On 14 December 2015, the Ministry of Transport released a consultation document relating to the future of the small passenger services sector. This consultation document covered the proposal to remove the requirement that all P endorsement applicants pass a full licence test in the 5 years preceding their application. Submissions on the consultation closed on 12 February 2016. The Ministry of Transport received 76 submissions in response to the consultation document and 13 of those submissions did not support this proposal.
Consultation on the amendment rule began with the release on 13 October 2016 of a draft of the amendment rule alongside a draft Land Transport Rule: Operator Licensing 2017 and a draft Land Transport Rule: Work Time and Logbooks Amendment 2017 (the yellow drafts), and explanatory material. The NZ Transport Agency sent notice of the proposed rules and the availability of the yellow drafts by letter or email to approximately 1 530 groups and individuals who had registered an interest in the Operator Licensing Rule, the Work Time and Logbooks Rule, or the Driver Licensing Rule.
The yellow drafts of these rules were made available through the NZ Transport Agency’s Contact Centre and, together with Questions and Answers, were also available on the NZ Transport Agency’s Internet site. The availability of the yellow drafts for comment was publicised in daily newspapers in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin and in the Gazette.
Submissions closed on 18 November 2016 and the NZ Transport Agency received a total of 55 submissions. Those submissions were taken into account in finalising the draft rule.