:

• to produce ratings for operators based on how well they are meeting or exceeding the requirements of transport regulations
• to target advice and assistance to where it is most needed
• as a targeting tool for enforcement action by NZ Police.

The OSRS will also provide an incentive for operators who have not previously complied with regulations (and are therefore a high safety risk) to improve their behaviour.

2. What is the purpose of the Operator Safety Rating Rule?

Land Transport Rule: Operator Safety Rating 2008 (the Rule) enables ratings to be made public and provides a process for operators to have their ratings reviewed.

3. What are the benefits of the OSRS?

The expected benefits of the OSRS include:

• a reduction in heavy vehicle crashes and associated social costs due to the improved compliance that will result from targeted enforcement
• fairer and more effective enforcement throughout the transport industry, which will lead to a level playing field for the industry
• operators improving their standards and allowing consumers to make informed choices, as a result of operators being encouraged to do so by the publication of ratings.

4. What is in the Rule?

The Rule covers:

• the high-level criteria for the Director’s approval of the rating methodology
• details of the star ratings to be assigned
• how an operator would be notified of their rating
• public notification of ratings
• the avenues for an operator to notify corrections, errors or omissions
• the review process available to an operator
• the appointment of a review panel
• the prohibition of an operator publishing a rating that is not accompanied by the date that the rating was finalised
• the requirement to make the rating method available.

5. What is the legal basis for the Rule?

Section 158(b)(vii) of the Land Transport Act 1998 provides for the Minister of Transport to make Land Transport Rules that set out categories of safety performance for transport service operators and approved taxi organisations, and provide the means for assessing (and re-assessing) and publishing levels of safety performance in relation to those categories.

6. Was the Rule consulted on?

Yes. The yellow (public consultation) draft of the Rule was released on 11 April 2007 and was made available to about 700 organisations and individuals who had registered their interest in the Rule. The availability of the yellow draft was published in metropolitan and selected regional daily newspapers, Tui Mai magazine and the New Zealand Gazette. The draft was made available, together with Questions and Answers, on the Land Transport NZ website. Land Transport NZ received 32 submissions on the draft Rule, which were taken into account in redrafting the Rule for government scrutiny and eventual signing.

7. Why is the OSRS being implemented?

Heavy vehicle numbers are growing at twice that of other vehicles in New Zealand, and as a result, are also contributing to a growing proportion of all road fatalities. Figures indicate that, for the year 2005, truck-related fatalities (including fatalities involving truck and non truck occupants) account for 20 percent of all road fatalities.

The commercial road transport sector is very competitive, and non-compliant operators can undermine regulatory and safety performance when they are making decisions about maximising loads, just-in-time delivery deadlines and maintenance costs. Without effective enforcement, those who operate within the law face unfair economic pressure from operators who do not comply.

The OSRS will help improve land transport safety by enabling better targeting of risky operators and encouraging all operators to lift their performance against transport standards and regulations.

8. Who will the OSRS apply to?

The Rule allows all transport service licence holders and approved taxi organisations to be assigned a safety rating, but the system will be implemented in stages. Approved taxi organisations will not be rated under the OSRS when it is initially introduced, but will be phased in at a later date.

9. When will the public rating system come into force?

At least six months’ information needs to be rated in order to provide a meaningful rating. Accordingly, the first rating is expected in mid 2009. While the Rule has been signed, its implementation will occur once the system has been built and tested and to allow the collection and analysis of at least six months’ worth of data.

Accordingly, an operator will not be able to receive a public rating until six months’ data is obtained. However, new operators will receive assistance as how to comply from Land Transport NZ staff as part of the licence application process.

10. Is the Rule focused solely on safety?

Initially, yes. However, the Rule is one of a number of Rules designed to support the New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS), which is focused on producing an affordable, integrated, safe, responsive, and sustainable transport system by 2010. The Rule will support the development of a system that will contribute to the objectives of the NZTS by:

• assisting economic development
• improving access and mobility
• protecting and promoting public health, and
• ensuring environmental sustainability.

11. How will the OSRS work?

Land Transport NZ is working towards an environment where customers will be able to select transport providers with high safety standards, based on an operator’s rating. The OSRS is one of the tools that will be used to enable regulatory activity and roadside enforcement to be targeted to where it is most needed.

The OSRS will link a range of transport service events such as Certificate of Fitness (CoF) inspections and roadside audits to operators. Currently, events are only linked to commercial vehicles and drivers. The OSRS will allow the rating of operators according to their performance by using information, which is already being collected, in a way that hasn’t been possible to date, by linking it directly to operators.

12. Who will run the new system and who will use the ratings?

The Rule empowers the publication of ratings and the requirement to make these available on the Land Transport NZ website and ratings may also be made available via other channels.

Once ratings are published, customers of commercial transport services will be able to use the ratings to select providers who have shown higher levels of regulatory performance.

Good operators will be able to use it to market their organisations. Government agencies such as the Accident Compensation Commission and the Department of Labour, and finance and insurance companies, may also find it useful as a risk measure.

13. How will the OSRS directly affect operators?

Operators with above average ratings may receive less attention from compliance and enforcement staff, and greater interest from prospective purchasers of transport services. Conversely, operators with below average ratings will receive more attention and may suffer from a poorer public interest due to a low rating.

14. How will the OSRS affect heavy vehicle drivers?

Information will continue to be collected from CoF and roadside inspections of vehicles and will contribute towards an operator’s rating. Driver offending in respect of such things as speed limits, holding correct driver licence classes and non-compliance with work time and logbook requirements will also contribute to the OSRS rating of their operator. The ability to target non-compliant operators or drivers will be enhanced through the OSRS.

15. What do operators need to do to ensure a good rating?

Operators need to ensure they have effective management and maintenance systems in place – for example, for passing CoF and roadside inspections. Operators with effective systems and good patterns of behaviour will be well-positioned to receive a good rating when the system comes into effect. Note that the OSRS will not be based solely on CoF and roadside inspections, and that offences and crashes are likely to carry a heavier weighting within a rating.

Although rating information is already being collected, there is still time before the first ratings are calculated for operators to take action that will increase the likelihood of a higher rating. Reminding drivers about things like safe driving, logbooks requirements, loading limits and reinforcing the importance of driving to the speed limit will all help to ensure a good rating.

Operators can contact their nearest Land Transport NZ regional office and ask to speak to a Transport Regulatory Advisor (TRA). The TRA can provide can provide advice on how an operator’s OSRS performance may be improved. This may involve a self-assessment tool, the TRA assisting with information, or possibly a more detailed review of regulatory performance. The TRA can use the information from the review to provide advice and assistance on how an operator’s regulatory and safety performance can be improved.

16. What information will be used to make up the ratings?

Initially, the information that will make up the rating will include:

• crash information
• CoF information
• operator reviews
• roadside inspection information
• work-related driver and operator infringements.

17. Where will this information come from?

The information is already collected for Land Transport NZ by vehicle testing stations, the NZ Police and from working with operators and is stored in computer databases directly controlled by Land Transport NZ. The big difference is that the information will now be collated and used in a more orderly way to target enforcement.

18. How will Land Transport NZ ensure that the information used to rate operators is correct?

Land Transport NZ is undertaking a significant amount of work to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the information collected. The building blocks of the OSRS are similar to the system used in New South Wales, which has been in place and operating successfully for several years. The proposed TSL cards will help ensure that the correct operator is able to be identified and event information is accurately attributed to that operator. Correct use of the TSL card will minimise the incorrect recording of event information.

Operators can apply to Land Transport NZ to have any errors or omissions in their information reviewed and, if necessary, corrected.

Operators who have concerns about the accuracy of brake testing, roadside or CoF inspections should seek to have their concerns discussed as soon as possible with the person or organisation that carried out the inspection.

Information collected for the OSRS will assist Land Transport NZ to identify and address inconsistencies across the country.

19. How will the ratings be calculated?

The overall rating will be calculated using sets of information with different weightings. Vehicle inspection data and offence data will have different weightings based on the seriousness of the defect or infringement. For example, driver offences are likely to be considered as being more serious than minor roadside inspections, or CoF faults. The rating algorithm will assign a credit for positive events, ie a passed Roadside Inspection will improve an operator’s overall rating. This positive effect will be based on statistical evidence of good compliance.

Each rating will be calculated by taking all the events that have occurred during the last two years and adding them up to produce an overall risk score. The score will then be divided by the number of events used to calculate an average rating for the operator. The relative weighting given to a specific event will diminish over time so older event information will have less impact on the overall rating than more recent events.

20. How will operators be rated?

Operators will receive a star rating of their performance as follows:

• Five stars or “” indicating an excellent level of compliance;
• Four stars or “” indicating a good level of compliance;
• Three stars or “” indicating an average level of compliance;
• Two stars or “” indicating a below average level of compliance;
• One star or “” indicating a poor level of compliance.

21. Some operators work in areas that are more likely to be policed than others. Will this affect their rating?

No. Scores will be adjusted to reflect an operator’s relative exposure. For example, an operator who works in an area where they are frequently stopped at a weigh station will have their information adjusted to reflect this fact.

22. How will operators know what their rating is?

Land Transport NZ will contact operators individually at least 20 days from when their first public rating has been calculated and prior to ratings first being published in mid-2009. Supporting material will be provided, in confidence, to explain what the rating means, how it has been calculated, and what information contributed to the rating.

23. Will ratings affect operators’ insurance premiums?

The ratings will be made public, therefore there may be potential for insurance companies and other third parties to use ratings as an indicator of risk when setting premiums.

24. Can operators have their rating reviewed?

An operator will have the opportunity to check their rating prior to each publication. They will have the opportunity to apply to the Director to have any errors corrected and to apply to an independent review panel to reconsider the validity of the data that has been used to calculate their rating. The independent review panel will include independent industry representatives and a lawyer. Operators will also have the right of review through the Courts system.

25. How will ratings be made publicly available?

The Rule empowers the publication of ratings. Land Transport NZ will make the ratings public on the Land Transport NZ website and may also make them available via other appropriate channels.

26. How can operators increase the likelihood of receiving a high OSRS rating before the system comes into force?

Operators should have management systems and processes in place to ensure that they comply with transport legislation at all times. Operators with such systems and processes will be well-positioned to receive a good rating when the rating system comes into effect.

27. What is the next stage of the process?

It is anticipated that the OSRS will be completed towards the middle of 2008. Land Transport NZ will test various scenarios to ensure that the ratings produced are an accurate and fair reflection of an operator’s safety performance. Industry will be closely involved in this process. It is anticipated that public ratings will begin to be assigned and published from mid 2009.

28. What are the likely costs of OSRS?

The ongoing operational costs of the OSRS will begin to be incurred from the 2010/2011 financial year. Although final costings have not been completed, it is tentatively estimated that it will result in an increase of between five and fifteen dollars in the annual licensing fee for each vehicle.

Source: http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/commercial/operator-rating-system/index.html

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