QTS-059 · Business case chapter or appendix · 2020
Queenstown Business Case – Strategic Context
Part of: Rapid transit evidence →
The Strategic Context (Final, 16 November 2020; Chris Baker and Darren Davis) is Part A of the Queenstown Business Case, 'being delivered by Way to Go'. It re-confirms the strategic case set by the 2017 Queenstown Integrated Transport PBC. It documents rapid visitor and resident growth, car-oriented dispersed land use and a constrained network. SH6A practical capacity was exceeded on 140 days in 2019, and 40% of SH6A trips must be non-car by 2028, rising to 60% by 2048. It sets out problem statements for Frankton to Queenstown (efficiency, amenity, safety, resilience) and the Town Centre (efficiency, amenity, safety), agreed at a 9 October 2018 ILM workshop. Four investment objectives follow. It reviews COVID-19 impacts, related projects (NZUP, CIP, spatial plan, masterplans, ferry DBC) and stakeholder engagement. It concludes that investment in the 'three pillars' (PT services, supporting infrastructure and TDM) is needed and that the COVID-19 lull is the time to act. It records that the project began with Mass Rapid Transit, later called HCPT, to be investigated to IBC level.
What the document says
Context and purpose: The report 'is the first of seven in a suite of reports' (p.6). It aims to 'Document and evidence the existing and anticipated problems' and 're-confirm the strategic case' established in the QIT PBC (p.7). The project originally comprised the F2Q SSBC and QTC DBC, 'with Mass Rapid Transit (subsequently referred to as High Capacity Public Transport, HCPT) to be investigated to an Indicative Business Case (IBC) level'. Frankton and Ladies Mile were added part-way through (pp.6, 10).
Background: The report traces growth since the 1980s, the paused Grant Road to Kawarau Falls SSBC (p.13), COVID-19 impacts (pp.13-14) and new funding (NZUP, CIP $85m) (p.15). It covers the economic, transport and land use contexts including the spatial plan and masterplans (pp.16-28), and parallel projects (p.30). In the parallel projects table, the Lake Wakatipu ferry DBC found a subsidised Frankton Arm ferry would achieve a BCR of 0.97, 'suggesting ferries are unlikely to form the Mass Rapid Transit option for this business case'. Parking was found to be the 'single most sensitive parameter driving mode shift' (p.30).
Problems and objectives: An ILM workshop on 9 October 2018 with Waka Kotahi, QLDC, ORC and the project team set problem and benefit statements; the F2Q ILM was reviewed in February 2020 (p.37). Investment objectives cover efficient and reliable access, adaptability to change and disruption, liveability and the built and natural environment, and safety towards Vision Zero (pp.41-44).
Evidence: SH6A car capacity was 'all but reached by 2018'. The majority of growth can only be catered for 'by increasing road capacity over the entire network or by providing high capacity public transport'. 40% of SH6A trips must be non-car by 2028 and 60% by 2048 (p.56). Resilience is treated as 'to some extent a secondary problem' (p.57). Safety and amenity evidence and the implications of not investing follow (pp.60-67), then opportunities, constraints and resort-town case studies (pp.67-70).
Engagement: Five workshops ran from September 2018 to March 2020 (p.71). Community consultation gathered 349 online responses and discussions with more than 230 people (p.72).
Conclusion: A 'different pathway' through the three pillars is needed, and 'Now is the time to address these challenges' (p.75).
Mass rapid transit: The report recalls that the QIT PBC priority projects included 'a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) corridor between Queenstown and Frankton'. Its Figure 5 'indicates a gondola over Queenstown Hill as a MRT option, though bus rapid transit and light rail are also suggested' (p.11). It notes that the spatial plan recognises transport can drive land use change 'such as around a Mass Rapid Transit route' (p.23), and that the Frankton Masterplan aims at 'enabling high frequency, high capacity public transport in the future' (p.27). It identifies HCPT as an opportunity to 'enable development and build density' (p.67). It does not assess mass rapid transit; that is done in the Options Assessment.
Key figures
- Queenstown population ~3,500 in 1980 (p.7)
- CIP $85m: streetscape $35m, Arterial Stage One $50m (p.15)
- Ferry: subsidised Frankton Arm service BCR 0.97 (p.30)
- Non-car share of SH6A trips 40% by 2028, 60% by 2048 (pp.8, 56)
- SH6A practical capacity exceeded on 140 recorded days in 2019 (p.50)
- Consultation: 349 online responses; 230+ people at events (p.72)
Rapid transit
Mass rapid transit means light rail, gondola/cable car, bus rapid transit and similar dedicated rapid-transit technologies. It does not include ordinary bus services or ferries.
Passing. Mentions mass rapid transit without assessing it.
Records mass rapid transit, later called high-capacity public transport, at indicative business case level, including a corridor over Queenstown Hill; no assessment in this report.
The report states the project began 'with Mass Rapid Transit (subsequently referred to as High Capacity Public Transport, HCPT) to be investigated to an Indicative Business Case (IBC) level' (p.6). Summarising the 2017 QIT PBC, it lists 'a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) corridor between Queenstown and Frankton' among priority projects. It adds that 'Figure 5 indicates a gondola over Queenstown Hill as a MRT option, though bus rapid transit and light rail are also suggested' (p.11). The ferry DBC result (BCR 0.97) is taken to suggest 'ferries are unlikely to form the Mass Rapid Transit option for this business case' (p.30). Growth beyond 2018 'can only be catered by increasing road capacity over the entire network or by providing high capacity public transport' (p.56). HCPT options 'provide the opportunity to enable development and build density around the transport network' (p.67).
"with Mass Rapid Transit (subsequently referred to as High Capacity Public Transport, HCPT) to be investigated to an Indicative Business Case (IBC) level" (p.6) | "a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) corridor between Queenstown and Frankton (Figure 5 indicates a gondola over Queenstown Hill as a MRT option, though bus rapid transit and light rail are also suggested)." (p.11) | "suggesting ferries are unlikely to form the Mass Rapid Transit option for this business case." (p.30)
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Citation
Way to Go partnership, NZTA (Waka Kotahi), QLDC, ORC. Queenstown Business Case – Strategic Context (2020).