New Zealand Legislation: Acts

14 Power to require information from operators of commercial public transport services

• (1) A regional council may, to assist the council with public transport planning, contracting, and monitoring, require an operator of any commercial public transport service in the regional council's region to provide the regional council with—

  • (a) information held by the operator concerning—

    • (i) the number of passengers carried on the service:

    • (ii) the types of tickets used on the service:

    • (iii) the fare revenue earned by the operator:

    • (iv) the distance travelled by the vehicles or other modes of transport used by the operator on the service:

    • (v) the quality of the service, including vehicle age, cleanliness, emissions, and accessibility:

    • (vi) the vehicles or other modes of transport used on the service:

    • (vii) the performance of the service, including information on any individual trip of the service that did not operate or that departed from the starting point on its route earlier or later than the time specified in the timetable for the service; and

  • (b) any other information held by the operator that is specified in regulations made under section 62 as information that the regional council may require the operator to provide.

  (2) A regional council may require the information required under subsection (1) to be provided to the regional council in any specified form in which, having regard to the manner in which the information is kept by the operator, it is reasonable to expect the operator to provide it.

  (3) If a regional council receives under subsection (1) information from the operator of a commercial public transport service and the information may, in the regional council's opinion, be withheld under section 7(2)(b) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 or has been described as commercially sensitive by the operator, the regional council must not disclose the information without the operator's consent except—

  • (a) to the regional council's professional advisers; or

  • (b) to those persons and organisations engaged by the regional council to carry out public transport planning, contracting, or monitoring; or

  • (c) to the Agency, in accordance with section 22; or

  • (d) in the case of Auckland, to the Auckland Council, in accordance with section 22; or

  • (e) subject to subsection (4), in response to a request made under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987; or

  • (f) where the information was provided to the regional council 5 years or more before the date of the disclosure; or

  • (g) where—

    • (i) the operator of the commercial public transport service (the former operator) no longer exists; and

    • (ii) the former operator's public transport business has not been disposed of as a going concern to any other person.

  (4) If a regional council receives a request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to release any information described in subsection (3),—

  • (a) the regional council must make all reasonable efforts to notify immediately the person who provided the information to the regional council that a request to release the information has been received; and

  • (b) the person must, within 10 working days after receiving the notice, advise the regional council whether that person believes that the information should be withheld under section 7(2)(b) of that Act and give reasons for that belief; and

  • (c) the regional council may release the information after the expiry of the period specified in paragraph (b) if, having complied with its obligations under this subsection and having regard to the person's response (if any), the regional council cannot identify any reason that would permit it to refuse the request under that Act.

  Section 14(3)(d): amended, on 1 November 2010, by section 113(1) of the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 2010 (2010 No 37).