Short election cycle ‘limits’ long-term transport planning

New Zealand’s three-year election cycle is undermining the long-term investment required to build a greener, less polluting public transport system, according to research carried out at the University of Otago.

The study says New Zealand must address the environmental and social problems caused by a national transport system dominated by private vehicles and “near-complete reliance on fossils fuels”.

It says governments must also look at ways to redesign cities to reduce urban sprawl.