NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), superseded by is a New Zealand

Crown entity A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''The Crown, Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's public sector organisations in New Zealand, state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governa ...

tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, including the responsibility for driver and vehicle licensing, and administering the

New Zealand state highway network The New Zealand state highway network is the major national highway network in New Zealand. Nearly 100 roads in the North Island, North and South Islands are state highways. All state highways are administered by the NZ Transport Agency. The ...

. means 'one vessel' and is intended to convey the concept of "travelling together as one".

History and leadership

Formation

The agency was established on 1 August 2008 by the Land Transport Management Amendment Act 2008, merging

Transit New Zealand Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...

with

Land Transport New Zealand Land Transport New Zealand was a Crown entity in New Zealand, tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, and includes responsibilities such as driver and vehicle licensing. It was created on 1 December 2004 by the Land Transpo ...

Leadership changes, 2008–2019

NZTA's board was criticised by the

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-led opposition in July 2008 as being "stacked" with political appointees of the Labour Party-led government. A National Party-led government was formed after

2008 New Zealand general election The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand Parliament. The liberal-conservative New Zealand National Party, National Party, headed by its parliamentary leader John Key, ...

, and a number of board members were reappointed or replaced. In January 2019, three members of the board of directors resigned, about six weeks after the resignation of chief executive Fergus Gammie. They were Adrienne Young-Cooper, Chris Ellis and

Fran Wilde Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Welling ...

. Minister of Transport

Phil Twyford Philip Stoner Twyford (born 4 May 1963) is a politician from New Zealand and a member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2008. He is the Labour Party MP for Te Atatū (New Zealand electorate), ...

said the agency had been "going through a massive change process", with its compliance work in the issuing of vehicle

Warrant of Fitness A Warrant of Fitness (WoF) is an official New Zealand document certifying that a light motor vehicle has passed a compulsory periodic inspection of safety and roadworthiness. Most vehicles with a gross mass under that are used on public roads ...

es under review. Mark Ratcliffe, former head of telco

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, was appointed interim chief executive. Nicole Rosie, former CE of

WorkSafe New Zealand WorkSafe is New Zealand's primary workplace health and safety regulator. WorkSafe has over 550 staff based across New Zealand who work to lift New Zealand's health and safety performance and support workers to return home healthy and safe. W ...

, replaced him as chief executive mid-February 2020. On 26 April 2019, chairman Michael Stiassny announced his resignation. On 11 June 2019, Brian Roche commenced his second term as chairman of NZTA; Roche had previously been the inaugural chairman from 2008.

Waka Kotahi, 2019–2023

In August 2019, Waka Kotahi changed the order of its name to emphasize its

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

name "Waka Kotahi." The logo was also changed to reflect this change of order. Kane Patena was appointed the first Director of Land Transport for Waka Kotahi from 1 April 2021. In early November 2023, Waka Kotahi suspended its NZ$305 million Transport Choices Programme where local councils would receive funding to encourage walking, cycling and public transportation. Waka Kotahi suspended this programme amidst coalition talks to form the National-led coalition government following the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on 14 October 2023 to determine the composition of the 54th New Zealand Parliament, 54th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elected 122 members to the unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives ...

Reversion to NZTA, 2023–present

In December 2023, the New Zealand Minister of Transport

Simeon Brown Simeon Peter Brown (born 8 April 1991) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party. Early life and career Brown was born in Rotorua in 1991. His family moved to Clendon Park, Au ...

ordered that the agency was to give primacy to its English name. In mid-December 2023, Transport Minister Brown ordered the NZTA to halt funding and work on various local council projects to promote cycling, walking and public transportation. Notable projects affected by the Government's transportation policy change included the " Let's Get Wellington Moving" programme. On 11 March 2024,

Simon Bridges Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a New Zealand retired politician, broadcaster and lawyer. He served as Leader of the New Zealand National Party, Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), Leader of t ...

was appointed a member and chairperson of the NZTA board for a three-year term. On 15 May, RNZ reported that NZTA had paid consultant

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to design two new vehicle-spotting technologies at a cost of NZ$130 million only to abandon the project after the technologies were found not to work. On 16 May 2024, NZTA confirmed that it would slash over 120 jobs as part of government cutbacks. 109 of the affected roles came from the former Clean Car Discount, Climate Emergency Response Fund, and Let's Get Wellington Moving projects, which had been cancelled by the National-led coalition government. In early May 2024, NZTA also announced it would cut another 12 roles from its Customer and Services and Digital teams to meet the Government's 7.5% cost cutting target.

Public data access

NZTA stores registration,

licensing A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...

and

warrant of fitness A Warrant of Fitness (WoF) is an official New Zealand document certifying that a light motor vehicle has passed a compulsory periodic inspection of safety and roadworthiness. Most vehicles with a gross mass under that are used on public roads ...

details for any road-registered vehicle within New Zealand, including cars, motorbikes, trailers, trucks and earthmoving or agricultural machinery. Any member of the public can query NZTA's database by making a request using the

licence plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British, Indian and Australian English), license plate (American English) or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for ...

VIN Vin or VIN may refer to: Abbreviations and codes Arts, entertainment, and media * '' Vos Iz Neias?'', American Jewish online news site * Coastal radio station VIN Geraldton (callsign), a station in the former Australian coastal radio service Pl ...

at an

NZ Post NZ Post (), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a Government-owned corporation, state-owned enterprise responsible for providing most mail, postal services in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, ba ...

outlet, or by using a vehicle checking website.

Road signage

Road signs in New Zealand fall under the authority of NZTA and are prescribed in the Traffic Control Devices (TCD) Manual.

References

External links

*
NZTA's education portal

NZTA's Feet First programme
{{NZ crown entities/Crown agents New Zealand Crown agents 2008 establishments in New Zealand Transport authorities in New Zealand