Courtesy Vehicles

Below are our submissions on this issue. For further information, contact Land Transport Safety Authority for their discussion document.   Their website is located at http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/

Submission on the Courtesy Vehicle Services Policy Consultation 31 May 2001
The Hospitality Association, having previously been involved in the Transport Services Operator Licensing Review, strongly endorses PP4 maintaining the status quo of not licensing courtesy vehicle services.   The Association's position is well outlined in our earlier submissions on the Transport Services Operator Licensing Review and will not be repeated here.   The Association is delighted that the Land Transport Safety Authority have recognised that licensing in this area is not a safety issue and believe that PP4 is a sensible and common-sense response.

However, PP5 is objected to in the strongest possible terms.   There is no justification whatsoever for Government to become involved in a wider regulatory non-safety approach.   Furthermore, the proposed regulatory approach under this option is cumbersome, unwieldy, and serves no purpose whatsoever.   If introduced, it would have two impacts.   The first, to increase costs to operators resulting in services being withdrawn.   The second result and consequent upon the first, is the possibility of an increase in drink-drivers because hotel operators are no longer able to provide an alternative service.

In summary, the Association commends PP4 and urges the Minister to support this option.

Bruce H Robertson
Chief Executive
31 May 2001

HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND SUBMISSION ON THE REVIEW
OF TRANSPORT SERVICES OPERATOR LICENSING

Introduction
The Hospitality Association represents in excess of 1,350 Members who operate in the hospitality business, their operations ranging from cafe bars through to and including large hotel units.   Many of these Members operate courtesy vehicles and on a 'not for hire or reward' basis providing a courtesy service for their guests and for operating host responsible services in ensuring their patrons get home safely rather than being tempted to drive.

In this submission, the Association will comment on the philosophy as it applies to transport services licensing in general but more specifically on the discussions as they apply to courtesy vehicles and the review of passenger servicing licensing.

Philosophical Overview
The review of transport services operator licensing must be undertaken purely from the perspective of road safety and whether the costs of the control are justified in terms of safety outputs.

It is quite apparent that transport services operator licensing has evolved from a previous era where the focus was on licensing and control from a consumer and operator perspective as much as from that of road safety.

This era has now long past with the consumers' rights protected in consumer legislation and operators surviving or falling on the quality and cost of their services, viz a viz their competitors. 

It is highly questionable whether the existing transport services operator licensing regime makes any significant difference to road safety.   Key issues for road safety are, firstly the road worthiness of the vehicle and whether it meets the warrant of fitness requirements or it doesn't, and secondly, the competence of the driver, which is now covered under the new Transport Act and the driver licensing rules about to be signed off by the Minister of Transport.

It is acknowledged that the Certificate of Knowledge of Law and Practice is useful from a business operational perspective.   However that does not mean that it needs to be a requirement and included under the guise of safety.   If the CKLP is genuinely useful to the industry then one would expect it would be picked up and promoted by either the appropriate industry association or through the industry training organisation.  

Existing monitoring, penalty, and 'fit and proper person' tests appear to be either ineffective or unenforceable and therefore of little value.

Industry and small business is concerned with the compliance costs of Government licensing and regulations and significant savings could be made in this area without compromising road safety.

Passenger Services Licensing
Introduction
The Hospitality Association is totally opposed to the suggestion that passenger licensing be extended to cover courtesy vehicles used by the hospitality industry on a 'not for hire and reward' basis.

Justification
The review document provides no data or evidence that there is a safety need for courtesy vehicles operated by hotels and taverns.   Indeed with respect to courtesy vehicles operated by the latter, it is likely that road safety considerations have been significantly enhanced.   Intervention in the name of road safety can only be considered based on evidence of need and a subsequent cost benefit analysis providing justification that the intervention will effectively improve safety and that the level of improvement is justified by the cost of intervention.   This analysis with regard to courtesy vehicles operated by hotels and taverns is not demonstrated in this review document.

Consumer Protection
It is not the role of LTSA to use transport services operator licensing to protect operators or protect the consumer from service standards.   The consumer is protected under consumer protection legislation.

The taxi industry has lobbied extensively for these changes based on their assumption that hotels and taverns are competing unfairly with them.   In the first instance, many hotels and taverns are forced to operate a courtesy service due to the absence of or limited nature of services offered either in the area or at the time of day by the licensed tax and bus industries.

The Taxi Federation would be better off ensuring that the nature of their own licensing regime is genuinely safety focused and seek the removal of control and regulation where there is not a clear road safety cost benefit.

Recommendation
The Association supports either :

(a)  the status quo remaining with the 'not for hire and reward' operation of courtesy vehicles continuing to be exempt from passenger services licensing, or

(b)  option 4 - the removal of the current licensing regime providing for transport regulations to focus on road safety which is covered by existing legislation (ie driver licensing and vehicle standards rules/regulations).

Bruce H Robertson
Chief Executive
Hospitality Association of New Zealand

5 March 1999